70 Fun Facts About Maryland

Maryland was named in honour of Henrietta Maria, the wife of which English king?

Lord Baltimore had proposed 'Crescentia'; the king suggested Terra Mariae instead.

What is the capital of Maryland?

Baltimore is the largest city, but the capital moved to Annapolis from St. Mary's City in 1695.

Maryland was which number state to ratify the US Constitution and join the Union?

It ratified in April 1788, after Massachusetts and before South Carolina.

The Province of Maryland was chartered in 1632 primarily as a haven for which persecuted group?

The Calverts, Barons Baltimore, were Catholic converts, though Catholics were always a minority in the colony.

Maryland's varied landscapes, from Appalachian mountains to Atlantic beaches, earned it what nickname?

It is the ninth-smallest state by area but has mountains, piedmont, coastal plain and the Chesapeake Bay.

Which editor coined Maryland's 'Free State' nickname in 1923 over its refusal to pass Prohibition laws?

H. L. Mencken then popularised it; the phrase had earlier meant Maryland's 1864 abolition of slavery.

Maryland's highest point, Hoye Crest at 3,360 feet, sits on which ridge?

It is in Garrett County in the far west, near the West Virginia border and the Potomac's headwaters.

Near Hancock, how narrow does Maryland get between the Mason-Dixon line and the Potomac?

That pinch, two-thirds of the way across the state, is the narrowest width of any US state.

Washington, D.C.'s land came from Maryland's Montgomery County and which other county?

Virginia's share was handed back in 1846, so today the whole District sits on former Maryland land.

What has been Maryland's official state sport since 1962?

Lacrosse became the official team sport in 2004; the jousting is ring-tilting, not knights knocking each other off horses.

What is Maryland's state flower?

A blanket of them is draped on the winner of the Preakness Stakes each May.

Which reptile is both a Maryland native and the mascot of the University of Maryland?

The costumed version is called Testudo, and rubbing his bronze nose is a campus tradition.

Which species do Maryland's fisheries land in the largest quantities, along with oysters and striped bass?

The Chesapeake blue crab is the base of the crab-cake and crab-feast culture the state is known for.

Which two abolitionists were both born into slavery on Maryland's Eastern Shore?

Tubman returned to the Eastern Shore repeatedly, guiding around 70 people to freedom in about 13 trips.

BWI airport is named for which Baltimore native, the first Black Supreme Court justice?

Marshall won 29 of 32 cases he argued before the Court, including Brown v. Board of Education.

Which Maryland governor turned vice president resigned in 1973 after pleading no contest to tax evasion?

Agnew had been Baltimore County executive before winning the governorship in 1966.

Which Triple Crown second leg was first run at Baltimore's Pimlico in 1873?

It was first run in 1873, two years before the first Kentucky Derby; it moved to Laurel Park for 2026 while Pimlico is rebuilt.

The eastern and western halves of Maryland were first linked by road in 1952 by which structure?

At 4 miles it opened as the world's longest continuous over-water steel structure, and truckers still call it one of the scariest crossings anywhere.

What kind of animals roam wild on Assateague Island off Maryland's coast?

On the Virginia side of the fence they are called Chincoteague ponies; the barrier island is 37 miles long.

Maryland's largest Civil War battle, on September 17, 1862, was fought near which town?

Antietam remains the bloodiest single day in American history, with 22,717 dead, wounded or missing.

Which line, the first chartered US railroad, opened its first stretch in 1830?

It later became one of the four railroads on the original Monopoly board.

In 2015, Maryland led all US states in which economic measure?

Proximity to Washington and a heavy federal and biotech presence drive it.

Which enormous white oak, the state tree's most famous specimen, stood in Wye Mills until 2002?

It was believed to be over 460 years old when a thunderstorm brought it down on June 6, 2002.

Maryland's flag combines the arms of the Calvert family with those of which other family?

George Calvert's mother was a Crossland heiress; the design was officially adopted in 1904.

By law, the only ornament allowed on top of a flagstaff flying the Maryland flag is what?

The cross bottony is the same one that appears in the flag's red-and-white Crossland quarters.

Which spooky parlour game was named in 1890 in Maryland by medium Helen Peters Nosworthy?

Elijah Bond's patent followed in 1891; the name is now a Hasbro trademark.

Which breed was declared Maryland's official state dog in 1964?

The breed traces to two Newfoundland-type puppies rescued from a shipwrecked brig in 1807.

Old Bay seasoning is named after what?

German-Jewish immigrant Gustav Brunn created it in Baltimore in 1939 after fleeing the Nazis; McCormick bought the brand in 1990.

How many herbs and spices go into Old Bay seasoning?

Celery salt, red and black pepper and paprika lead the list.

The presidential retreat Camp David lies in the wooded hills of which Maryland mountain?

Roosevelt called it Shangri-La; Eisenhower renamed it for his father and grandson, both named David.

What did Franklin Roosevelt name the Maryland retreat that Eisenhower later renamed Camp David?

He hosted Winston Churchill there in May 1943.

Fort McHenry holds what unique double designation in the US park system?

The 1814 bombardment there inspired Francis Scott Key's poem that became the national anthem.

The huge Star-Spangled Banner that flew over Fort McHenry was sewn by which Baltimore flagmaker?

It measured 30 by 42 feet, weighed about 50 pounds and cost the government $405.90.

How many stripes does the Star-Spangled Banner flag have?

It also has fifteen stars, one for each state at the time, and now hangs in the Smithsonian.

Multi-layered Smith Island cake became Maryland's official state what in 2008?

Bakers switched to fudge frosting because it kept far longer than buttercream on watermen's boats.

Maryland's Triple Crown race was named by Governor Oden Bowie after a what?

The colt Preakness won the Dinner Party Stakes on the day Pimlico opened in October 1870.

The United States Naval Academy was founded in 1845 by which Secretary of the Navy?

It sits on the grounds of the former Fort Severn where the Severn River meets the Chesapeake.

After which 1783 agreement ending the Revolutionary War did Annapolis serve as temporary US capital?

In the State House there, George Washington resigned his commission as commander-in-chief that December.

What distinction does Maryland's capitol building hold among American statehouses?

It also witnessed Congress ratify the Treaty of Paris in January 1784.

What created Ocean City's inlet, separating it from Assateague Island, in August 1933?

A second hurricane the next month widened it from 100 feet to over 500.

Ocean City bills itself as the world capital of fishing for which billfish?

The White Marlin Open each August is the world's largest billfishing tournament.

Which container ship struck and collapsed Baltimore's Francis Scott Key Bridge on March 26, 2024?

Six workers repairing the bridge deck were killed; the bridge had opened in 1977.

The Great Baltimore Fire of February 1904 burned for about how long?

Out-of-town fire crews often could not help because their hose couplings did not fit Baltimore's hydrants, which spurred national standardisation.

The Baltimore Ravens' name, chosen by fans in 1996, honours a poem by which writer buried in the city?

The franchise arrived when Art Modell moved the Cleveland Browns, leaving the Browns' name and records behind.

Before moving to Baltimore in 1954, the Orioles franchise played as which team?

They won their first World Series as the Orioles in 1966 and added titles in 1970 and 1983.

Cal Ripken Jr., born in Havre de Grace, Maryland, ended his consecutive-games streak at what number?

He passed Lou Gehrig's 2,130 in September 1995 and kept going for three more seasons.

Olympic great Michael Phelps was born in Baltimore and raised in which nearby suburb?

He trained at the North Baltimore Aquatic Club under Bob Bowman and holds a national age-group record from age 10.

The author of 'The Raven' died in Maryland's largest city in 1849 at what age?

He was found semiconscious in the city on October 3 and died four days later under circumstances still debated.

Maryland's original capital, founded in 1634, was which settlement?

It was the fourth permanent English settlement in what became the US, after Jamestown, Plymouth and Massachusetts Bay.

The two ships that carried Maryland's first settlers in 1633 were the Ark and the what?

Leonard Calvert led the expedition of settlers, Jesuit missionaries and indentured servants.

The Maryland Toleration Act of 1649 granted freedom of worship to whom?

It also sentenced to death anyone who denied the divinity of Jesus, so it was tolerance with sharp limits.

Mason and Dixon surveyed Maryland's northern border in 1763-67 to settle a dispute with which colony?

The Penn and Calvert families had feuded over the boundary for nearly a century.

Maryland's former state song, set to 'O Tannenbaum' and dropped in 2021, dated from which year?

James Ryder Randall's Confederate-sympathising poem called Lincoln a tyrant and the Union 'Northern scum'; it was made state song in 1939 and never replaced.

Johns Hopkins, opened in 1876, is considered the first American what?

Its press, founded in 1878, is the oldest US university press in continuous operation.

Fort Meade, Maryland, is home to US Cyber Command and which intelligence organisation?

The NSA has run its own shuttle from the Odenton MARC station to its visitor centre since 2005.

The National Aquarium opened on Pier 3 of Baltimore's Inner Harbor in which year?

It was part of the urban-renewal wave that also produced the Harborplace pavilions a year earlier.

What nickname did Cumberland earn as Maryland's second-largest city in the 1800s?

It was the junction of the National Road, the B&O Railroad and the C&O Canal.

The 1830 B&O terminus building in Ellicott City holds what record?

The town's historic Main Street was devastated by flash floods in 2016 and again in 2018.

Maryland won its first men's basketball national title in 2002 by beating which team?

Gary Williams coached the 64-52 win; Maryland left the ACC for the Big Ten in 2014.

Which David Simon HBO drama examined a different Baltimore institution each season?

Simon set it there because he knew the city from the Baltimore Sun; Hairspray and Homicide are Baltimore stories too.

John Waters' 1988 film Hairspray follows teenager Tracy Turnblad in Baltimore during which year?

It was Divine's final film released in his lifetime; he died three weeks after the premiere.

Maryland's constitution of which year made Baltimore an independent city, separate from Baltimore County?

It had served as the county seat from 1768 until then; today it is not part of any county.

Baltimore claims to have more of what per capita than any other US city?

Its rowhouses' formstone facing was itself a Baltimore patent, by Albert Knight in 1937.

What created the Chesapeake Bay's location and form about 35.5 million years ago?

The bay itself formed only about 10,000 years ago as rising seas drowned the Susquehanna River valley; it is the largest US estuary.

The Algonquian word Chesepiooc, root of 'Chesapeake', refers to a village where?

It is the seventh-oldest surviving English placename in the US, first applied by Roanoke explorers in 1585 or 1586.

What distinction does the skipjack, Maryland's official state vessel, hold?

The skipjack developed to dredge the bay's once-plentiful oysters; the Helen Virginia is a surviving example.

What was 'Chessie', which repeatedly visited the Chesapeake Bay between 1994 and 2011?

It was named after a legendary bay sea monster and was spotted as far north as Rhode Island, well outside its species' range.

Which fleet beat the Royal Navy at the 1781 Battle of the Chesapeake, enabling Yorktown?

Also called the Battle of the Capes, after Cape Charles and Cape Henry, it was the decisive naval clash of the Revolutionary War.

How wide is the Chesapeake Bay at its widest point, just south of the Potomac's mouth?

It narrows to just 2.8 miles further north, and its total shoreline including tributaries runs 11,684 miles.

From which base did Admiral George Cockburn's British forces raid Chesapeake towns in 1813?

Those War of 1812 raids preceded the 1814 attack on Baltimore that inspired 'The Star-Spangled Banner'.