All About Maryland
Maryland is a constituent state of the United States of America. One of the original 13 states, it lies at the centre of the Eastern Seaboard, astride the great industrial–population complex that stretches from Maine to Virginia. Its small size - 10,460 square miles (27,092 square kilometres), about 6 percent of which is water, excluding Chesapeake Bay - belies the great diversity of its landscapes and of the ways of life that they foster: from the low-lying and water-oriented Eastern Shore and Chesapeake Bay area, through the metropolitan hurly-burly of Baltimore, its largest city, to the forested Appalachian foothills and mountains of its western reaches.
Maryland is thought to have been named in honour of the wife of King Charles I by a grateful Cecil Calvert, Lord Baltimore, who in 1632 was granted a charter for the land as a haven in which his fellow Roman Catholics might escape the restrictions placed on them in England. A deep sense of history is notable in the quiet charm of Annapolis, its capital since 1694, and in the white-domed, pillared statehouse, built in 1772, the nation's oldest statehouse in continuous use. Annapolis' 40-block Colonial Historic District contains more pre-Revolutionary structures than any other U.S. historic district. The narrow, crooked streets of Annapolis, the houses abutting directly on the brickwork sidewalks, the graceful tree-covered green about the statehouse, and the myriad masts of boats at dock or anchor in the harbour reflect more an earlier America than a state geared to the latest in technology.
Geography, too, has provided Maryland a role in U.S. history, as a pivot between the North and the South. Its northern border with Pennsylvania is the famous Mason and Dixon Line, drawn in the 1760s to settle disputes between the Penn and Calvert families and traditionally regarded as the boundary between the North and the South. To the south much of the boundary with Virginia is formed by the Potomac River, a symbolic barrier during the Civil War. On the north bank of the Potomac lies the District of Columbia, coterminous with the city of Washington, a small enclave ceded by Maryland in 1791 for the site of the national capital. East of the Chesapeake, the Eastern Shore shares the Delmarva Peninsula with Delaware on the north and Virginia on the south. In the mountainous west Maryland's panhandle, which is joined to the rest of the state by a narrow waist, interlocks with the eastern panhandle of West Virginia.
The Atlantic Coastal Plain covers about one-half of Maryland's land area, yielding to the Piedmont Plateau at a fall line running from the northern tip of the District of Columbia through Baltimore and to near the northeastern corner of the state. The Catoctin ridgeline in the west forms the gateway to the Appalachians. The most salient feature of Maryland's topography is Chesapeake Bay, which serves the port of Baltimore and divides the Eastern Shore from what was once called Maryland Main. On a summer weekend as many as 100,000 sailboats and powerboats may be seen on the water. The Chesapeake's 23 estuarial tributaries provide the state with some 3,200 miles (5,150 kilometres) of shoreline. Maryland's share of the Appalachian Mountains comprises a series of forested barriers, with many of the intervening valleys still uncleared. Backbone Mountain, hugging the West Virginia line, is the highest point in Maryland, at 3,360 feet (1,024 metres).
Service businesses pervade the economy, and agriculture directly supports only a small number of people. The state has taken an increasing interest in the well-being of the private sector, particularly through its Department of Economic and Community Development. The agency encourages outside firms to locate in Maryland, promotes tourism, and keeps a close watch on the economy of the state. Maryland has one category of nationwide preeminence: crabs. The state's crab haul consistently surpasses that of other states. Saltwater staples also include other shellfish, as well as perch, flounder, and other finfish.
The outdoors looms large in the life of Marylanders. Popular activities in the state include sailing and crabbing on the bay, trolling for ocean marlin, shooting wild ducks and geese in the marshes of the Shore, playing the game of lacrosse (derived from an Indian sport), beachcombing for fossil shark teeth at Calvert Cliffs, exploring mountain caves, and hiking the 38-mile (61-kilometre) stretch of the Appalachian Trail across Maryland in a single day. Sailboat and sports-car racing attracts both participants and spectators. Audiences that extend beyond Maryland's borders are drawn to the horse racing at Laurel and Pimlico (notably the Preakness, which is run in May), Baltimore's baseball team, the Orioles, and Washington's ice hockey and basketball teams, both based in Prince George's county.
Maryland offers the traveler from the north three trunk highways into Baltimore and four highways south to Washington, D.C. It is possible to swing around Baltimore and Washington on beltways or to avoid them altogether by Eastern Shore routes. The Harbor Tunnel Thruway and Francis Scott Key Bridge provide routes across Baltimore's harbour. Amtrak provides passenger rail service to Baltimore, and residents of Montgomery and Prince George's counties commute to Washington, D.C., on the Metro subway. Baltimore, too, has built a Metro subway between Owings Mills, a northwest suburb, and downtown. Baltimore–Washington International Airport is augmented by numerous public airports throughout the state. For freight shipments, the port of Baltimore has excellent facilities and is one of the nation's busiest ports. The port, supervised by a state agency, is especially adapted to bulk commodities, container shipments, and foreign-made automobiles.
