An old line used by Maryland’s travel bureau trumpeted the state as “America in Miniature.” It’s a slogan the purports that idea that Maryland encompasses all of America’s geographic and cultural diversity, only in a much smaller package. I don’t buy it. What is accurate, though, is that for a relatively compact state, Maryland has more than its share of disparate regions.
Maryland State House
For example, rural western Maryland might as well be part of West Virginia. Its identity, its topography and its major industry, coal mining, seem much more at home in the Mountain State. It even nearly gets pinched off from the rest of the state, in a region in which one can travel through four states (PA, MD, WV and VA) in under a half-hour. Whereas Western Maryland evokes the Appalachian South, Maryland’s Eastern Shore is like the Tidewater South (with a little bit of tacky Jersey Shore mixed in).
Baltimore is in between. I have to say that, in disagreement with the punchline that it sometimes is, I really appreciated the rowhouses and ethnic neighborhoods of this working-class city. Like Philly, or Brooklyn or Boston, the cultural makeup can change in as little time as it takes to cross the street. Crime is high here, but the touristy areas like the Inner Harbor are fine. I enjoyed a delicious—and pricey—crabcake sandwich at Miss Shirley’s. One of the best in Bawlmer, Hon!
Greater D.C. shapes Maryland, too; and vice versa. Maybe because so many of D.C.’s more exclusive suburbs are over on the Maryland side, this region can give greater Baltimore an unwarranted inferiority complex.
A little more than a half-hour away from either of those places is Annapolis… hands down, one of the top two or three most beautiful capital cities in the U.S. This home to both the state government and the U.S. Naval Academy is moneyed and utterly full of maritime charm. The state house is very pretty… it was once used as the U.S. Capitol, and no other capitol has had its legislature reside in it longer. Tours are restricted to one floor, which is unusual and a bit disappointing. But there are lots of fun facts to make up for it: the mortar between the bricks was made from ground-up oyster shells! That wooden dome, the largest such in the U.S., contains not one nail! Be sure to allow lots of time to meander the streets, walk into the shops and dine along the water or at one of the many great restaurants along Main Street.
Tags: Annapolis, Maryland, Maryland State Capitol
