Maryland Overview

According to ebizdir, Maryland is a small and tranquil state on the east coast of the United States, where you can spend a really nice vacation. Big cities like Baltimore can be found there as well as beautiful little fishing villages where life seems to play in another time. Not to be forgotten, of course, are the coastal areas with their sandy beaches, where you can enjoy a beach holiday in the sun.

The Cheasapeake Bay is particularly interesting for everyone who likes to do water sports, here you can wonderfully sail and surf. The Blackwater Nature Reserve is well worth seeing from a scenic point of view, but also the quaint villages are worth seeing when taking a trip to Maryland. Ocean City is also a magnet for visitors. This is a 10-kilometer stretch of beach on which there are numerous small hustle and bustle so that you can experience a colorful mixture of bathing fun and folk festival. Plenty of entertainment is on offer there, especially during spring break.

Maryland is a very diverse state where you can experience everything from life in the big city to a beach holiday to beautiful days in nature. Maryland is one of those states that you simply have to see on a vacation in the USA.

Maryland – key data

Land area: 32,133 sq km (42nd place of all US states)

Share of water surface: 21%

Population: 5.63 million (2008 estimate, ranked 19th of all states in the United States)

Population density: 175 residents per square kilometer (5th place in all states in the USA)

Member of the United States since: April 28, 1788

Capital: Annapolis (36,408 residents, 2004)

Largest city: Baltimore (637,455 residents, 2007, metropolitan area 2.67 million residents)

Highest point: 1,024 m, Hoye Crest

Lowest point: 0 m, Atlantic Ocean

Governor: Martin O’Malley (Democrat)

Lieut. Governor: Anthony G. Brown (Democrat)

Local time: CET -6 h. From the second Sunday in March to the first Sunday in November: CET -5 h.
The time difference to Central Europe is -6 h in both winter and summer.

Postal abbreviation: MD

Maryland Geography and Map

Maryland is located on the coast of the Atlantic Ocean and is one of the most densely populated states in the United States of America. The capital is Annapolis. Located on Cheasapeake Bay, Annapolis is one of the most important ports in the state alongside the metropolis of Baltimore.

The Cheasapeake Bay is the largest estuary in the United States and also part of the Atlantic Ocean, which is surrounded by land, ie by parts of Maryland and Virginia. The bay’s water surface covers about 12,000 square kilometers and extends over a length of more than 300 kilometers. At its narrowest point near Annapolis, the bay is about four miles wide and is spanned by the Bay Bridge. The Cheasapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel near the mouth provides the necessary transport links.
The bay covers a catchment area of ​​approximately 166,000 square kilometers. This includes a total of seven states. In addition to Maryland and Virginia, these are Washington, DC, New York, Pennsylvania, Delaware and West Virginia. More than 150 rivers and streams flow into the bay.
The bay is said to have been one of the most productive fishing grounds in the world and the oyster beds there were legendary. However, pollution and overfishing put an end to this fish paradise.

Maryland covers a total of approximately 32,133 square kilometers. It is an average of 105 meters above sea level. The highest elevation of Maryland is the 1,024 meter high Hoye Crest. The lowest point in the state is at sea level on the Atlantic Ocean.
More than 20 percent of Maryland’s area is covered by water.
Maryland is bordered by Pennsylvania and Delaware to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the east. The state is bordered to the south and west by Virginia and West Virginia and Washington, DC.

Maryland has an extremely diverse topography, which is why it is sometimes referred to as America in Miniature. The landscape stretches from the sandy coast in the east of the state over swamp areas near the coast to the gently rolling, wooded hills of the Piedmont and the mountains of the Appalachians in the west.
The Appalachian Mountains are a wooded low mountain range and extend over a length of about 2,400 kilometers. They range from Canadian Province of Quebec all the way to Alabama.

The Piedmont Plateau stretches between the coastal plain and the central section of the Appalachian Mountains, the Blue Ridge Mountains. The total area of ​​the Piedmont covers approx. 207,000 square kilometers. From north to south, the plateau extends from New Jersey to Alabama. While it is very narrow above the Delaware River, in North Carolina it reaches a width of more than 470 kilometers.
Physiographically, the Piedmont is closely related to the Appalachians connected and can be divided into a highland region, the Piedmont Highlands, and a lowland region, the Piedmont Lowlands. The soils of the plateau are loamy and only partially fertile. While cotton was predominantly grown in the south, tobacco cultivation dominated in the central part, in North Carolina and Virginia. In the north of the plateau, the soil experiences a wide range of agricultural uses, from fruit growing to dairy farming and growing of grain.

Maryland Landmarks

Maryland is one of the few US states that doesn’t have so many attractions to offer to tourists. Still, the state is worth a trip.

So it is definitely worth seeing the Antietam National Battlefield near Sharpsburg. This is a silent witness to the bloodiest battle in the American Civil War. Even today, September 17th, 1862 is branded in the minds of many Americans. More than twenty thousand people on both sides lost their lives here that day.

Also worth seeing is the home and grave of the famous writer Edgar Ellen Poe in Baltimore. Don’t miss the Lilie-Carroll-Jackson Museum in the same city.

Something special is the Assateaque Island National Seashore, a nature reserve with almost untouched beaches and wonderful marshland.

Maryland Overview