- Civil War Series - 1861 was a rough year on the battlefield for Union forces in the Eastern Theater. After the Civil War commenced at Fort Sumter in April, the young Federal Army suffered a significant setback at the First Battle of Bull Run in July. Although the Confederate Army failed to push the …
Piscataway Park in southwest Maryland features a mix of riparian forests, grasslands, and marshes within an hour’s drive of Washington, DC. While most visitors will flock to the National Colonial Farm (which itself boasts several hiking trails), the Accokeek Creek area offers a more natural experience, with ample opportunities to spot birds—eagles, herons, and ospreys …
Continue reading Accokeek Creek Marsh Boardwalk & Mockley Point Trail (Piscataway Park, MD)
Situated inside Maryland’s Piscataway Park, the Accokeek Foundation, an education non-profit, runs the 200-acre National Colonial Farm along the banks of the Potomac River. In addition to live barnyard animals, the farm features a series of interlocking nature trails, several of which can be combined to form a roughly 2.5-mile circuit around the riverside tract. …
The Billy Goat Trail is well-known to DC-area hikers, but most hike only one of the trail’s three sections. While Section A is swamped with visitors on any given weekend, Sections B and C are usually quiet and serene. Section C, the closest to DC, covers relatively level terrain above the north banks of the …
Continue reading Billy Goat Trail – Section C (Chesapeake & Ohio Canal National Historical Park, MD)
- Revolutionary War Series - The roughly one-mile Nature Trail at Virginia’s George Washington Birthplace National Monument offers a short journey through peaceful woodlands situated across Dancing Marsh from the main historic area. The forest was the old stomping grounds of George Washington, who, despite moving area from the Pope’s Creek area when he was …
Continue reading Nature Trail (George Washington Birthplace National Monument, VA)
- Revolutionary War Series - George Washington Birthplace National Monument in Tidewater Virginia is, at least to some degree, a fraud. Yes, to the best of our knowledge, the Revolutionary War hero and first U.S. president was born here, on what was once Pope’s Creek Plantation, in February 1732. The structures that exist today, however—from …
Continue reading George Washington Birthplace National Monument, VA
Montgomery County’s Seneca Creek State Park offers quiet isolation in one of Maryland’s most densely populated areas, particularly the park’s wild southern section. Here two moderate paths—the Seneca Greenway Trail and Seneca Bluffs Trail—snake through the Seneca Creek stream valley between Highway 28 and the Potomac River; combined, the two make for a long day …
Continue reading Seneca Greenway – Seneca Bluffs Trail Loop (Seneca Creek State Park, MD)
- Civil War Series - Spanning more than 200 years of history, Maryland’s Fort Washington is situated on a picturesque hill overlooking the wide and placid Potomac River, within sight of Washington, DC. The 19th century fort today lies within Fort Washington Park, protected and administered by the National Park Service. Around the brick structure, …
Continue reading Fort Washington Loop (Fort Washington Park, MD)
- Civil War Series - The history of Maryland’s Fort Washington spans several of America’s wars, from the War of 1812 through the Civil War and the two World Wars. The first fort on this site, a stone structure constructed in 1809, was short-lived: it was burned and abandoned by its own garrison as the …
- Civil War Series - One of 68 forts protecting Washington, DC during the Civil War, Fort Foote was built by Union forces to defend the nation’s capital from a potential Confederate naval attack on the Potomac River. Completed in 1863, this battery atop Rozier’s Bluff on the Maryland shore boasted eight 200-pound Parrott rifles …
Live and Let Hike 