Travel along the Great Chesapeake Bay Loop by visiting one or more quintessential Chesapeake Bay towns as the starting point for your adventure. Each town has its own personality and displays a distinct mood. Some provide a serene retreat, while others beat with the thriving energy of the city. Along the way, you’ll find places to access the waterfront and sail on historic oystering vessels or charter boats.
Lighthouses, which have protected mariners for centuries from the notorious shallow Bay waters, can be toured. Charming main streets with locally-inspired architecture lure you to peruse unique shops and galleries with friendly staff. Seafood restaurants entice with the aroma and flavors of a fresh catch. And there are places to feed the mind and curiosity too, at numerous maritime and decoy museums. https://www.visitmaryland.org/great-chesapeake-bay-loop
Assateague Island offers the allure and mystique of wild horses roaming the beaches of this unspoiled island. No one knows just how these horses found their way to the island more than 400 years ago, but their iconic beauty adds to the allure of Assateague's miles of pristine beaches.
Baltimore’s Inner Harbor is famous for attractions like the world-renowned National Aquarium, Maryland Science Center, Port Discovery Children’s Museum and The American Visionary Art Museum, but it’s home to so much more. The boutiques of Harbor East, Harborplace and The Gallery are an ideal shopping adventure. Celebrity chefs, farm-to-table feasts, and some of the best seafood in the country make for world-class dining, MECU Pavilion (formerly Pier Six Pavilion) concerts and the clubs and pubs of Fells Point, Canton and Power Plant Live generate electric nightlife. With its famous water taxis and the nearly seven-mile brick path of the Waterfront Promenade, the harbor is just waiting for you to come explore.
Maryland offers World-Class Art Museums! Spend a day at Hagerstown’s Washington County Museum of Fine Arts: with its impressive collection of American landscape portraiture, it is one of the best small museums in the country. In Salisbury, take in the Ward Museum of Wildfowl Art, home to the most comprehensive collection of wildfowl carvings in the country. And in Baltimore, visit the Walter’s Art Museum that houses works dating from Ancient Egyptian-times through the 20th century, and the Baltimore Museum of Art, home of famous paintings by Matisse, Picasso, Van Gogh and Renoir.
Explore Downtown Frederick; Small enough to walk but big enough to need a long weekend—or more—to explore, this 50-block historic district, named one of the “Prettiest Painted-Places in America,” is home to a Public Art Trail, world-class brew pubs, restaurants, boutiques, and impressive museums. When it comes to big-city amenities, Frederick punches way above its weight without sacrificing its small town charm.
Photos Courtesy of Kevin Quinlan, Plaid Photo Justin Tsucalas and Chesapeake City