Situated in the corridor between Baltimore and Washington, D.C., is Howard County. The county’s rich history is reflected in Ellicott City, an historic mill town established in 1722. Here, you’ll find the Firehouse Museum, the County Courthouse atop Mt. Misery, and the Historical Society, which occupies a pre-1790 building that may be the town’s oldest.

You can trace railroad history at the B&O Railroad Station Museum, once the terminus of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad and the station from where a B&O locomotive, the Tom Thumb, raced a horse-drawn carriage to Baltimore. Though the train lost that day, the age of railways was underway.

In Elkridge, you’ll see the Thomas Viaduct, the first multiple-arch railroad bridge in the world. The Bollman Truss Railroad Bridge in Savage is the only semi-suspension truss bridge still in existence. Also in Savage: the renovated Savage Mill, a former textile mill that now houses numerous artists and antiques dealers.

You’re quickly back to contemporary times when you visit Columbia’s Welcome Center. Columbia is a planned community built in the mid-1960s by James Rouse, an enterprising developer who gained national prominence. While there, drop by the Maryland Museum of African Art and the Howard County Center of African-American Culture.

Visit the Howard County web site.