With 8,000-plus acres of wildlife sanctuaries, nature preserves, parks and campgrounds, as well as 100 acres of freshwater lakes, eight public boat ramps, a marina, and miles of rivers and creeks, Caroline County offers plenty of recreational choices: hiking, camping, canoeing, kayaking, fishing, boating and bird-watching.

Picturesque farmlands and flat roadways with sparse traffic provide ample opportunities for cycling. And, there’s even a place to go hang-gliding.

Take a self-guided paddle trip at the Choptank River Heritage Center and Joppa Steamboat Wharf in West Denton. Also in Denton: the Annie Taylor House Museum of Rural Life, which depicts life on a farm; the historic Quaker Neck Meeting House, where Abolitionists held meetings during the Civil War.

The oldest grist mill in the nation is at Hunting Creek near Preston, a typical farm community on Maryland’s Easter Shore. Just north of Preston is where many believe Charles Dickenson is buried. Dickinson was a Caroline resident who was killed in a duel with future president Andrew Jackson in 1806.

Caroline was established in 1773 by English and Quaker settlers from Pennsylvania. That’s the year when an elaborately carved English limestone post, bearing the coat of arms of Lord Baltimore and William Penn, was set down in Marydel as part of the Mason-Dixon Line, marking the northern border of Maryland

Visit the Caroline County web site.