Western Maryland’s Washington County is known for outdoor recreation. In addition to numerous parks, the county features long segments of the Appalachian Trail, the C&O Canal towpath – excellent for hiking, horseback riding, paddling sports and fishing – and the Western Maryland Rail Trail, which follows the former Western Maryland Railway line.

Hagerstown, the county seat and largest city in the county, is the site of Washington County Museum of Fine Arts and the Maryland Theatre, a restored 1915 vaudeville house. The Hager House and Museum, where town founder Jonathan Hager lived, is built of over two springs – he wanted to be sure water would always be available.

To celebrate the significance of the railroad in Washington County history, you can visit two C&O Canal museums and the Hagerstown Roundhouse Museum. At Sideling Hill, near Hancock, is a wall of rock that dates back 350 million years ago – 100 million years before dinosaurs. Geological displays are at the exhibit center.

If you’re a Civil War buff, you’ll want to see Antietam National Battlefield, site of the bloodiest single-day battle of the war, September 17, 1862. Fort Frederick, the only British colonial fort still standing, is also here.