Whether you want some Maryland fun facts to use for a project or you want to impress people with your knowledge of the Old Line State, we’ve put together some facts about Maryland that cover everything from weird laws to natural wonder to strange history.
Maryland has plenty of history, natural views, and beautiful towns, and these interesting facts about Maryland are a real tribute to all of the fun Maryland facts to be found (we could have kept going, but kept it to the 51 best ones!).
Keep reading for weird facts about Maryland, amazing facts about Maryland, cool facts about Maryland, and plenty of fun Maryland facts to keep you guessing (or help you put together an awesome Maryland trivia quiz!)
Maryland Fun Facts
1. The first Europeans to explore Maryland were the British.
2. Maryland has been inhabited for over 12,000 years.
3. Maryland was named after the queen of England.
4. The Colony of Maryland was originally established as a safe haven for Catholics.
5. Including the islands that are part of Maryland’s territory, Maryland has 4,431 miles of tidal shoreline.
6. The first post office in the United States was created in Baltimore, Maryland, in 1774.
7. The world’s first telegraph line was set up between Washington, DC, and Baltimore. The world’s first telegraph was sent from Washington, DC, to Baltimore.
8. Annapolis, Maryland, was briefly the capital of the United States, from 1783–1784.
9. Emily Post, the foremost writer on etiquette in the United States, was from Maryland.
10. The Appalachian Plateau covers the northwestern corner of the state. It’s home to the Allegheny Mountains and Maryland’s highest point, Backbone Mountain.
Interesting Facts about Maryland
11. Puritans founded the capital of Maryland.
12. Maryland gained one of its nicknames from the American Civil War.
13. Maryland was considered a border state during the American Civil War, meaning that it was right on the edge between the Union States and the Confederate States.
14. The state gained its nickname “America in Miniature” due to this diversity, as the state is said to have pretty much every kind of natural feature found in the US bar a desert.
15. The official state sport of Maryland is jousting.
16. The first school in the United States, King William’s School, was built in Annapolis in 1696.
17. The town of Garrett Park, Maryland, passed a law in 1898 making it illegal to harm any songbird or tree within city limits.
18. Maryland celebrates Maryland Day on March 25, in commemoration of that day in 1634 when colonial settlers stepped onto her shores.
19. Baltimore, Maryland, is one of the most dangerous cities in the United States, with an average violent crime rate of 1,417 per 100,000 residents.
20. Maryland resident Elizabeth Ann Seton was the first native-born North American to be canonized as a saint by the Roman Catholic Church.
Weird Facts about Maryland
21. There’s a town in Maryland called Boring, and it’s not very interesting.
22. The Ouija board was invented in Baltimore, Maryland.
23. Maryland was the first state to designate a state exercise: walking.
24. A convicted murderer named Harold Benjamin Dean became the first and only person to escape from Maryland’s supermax penitentiary in 2002. He squeezed through an 8-inch by 22-inch window and climbed over the razor wire using a rope made of clothing.
25. The state drink of Maryland is milk.
26. One of the most horrific killings in Baltimore’s history was the murder of a 50-year-old Catholic nun, Sister Maryann Glinka, in 1993. This was the city’s most violent year on record, and prompted the dismissal of the police commissioner.
27. Judges in the Maryland Court of Appeals wear red or scarlet. The fashion choice derives from a connection to English Common Law.
28. Maryland grew tobacco to export to England.
29. Eating while swimming in the ocean in Maryland is prohibited.
30. A law from Ocean City in the early 1900’s prohibits men from going topless on the Boardwalk.
Random Facts about Maryland
31. The United States Naval Academy was established in 1845 in Annapolis, Maryland.
32. The founders of Maryland’s colonial capital city, St. Mary’s City, designed the city to reflect their ideal of the separation of church and state. The mayor’s home was built in the center, with a Catholic church and school on one side and the statehouse and jail on the other.
33. The British government transported tens of thousands of English convicts to Maryland to live out their sentences in the mid-1700s.
34. Famous abolitionist Frederick Douglas was born and educated in Maryland.
35. Maryland’s founding father was British colonist George Calvert, known as First Baron Baltimore.
36. In exchange for granting the Calvert family a charter to settle a new colony, King Charles I asked that it be named for his wife, Queen Henrietta Maria. Thus it was called Terra Mariae, or “Mary-land.”
37. Two ships, The Ark and The Dove, set out from England in 1633 under Cecil Calvert’s leadership, carrying the Maryland settlers seeking religious freedom.
38. The first bookmobile was created in 1905 in Washington County, Maryland, using a horse-drawn wagon.
39. Maryland has an official state crustacean, the Maryland Blue Crab.
40. Maryland was home to the world’s first dental school, St. Francis Academy, founded in 1828.
Amazing Facts about Maryland
41. Famous writers who lived in Maryland include Edgar Allan Poe, Dashiell Hammett, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Upton Sinclair, Gertrude Stein, and W.E.B. Dubois.
42. The Maryland State Capitol building is the oldest surviving statehouse still in use.
43. The critically acclaimed HBO show The Wire takes place in Baltimore, Maryland.
44. The Maryland Gazette, founded in 1727, is the oldest continuously running newspaper in the United States.
45. Maryland is known for fishing, and it produces the most blue crabs in the United States.
46. Visitors to the Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad National Park can explore the same land that Tubman crossed while guiding almost 70 people to freedom during the 1800s.
47. In 1608 Captain John Smith became one of the first Europeans to arrive in the area.
48. In 1727, a man named William Parks founded the Maryland Gazette. Still published today, it is the oldest newspaper in the country.
49. The Chesapeake Bay is the largest estuary in America.
50. In June of 1784, the first hot air balloon ride in the United States took place in Baltimore, Maryland.
51. In 1814, a Maryland lawyer named Francis Key Scott, wrote a poem as he watched an attack take place on Fort McHenry during the War of 1812.
Hey! Want more fun facts about the states? Check these out!
- 51 Fun Facts about Alaska (that most people don’t know!)
- 19 Fun Facts about Arkansas
- 19 Fun Facts about California
- 19 Fun Facts about Colorado
- 51 Fun Facts about Connecticut
- 51 Interesting Facts about Delaware
- 19 Fun Facts about Florida You Won’t Believe
- 29 Fun Facts about Georgia Most People Don’t Know!
- 51 Incredible Fun Facts about Hawaii
- 51 Fun Facts about Idaho
- 51 Fun Facts about Illinois
- 51 Fun Facts about Iowa
- 51 Interesting & Fun Facts about Indiana
- 51 Fun Facts about Kansas
- 51 Fun Facts about Kentucky
- 51 Amazing Fun Facts about Louisiana
- 21 Fun Facts about Maine
- 19 Michigan Fun Facts
- 51 Amazing Facts about Minnesota
- 51 Fun Facts about Mississippi
- 51 Awesome Facts about Missouri
- 51 Interesting Fun Facts about Montana
- 51 Cool Facts about Nebraska (unique!)
- 51 Unique Facts about Nevada
- 51 Amazing Fun Facts about New Hampshire
- 51 Incredible Fun Facts about New Mexico
- 39 Fun Facts about New York
- 19 Fun Facts about North Carolina
- 21 Fun Facts about Ohio
- 21 Interesting Facts about Oregon
- 49 Fun Facts about Pennsylvania
- 21 Fun Facts about Rhode Island (unique!)
- 21 Fun Facts about Utah
- 19 Interesting Facts about Washington State
- 51 Cool Facts about Wyoming
- 51 Cool Facts about Wisconsin
- 51 Cool Facts about West Virginia
- 51 Cool Facts about Virginia
- 51 Cool Facts about Vermont
- 51 Cool Facts about Tennessee
- 51 Cool Facts about South Dakota
- 51 Cool Facts about South Carolina
- 51 Cool Facts about Oklahoma
- 51 Cool Facts about North Dakota
Get the All-American Travel Secrets!
Don't miss out on America's hidden gems!
