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Visitors to Woodlawn, Maryland, may be impressed with the fact that the community is the home of the Social Security Administration and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. However, Woodlawn can also boast of having Patapsco Valley State Park only minutes away.

The 14,000-acre park is one of the largest, most beautiful natural playgrounds in all of Maryland. The recreation area, which extends thirty-two miles along the Patapsco River and contains 200 miles of trails (70 of those maintained), is Maryland’s first and perhaps finest state park. Visitors can choose from a smorgasbord of activities: hiking, trail running, mountain biking, horseback riding, canoeing, swimming, tubing, camping, fishing, or picnicking. Students who work with a Woodlawn tutor will have more time on weekends to explore this fantastic park.

Patapsco Valley State Park is divided into sections. History buffs will find several heritage sites at the south end of the park (the “Avalon/Glen Artney/Orange Grove Flour Mill Area”). In fact, a visit to these historical sites can reinforce the efforts of Woodlawn tutors who help their students with Maryland history. Following are some don’t-miss spots in this section of the park:

Thomas Viaduct
Completed in 1835, the Thomas Viaduct is the world’s largest multiple-arched stone railroad bridge with an arc.

Bloede’s Dam
The first hydroelectric dam in the U.S. with turbines inside the hollow core of the dam, Bloede’s Dam was once considered a major engineering feat of the twentieth century. The dam no longer generates electricity and is, in fact, being reassessed because it is an obstacle for fish passage and serves to divide the aquatic habitat.

Old Gun Road Stone Arch Bridge
In colonial times, this bridge supplied water power to the Dorsey Forge. Rumor has it that George Washington laid out Gun Road to move guns that had been produced at the Dorsey Forge. The guns were transported to Elkridge Landing and shipped down the river to Annapolis to be assembled and used for soldiers of the American Revolution.

Orange Grove Flour Mill
The five-story mill, owned by the C.A. Gambrill Manufacturing Company, made and sold flour was sold in white bags, their tops tied with string, that were labeled “Patapsco Superlative Flour.”

Swinging Bridge
This bridge is similar to the swinging bridge that spanned the Patapsco River in the late 1800s and early 1900s and allowed residents to cross the river to work at the mill. It carries hikers past the remnants of the Orange Grove Flower Mill, which burned in 1905, to the popular Grist Mill Trail. A second swinging bridge (built in 2006, thus not a heritage site) is located at the end of the Grist Mill Trail and connects on the other side of the river to Ilchester Road.

Although visitors won’t find historical sites in every section of Patapsco Valley State Park, each area has its own features and amenities and are worth a day trip—or two!