Maryland

“America in Miniature”

The Chesapeake Bay provided 4,000 miles of shoreline for settlements by Native Americans (mostly Algonquians) and European settlers.

Today, 16 of Maryland’s counties and its largest city, Baltimore, sit at the edge of this expansive waterway. Like Pennsylvania, Maryland was founded upon religious tolerance. Its founder, George Calvert, was a Catholic, and he sought to provide refuge to British Catholics who were persecuted.

Maryland was in a unique position during the Civil War: despite being on the Union side of the conflict, it continued to be a slave-state

In the 20th Century, Maryland got the nickname “America in Miniature” because of its cultural and geographic diversity.