Maryland

                                       



State Symbols
State Bird Baltimore Oriole
State Boat Skipjack
State Cat Calico cat
State Crustacean Blue crab
State Dessert Smith Island cake
State Dinosaur Astrodon johnstoni
State Dog Chesapeake Bay retriever
State Drink Milk
State Exercise Walking
State Fish Rockfish
State Flower Black-eyed susan
State Folk Dance Square dance
State Fossil Shell Ecphora gardnerae gardnerae (Wilson)
State Gem Patuxent river stone
State Horse Thoroughbred horse
State Insect Baltimore checkerspot butterfly
State Motto Fatti maschii, parole femine (Manly deeds, womanly words)
State Nickname Free State; Old Line State
State Reptile Diamondback terrapin
State Sport Jousting
State Team Sport Lacrosse
State Tree White oak
State Quarter Issue Date March 13, 2000


Sports Teams
Major Sports Teams
MLB: Baltimore Orioles
NFL: Baltimore Ravens, Washington Redskins

NCAA Division I Schools
Coppin State University (Mid-Eastern Athletic)
Loyola University Maryland (Patriot)
University of Maryland, Baltimore County (America East)
University of Maryland, College Park (Big Ten)
University of Maryland Eastern Shore (Mid-Eastern Athletic)
Morgan State University (Mid-Eastern Athletic)
Mount St. Mary's University (Northeast)
Towson University (Colonial Athletic Association)
United States Naval Academy (Navy) (Navy)



Popular Tourist Attractions

• Chesapeake Bay Bridge: Dual-span bridge spanning the Chesapeake Bay in Maryland.
• Merriweather Post Pavilion: Performing arts theater in Columbia, Maryland.
• Six Flags America: Theme park in Upper Marlboro, Maryland.
• National Aquarium: Aquarium in Baltimore, Maryland.
• Fort McHenry: National monument and historic shrine located in Baltimore, Maryland.
• Deep Creek Lake: Man-made lake in western Maryland.
• Port Discovery: Children's museum in Baltimore, Maryland.
• American Visionary Art Museum: Art museum in Baltimore, Maryland.
• Adventure Park USA: Amusement center in Monrovia, Maryland.
• Baltimore Inner Harbor: Historic seaport in Baltimore, Maryland.
• Baltimore Museum of Art: Art museum in Baltimore, Maryland.
• Brookside Gardens: Botanical garden in Wheaton-Glenmont, Maryland.
• Maryland Science Center: Science museum in Baltimore, Maryland.
• Sandy Point State Park: 786-acre state park located along the northwestern shore of the Chesapeake Bay in Maryland.
• Walters Art Museum: Art museum in Baltimore, Maryland.
• Jolly Roger Amusement Park: Amusement park in Ocean City, Maryland.
• Maryland Zoo: Zoo in Baltimore, Maryland.
• Ocean City Boardwalk: Entertainment district along the Atlantic coast in Ocean City, Maryland.

Famous People Born In Maryland

• Spiro T. Agnew vice president, Baltimore
• Benjamin Banneker mathematician, astronomer, Oella/Ellicott City
• John Barth writer, Cambridge
• Eubie Blake musician, Baltimore
• John Wilkes Booth actor, Lincoln assassin, Harford County
• Francis X. Bushman actor, Baltimore
• James M. Cain writer, Annapolis
• Samuel Chase jurist, Sumerset Cty
• John Dickinson statesman, Talbot Cty
• Frederick Douglass abolitionist, Tuckahoe
• Christopher Gist frontiersman, Baltimore
• Philip Glass composer, Baltimore
• Matthew Henson explorer, Charles Cty
• Billie Holiday jazz-blues singer, Baltimore
• Johns Hopkins financier, Anne Arundel Cty
• Reverdy Johnson lawyer, statesman, Annapolis
• Thomas Johnson political leader, Calvert Cty
• Francis Scott Key laywer, author, Carroll Cty
• Thurgood Marshall jurist, Baltimore
• H. L. Mencken writer, Baltimore
• Charles Willson Peale painter, naturalist Queen Annes Cty
• Babe Ruth baseball player, Baltimore
• Upton Sinclair author, Baltimore
• Roger B. Taney jurist, Calvert Cty
• Harriet Tubman abolitionist, Dorchester Cty
• Leon Uris author, Baltimore
• Frank Zappa singer, Baltimore

Nobel Prize Winners

• Peyton Rous (Physiology or Medicine, 1966)
• Martin Rodbell (Physiology or Medicine, 1994)

Baseball Hall Of Fame Players

• Babe Ruth (Right Fielder. Inducted in 1936)
• Lefty Grove (Pitcher. Inducted in 1947)
• Jimmie Foxx (First Baseman. Inducted in 1951)
• Frank Baker (Third Baseman. Inducted in 1955)
• Judy Johnson (Third Baseman. Inducted in 1975)
• Al Kaline (Right Fielder. Inducted in 1980)
• Vic Willis (Pitcher. Inducted in 1995)
• Cal Ripken, Jr. (Shortstop. Inducted in 2007)
• John Schuerholz (Executive. Inducted in 2017)

Famous Actors And Actresses

• Julie Bowen
• Anna Faris
• David Hasselhoff
• Sylvester Stallone

Famous Singers

• Toni Braxton
• Julienne Irwin
• Scott Weinrich
• JC Chasez

Maryland Fun Facts

• The state of Maryland was named after Queen Henrietta Maria, who was the wife of England King Charles I.
• The Court of Appeals of Maryland is the only court in the United States whose judges wear red robes.
• The Maryland State House in Annapolis is the oldest state capitol still in continuous legislative use. It is also the only state house ever to have served as the nation's capitol, from 1783 to 1784.
• Havre de Grace is known as the "Decoy Capital of the World." The city also hosts the Havre de Grace Decoy Museum.
• Maryland gave up some of its land to form Washington D.C.
• Maryland is commonly referred to as “America in Miniature” and sometimes “Little America” because it’s home to just about any type of nature feature, other than a desert.
• Maryland was the first state to enact Workmen's Compensation laws in 1902.
• The national anthem of the United States, The Star-Spangled Banner, was written by Francis Scott Key on September 13, 1814, after he witnessed the bombardment of Fort McHenry by the British during the Battle of Fort McHenry in the War of 1812.
• Maryland is the only state in the United States with an official State Exercise: walking.
• The longest escalator in the United States is in the Wheaton Station of the Washington Metro in Montgomery County, Maryland. It is 230 feet long.
• In the city of Rockville, swearing on the road is a misdemeanor.

About Maryland
Home to the Chesapeake Bay, Maryland is known for its blue crabs and the city of Baltimore, a major historic trading port, baseball power and birthplace of the national anthem. Francis Scott Key wrote “The Star-Spangled Banner” as he watched the American flag wave above Fort McHenry on the harbor during the War of 1812, signaling Britain's defeat.

As one of the original 13 colonies, Maryland has always played a pivotal role in American history. Maryland was named a state in 1788 and was the seventh to ratify the U.S. Constitution. As a border state during the Civil War, it ultimately joined the Union, though it was divided in its support, even among family members.

Maryland remained a slave state for most of the war, forcing slaves like abolitionists Harriet Tubman and Frederick Douglass to flee. In 1862, the Old Line State held the bloodiest one-day battle in the nation’s history: the Battle of Antietam.

Today, Maryland continues to be integral to the nation’s progress. Adjacent to the nation’s capital, Maryland employs the fourth largest percentage of federal workers of any state and has more than 60 federal agencies.

From its crowded cities to its rugged mountains and waterfront towns on the Eastern Shore, Maryland is small yet eclectic. The state’s largest city, Baltimore, is a hub of diversity, with its Inner Harbor attractions and Johns Hopkins Hospital, one of the top medical institutions in the nation, and Johns Hopkins University, one of the nation’s leading research universities.

In addition to Baltimore, also called Charm City, the state has a rich history in its capital of Annapolis. The U.S. Naval Academy is nestled in Annapolis, which served as the nation’s temporary capital at the end of the Revolutionary War. Ocean City is another popular tourist destination, where vacationers flock to the beach each summer for a kid-friendly getaway.

With a population of more than 6 million people, Maryland is strongly Democratic and had the highest median household income of $78,945 in 2016.

Religiously, 69 percent of adults in the state identify as Christian, according to the Pew Research Center. Maryland is slightly more diverse than national rates, with most of its foreign-born population stemming from Asia and Latin America.

Families are drawn to Maryland for its esteemed educational system. Its high schools outperformed those of all other states in the 2017 Best High Schools rankings, which are based on college readiness. In addition to private schools like Johns Hopkins and Loyola University, the University System of Maryland offers 12 institutions. The University of Maryland, which hands incoming students at orientation a crab mallet and Old Bay seasoning in true Maryland fashion, sits in College Park.

The school houses some of the country’s most prestigious engineering programs, including its aerospace engineering program. Maryland is an aerospace and defense hot spot, holding the majority of the country’s top aerospace companies and defense contractors. It houses the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center and NOAA, along with defense contractors like Northrop Grumman and Lockheed Martin.

Maryland also boasts a $57.4 billion military industry, which includes Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, the largest military medical center in the nation. Fort George G. Meade is the state’s top employer and contains the U.S. Cyber Command and National Security Agency headquarters.

As a result of its involvement in these industries, Maryland ranks first in the percentage of professional and technical workers and in the amount of federal money allocated for research and development.

Though Maryland takes pride in its seafood, with restaurants boasting the best crabcakes, pollution has threatened the Bay and its inhabitants over recent decades. In 2009, President Barack Obama declared an executive order aimed at restoring and protecting the “national treasure.”