There is an abandoned rail trail bed, the Balitmore-Drum Point Rail Trail, that consists of approximately 25 miles of graded trail in the area of Prince Frederick, MD in Calvert County. According to records online from the Maryland Historical Trust the railroad itself was never completed. As late as 1996 portions of the bed remained visible to the naked eye while in other areas it has become overgrown or destroyed by development.

The full length of the rail bed has never been studied or recorded.

Historical Information

Originally intended to provide access to an additional port for Baltimore City the rail line was chartered in 1868. It was intended to connect Baltimore through Anne Arundel and Calvert County. Grading work began in 1870 and by 1889 25 miles has been graded and trestles constructed over both St. Leonard and Hunting Creek. But in 1890 due to a lack of support the project was abandoned.

The bed was constructed by hand with shovels, pick-axes, plows and horse-drawn carts.

The railroad bed remains most clearly visible in southern Calvert County.

This information is available online from the Maryland Department of Natural Resources.

Baltimore-Drum Point Rail Trail (Recreational Greenways) The Baltimore-Drum Point Rail Trail is a potential rail trail that runs the length of the entire county. Large sections of the abandoned railroad bed are still intact, providing excellent opportunites for hiking, biking, and horseback riding through a varied landscape of farms, forests, and waterways linking the town centers of Owings, Prince Frederick, St. Leonard, Lusby, and Solomons. At Flag Ponds, the trail becomes the Flag Ponds to Solomons Trail. At Owings, the trail intersects the potential Chesapeake Beach Rail Trail. From http://www.dnr.state.md.us/greenways/counties/calvert.html

If anyone has additional information on this trail, please share. Does it hold potential, as MD DNR indicates, for a southern Maryland rail trail?