Maryland Trivia & Tidbits - Page 9

Looking for Maryland trivia? Try our list Maryland little know facts, tidbits and trivia.

The state is less than two miles wide at its narrowest point, where it divides West Virginia and Pennsylvania in the town of Hancock (pop. 1,725).

first appeared: 1/25/2004

Construction of The National Road (today, U.S. Route 40) was begun in 1811 in Cumberland (pop. 21,518) and eventually reached Illinois in 1830. It was the first highway built with federal funds.

first appeared: 1/18/2004

The Chesapeake Bay blue crab, a world-renowned delicacy, was introduced to the seafood industry by watermen of Crisfield (pop. 2,723) more than 100 years ago. The blue is the only crab sufficiently meaty enough to warrant harvesting in its soft-shell stage, from May through September.

first appeared: 1/11/2004

Harriet Tubman was born into slavery in the state around 1820, but escaped in 1849 to become the most famous conductor of the Underground Railroad—an elaborate system of roads and shelters devised to help slaves escape to free states.

first appeared: 1/4/2004

The U.S. Naval Academy was founded in Annapolis (pop. 35,838) in 1845 when Secretary of the Navy George Bancroft moved the school from Philadelphia to rescue midshipmen from “the temptations and distractions” of that city.

first appeared: 12/21/2003

Rachel Carson (1907-1964), who resided in Silver Spring, worked as a zoologist and author. Her 1962 book, Silent Spring, about the long-term effects of pesticides, helped launch the modern environmental movement.

first appeared: 12/14/2003

Charles Adler Jr., a lifelong Baltimore resident, invented and installed the first vehicle-actuated traffic signal in 1928.

first appeared: 12/7/2003

In 1966, the Baltimore Orioles’ Frank Robinson became the first to be named Most Valuable Player in both the American and National (1961) baseball leagues.

first appeared: 11/30/2003

The USS Constellation, launched in 1797, was the U.S. Navy’s last all-sail warship. It is now displayed in Baltimore’s Inner Harbor.

first appeared: 11/23/2003

The Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge on Maryland’s Eastern Shore was established in 1933 as a haven for migratory waterfowl. It’s also home to the bald eagle and the Delmarva fox squirrel, listed as threatened and endangered, respectively.

first appeared: 11/16/2003

The Fire Museum of Maryland in Lutherville (pop. 15,814) displays 400 years worth of fire fighting equipment, from 17th-century leather buckets to a 1950s-vintage fire truck.

first appeared: 11/9/2003

The Thrasher Carriage Museum in Frostburg (pop. 7,873) features a collection of early 19th and 20th-century horse-drawn conveyances, including the Landau that was President Theodore Roosevelt’s inaugural carriage.

first appeared: 11/2/2003

Honoring another era, the Chesapeake & Allegheny Steam Preservation Society in Baltimore builds one-eighth scale steam locomotives. Visitors can ride free on these miniature trains on the second Sunday of each month.

first appeared: 10/26/2003

Baltimore can lay claim to the nation’s first umbrella factory, established by William Beehler in 1828. The company’s motto: “Born in Baltimore, raised everywhere.”

first appeared: 10/19/2003

On Sept. 6, 1995, Cal Ripken Jr. edged past Lou Gehrig for consecutive games played, earning a place in baseball history. Maryland’s famous baseball family—Cal Ripken Sr. and sons Cal Jr. and Billy—is celebrated at the Ripken Museum in Aberdeen (pop. 13,842).

first appeared: 10/12/2003

Maryland, My Maryland, the official state song, was written by 22-year-old schoolteacher James Ryder Randall during the Civil War.

first appeared: 10/5/2003

The beach at the 15-million-year-old Calvert Cliffs has yielded prehistoric shark teeth and other fossils, which can be seen at the Calvert Marine Museum in Solomons (pop. 1,536).

first appeared: 9/28/2003

The Dove and the Ark, sailing from England in 1634, carried Maryland’s first settlers. The Society of the Dove and the Ark was founded in 1910 in memory of those families.

first appeared: 9/21/2003

Greenbelt (pop. 21,456) is home to the Goddard Space Flight Center, a major laboratory for the development and operation of unmanned scientific spacecraft.

first appeared: 9/14/2003

Maryland’s state bird is the Baltimore oriole, named for state founder Lord Baltimore, a 17th-century Englishman. Fittingly, the Lord’s coat of arms, like the oriole’s, was a brilliant orange and black.

first appeared: 9/7/2003

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