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In 1608 Captain John Smith became one of the first Europeans to arrive in the area. Then in 1632 Englishman George Calvert was given permission by the king of England to establish the colony of Maryland (though George died before settling the colony; his son Cecilius organized the expedition of colonists instead.) Yet British rule wouldn’t last: Maryland signed the Declaration of Independence in 1776.
After the United States won the Revolutionary War in 1783, Annapolis, Maryland, became the new country’s capital—but for less than a year. Maryland was made the seventh U.S. state in 1788, and gave up part of its land two years later to help create Washington, D.C.
In 1850 Maryland would become an important part of the Underground Railroad thanks to Harriet Tubman, a Maryland native who fled the state to escape slavery but returned to rescue and lead others to freedom.
Eleven years later, tensions between northern and southern states, particularly over slavery, led to the Civil War. Although Maryland was just south of the Mason-Dixon Line—the name for the border between Pennsylvania and Maryland, which was considered the line dividing the North and South—it sided with the Union in the North. The war’s bloodiest battle, Antietam, took place in Sharpsburg, Maryland. In 1864 slavery was finally abolished in Maryland.
Bird: Baltimore Oriole
It was officially adopted by the legislature in 1947.
Baltimore orioles are migratory and live Maryland and the rest of the eastern United States only in the summer months.
—Go fish! Visitors to the National Aquarium can check out jellyfish, a living reef, dolphins, and sharks.
—Famous Marylanders include Francis Scott Key, who wrote the Star Spangled Banner; baseball player Babe Ruth; Jazz musician Billie Holiday; and civil rights activist Thurgood Marshall, who became the first African-American Supreme Court justice (or judge) in the United States.
—Visitors to the Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad National Park can explore the same land that Tubman crossed while guiding almost 70 people to freedom during the 1800s.
Flag: The Maryland flag contains the family crest of the Calvert and Crossland families. Maryland was founded as an English colony in 1634 by Cecil Calvert, the second Lord Baltimore. The black and Gold designs belong to the Calvert family. The red and white design belongs to the Crossland family. Flag adopted 1904.
Flower: Black-Eyed Susan (Rudbeckia hirta)
The Black-eyed Susan (Rudbeckia hirta) has been the official Maryland flower since 1918 when it was designated the “Floral Emblem” of Maryland by the General Assembly (Chapter 458, Acts of 1918; Code State Government Article, sec. 13-305).
Black-eyed Susans are perennial daisies, members of the sunflower family (Asteraceae). The flower heads measure 2 to 3 inches in diameter with yellow rays circling a dark-brown, spherical center.
Commonly found in fields and on roadsides, they bloom between May and August, reaching 2 to 3 feet in height.