STATE OF MARYLAND Travel Bug

To travel to the state I represent and then to visit as many caches in that state.... This started its travel in Pawleys Island SC, USA..

Capital: Annapolis

Entered Union: April 28, 1788 (7)

Present constitution adopted: 1867

Motto: Fatti maschii, parole femine (Manly deeds, womanly words)

State symbols:
bird Baltimore oriole (1947)
boat skipjack (1985)
crustacean Maryland blue crab (1989)
dinosaur Astrodon johnstoni (1998)
dog Chesapeake Bay retriever (1964)
beverage milk (1998)
flower black-eyed susan (1918)
fish rockfish (1965)
folk dance square dance (1994)
fossil shell ecphora gardnerae gardnerae (Wilson) (1994)
insect Baltimore checkerspot butterfly (1973)
reptile Diamondback terrapin (1994)
song “Maryland! My Maryland!” (1939)
sport jousting (1962)
team sport lacrosse (2004)
tree white oak (1941)

Nicknames: Free State; Old Line State

Origin of name: In honor of Henrietta Maria (queen of Charles I of England)

In 1608, Capt. John Smith explored Chesapeake Bay. Charles I granted a royal charter for Maryland to Cecil Calvert, Lord Baltimore, in 1632, and English settlers, many of whom were Roman Catholic, landed on St. Clement's (now Blakistone) Island in 1634. Religious freedom, granted all Christians in the Toleration Act passed by the Maryland assembly in 1649, was ended by a Puritan revolt, 1654–1658.

From 1763 to 1767, Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon surveyed Maryland's northern boundary line with Pennsylvania. In 1791, Maryland ceded land to form the District of Columbia.

In 1814, during the British attempt to capture Baltimore, the bombardment of Fort McHenry inspired Francis Scott Key to write the words to “The Star-Spangled Banner.” During the Civil War, Maryland was a slave state but remained in the Union. Consequently, Marylanders fought on both sides and many families were divided.