What Am I Doing in Maryland? Trivia Quiz

Answer: Chesapeake Bay

The Chesapeake Bay is a vast estuary that stretches roughly 200 miles (322 km) from Maryland into Virginia and collects freshwater from a huge watershed that covers parts of six states and the District of Columbia. It's not just a pretty coastline feature. It's an entire regional system with rivers like the Susquehanna, Potomac, and James draining into it and bringing nutrients, sediment, and the occasional historical drama. Because it's brackish (a mix of fresh and salt water), the bay supports unique ecosystems that you won't find in purely freshwater lakes or the open ocean.

Ecologically and economically, the Chesapeake has been a major player in the region for centuries. It's famed for its blue crabs, oysters, striped bass, and lush marshes that provide habitat for a myriad of species. At the same time, the bay faces the usual modern-day pressures. Nutrient pollution, sedimentation, and habitat loss have all led to poor water quality and seasonal low-oxygen "dead zones." For decades, federal and state programs (and a few concerned citizens) have been working to reduce runoff, restore oyster reefs, and revive underwater grasses.

Answer: Delmarva Peninsula

Delmarva Peninsula is a long, low-lying stretch of land shared by Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia. And yes, in one more reason to give up on humanity, the name of the peninsula comes from the names of those three states: Del-Mar-Va.

It separates the Chesapeake Bay from the Atlantic Ocean and forms Maryland's Eastern Shore, a region that looks and feels like a different world compared to the busy and bustling urban centers like Baltimore. It's home to historic towns like Cambridge, Chestertown, and Crisfield, along with vast wetlands, salt marshes, and barrier islands.

It maintains the traditional watermen culture, where crabbing, oystering, and fishing are central to local identity and, of course, cuisine. Agriculture is also big there, with flat fields stretching for miles under big blue skies.

However, the Chesapeake is rising, and some communities are already seeing roads and cemeteries sink into its tides. But the heritage remains... seafood festivals, decoy carving, and accents thick enough to make linguists all giddy.

Answer: Savage River State Forest

Savage River State Forest is Maryland's largest state forest, covering roughly 54,000 acres (about 219 square kilometers) in northeastern Garrett County. It's a rough, second-growth landscape of oaks, maples, and hemlock complete with trout streams and trails. It's perfect for hiking, hunting, fishing, and other things I don't like doing. The size of the forest and variety of terrain make it a major recreational and conservation resource for western Maryland, and it's a long way from the noise of the cities, which is something I can definitely get behind.

The forest's designation traces its start back to the state's early conservation efforts in the 1920s and grew through many additional acquisitions since then. Parts of Savage River are managed as "wildlands," and the area includes the Savage River Reservoir and many miles of hiking and biking trails. It's also an example of successful regional recovery: once heavily logged, these lands have largely regenerated into the mature mixed forest we know and love today.

Answer: Annapolis

If you said the capital city, Annapolis, then congratulations, you probably know at least two cities in Maryland. Annapolis is a tidy, historic port city located along the Severn River, and it's been home to the U.S. Naval Academy since 1845. The Academy trains officers for the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps and is known for its brick-lined streets, colonial architecture, and the mix of drill-squad discipline and midshipman uniforms. If you've ever seen ceremonial parades on the waterfront or white-hatted plebes marching in formation, well, that's Annapolis being Annapolis.

Beyond the campus, Annapolis itself is worthwhile trip. It's Maryland's state capital, with a long maritime tradition, an active sailing culture, and plenty of seafood restaurants all too happy to show you why crabs are the regional religion.

Answer: Hoye Crest

Hoye Crest, on Backbone Mountain in Garrett County, is the highest natural point in Maryland at about 3,360 feet (about a kilometer) high. It sits right along the border of West Virginia and Maryland and is marked by a historical plaque dedicated in the 1950s. The summit offers views over the North Branch Potomac River valley to the east.

With no vehicle access, reaching Hoye Crest requires a "short" hike. It's roughly 1 mile (1.6 kilometers) each way by means of the usual trailhead, with about 700 feet (2.1 hectometers) of gain.

Backbone Mountain itself continues southwest into West Virginia and is part of the Allegheny/Appalachian system. Within Maryland the ridge tops out at Hoye Crest, while the mountain's actual highest point lies over the border in West Virginia. It's a delightful slice of Appalachia: quiet forests, trout streams, and of course, scenic overlooks.

Answer: Antietam National Battlefield

Antietam National Battlefield is located near Sharpsburg, Maryland. On September 17, 1862, the fields along Antietam Creek became the stage for the bloodiest single day in American history with more than 23,000 soldiers killed, wounded, or missing in just twelve hours of combat between Union and Confederate forces. General George B. McClellan's Union Army and General Robert E. Lee's Confederate Army faced off in what would be Lee's first of two invasions of the North.

The battle itself was tactically inconclusive, with neither side really being able to claim a clear victory. However, the US forces held the field at the end, so strategically, it gave President Abraham Lincoln just the leverage he was looking for. Days later, he issued the Emancipation Proclamation, transforming the war from a conflict over Union into a moral fight against slavery. In that sense, the blood spilled at Antietam reshaped the purpose and indeed the whole legacy of the Civil War.

Today, Antietam National Battlefield is a well-preserved landscape. Visitors can walk along places with legendary names, like The Cornfield, Burnside Bridge, and Bloody Lane, all of them quite peaceful now, but hiding a desperate past.

Answer: Smith Island

The correct answer is Smith Island, a small, isolated community in the middle of the Chesapeake Bay that's as famous for its cake as it is for its watermen history and cultural heritage. The Smith Island Cake is Maryland's official state dessert, and it's a tall, many-layered confection (typically 8 to 12 layers) alternating thin sheets of yellow cake with rich chocolate fudge frosting. It's a work of edible engineering excellence.

Smith Island itself is made up of clusters of low-lying villages. There are three in all: Ewell, Rhodes Point, and Tylerton, all accessible only by boat or a 9-mile swim through dangerous waters (FunTrivia, its partners, staff, and volunteers in no way endorse or condone any attempt to swim nine miles through open waters to Smith Island). The island has been continuously inhabited since the 1600s, mostly by descendants of English settlers, many of whom still speak in an odd accent that linguists trace back to old English dialects.

Answer: Potomac River

The Potomac River winds roughly 405 miles (about 651 kilometers) from the Appalachian highlands to the Chesapeake Bay and serves as a major natural boundary, separating Maryland from Virginia along much of the state's southern border and also defining part of Maryland's western border with West Virginia. The Potomac's tidal estuary reaches well into Maryland, and its watershed drains large parts of four states and the District of Columbia.

Beyond being a border, the Potomac has large historical and practical significance. It flows past Washington, D.C., and played a key role in the region's settlement, commerce, and strategic military movements. These days, the river supports boating and fishing, as well as providing municipal water supplies.

Answer: Assateague State Park

Assateague State Park is located on a barrier island of the same name that straddles the border between Maryland and Virginia. It's Maryland's only oceanfront state park, and offers sandy beaches, coastal dunes, and campsites just a few steps from the surf.

But what everyone talks about is the wild ponies, of course, because why wouldn't they? They're small, shaggy horses that roam the island's windswept beaches and salt marshes. The ponies are believed to be descendants of 17th-century domestic horses that either swam ashore from a shipwreck (the romantic version) or were turned loose by early settlers (the more likely version) to avoid livestock taxes.

Over generations, these animals adapted to the island's harsh, salty environment, evolving into smaller, tougher versions of their mainland cousins. Maryland's herd is managed by the National Park Service and the state park, while the Virginia herd, separated by a fence, is famously rounded up each summer and swum across the channel to Chincoteague for auction.

Answer: Susquehanna River

The Susquehanna River stretches roughly 444 miles (about 715 km) from its source at Otsego Lake in Cooperstown, New York, flowing through Pennsylvania and Maryland before emptying into the northern end of the Chesapeake Bay at Havre de Grace, Maryland.

What makes the Susquehanna so interesting is not just its length, but its massive influence on the Chesapeake Bay itself. It provides about half of all the freshwater that flows into the Bay, drastically affecting its salinity, unique ecology, and the health of its wetlands and fisheries. Because of that, environmental scientists are often heard to say, "As goes the Susquehanna, so goes the Chesapeake." Its massive watershed covers parts of four states and supports millions of people, farms, and ecosystems.