List of parks in the Baltimore-Washington Metropolitan Area

The largest contiguous public parks-preserves within 30 miles (48 km) of either Baltimore, Md. or Washington, D.C.:

Prince William Forest
Prince William Forest Park
Prince William Forest Park was established as Chopawamsic Recreational Demonstration Area in 1936 and is located in southeastern Prince William County, Virginia, adjacent to the Marine Corps Base Quantico. The park is the largest protected natural area in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan region at...

* - Locust Shade, Virginia 18255 acres (74 km²)* — *about one-third is generally closed to the public.
Patuxent Wildlife Research Refuge
Patuxent Wildlife Research Center
The Patuxent Wildlife Research Center is a biological research center in Maryland. It is one of only 17 research centers in the United States run by the U.S. Geological Survey. This USGS research center is located on the U.S...

* - Fran Uhler (Patuxent River Park), Maryland 13300 acres (54 km²)* — *about one-third is generally closed to the public.
Seneca Creek
Seneca Creek
Seneca Creek may refer to some water bodies in the United States:* Seneca Creek , Maryland** Seneca Creek State Park* Seneca Creek , West Virginia...

- McKee-Beshers
McKee-Beshers Wildlife Management Area
McKee-Beshers Wildlife Management Area is a Wildlife Management Area in Montgomery County, Maryland. Acres of sunflowers are planted each year at McKee-Beshers WMA to attract game birds. Every July, these spectacular fields in full bloom also draw photographers, garden enthusiasts, and...

- C & O Canal
Chesapeake and Ohio Canal
The Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, abbreviated as the C&O Canal, and occasionally referred to as the "Grand Old Ditch," operated from 1831 until 1924 parallel to the Potomac River in Maryland from Cumberland, Maryland to Washington, D.C. The total length of the canal is about . The elevation change of...

- Germantown, Maryland / Algonkian, Virginia
Northern Virginia Regional Park Authority
The Northern Virginia Regional Park Authority is an interjurisdictional organization that owns and operates more than 10,000 acres of woodlands, streams, parks, trails, nature reserves, countryside and historic sites in Northern Virginia in the United States. The Authority was organized in 1959...

12435 acres (50 km²)
Upper Patapsco
Patapsco River
The Patapsco River is a river in central Maryland which flows into Chesapeake Bay. The river's tidal portion forms the harbor for the city of Baltimore...

, Maryland 9575 acres (39 km²)
Patuxent River Park
Patuxent River
The Patuxent River is a tributary of the Chesapeake Bay in the state of Maryland. There are three main river drainages for central Maryland: the Potomac River to the west passing through Washington D.C., the Patapsco River to the northeast passing through Baltimore, and the Patuxent River between...

- Merkle - Jug Bay Wetlands
Jug Bay Wetlands Sanctuary
The Jug Bay Wetlands Sanctuary is located along the tidal Patuxent River in southern Maryland. It was established in 1985 and is operated by the Anne Arundel County Department of Recreation and Parks. It includes more than of tidal freshwater wetlands, forests, meadows and fields...

- House Creek, Maryland 8575 acres (35 km²)
Mason Neck - Accotink Bay
Accotink Bay Wildlife Refuge
Accotink Bay Wildlife Refuge is a nature preserve on the grounds of Fort Belvoir in Fairfax County, Virginia, USA. Several other parks, including Mason Neck Park, Pohick Bay Regional Park, and the Jackson Miles Abbott Wetland Refuge are located nearby....

- Pohick
Pohick
Pohick is a toponym in Northern Virginia derived from the Algonquian word for the "water place." It can refer to:*Pohick , historical Algonquian-speaking tribe, part of Powhatan Confederacy*Pohick language, part of Algonquian family...

- Meadowood - Gunston
Gunston Hall
Gunston Hall is an 18th-century Georgian mansion near the Potomac River in Mason Neck, Virginia, United States of America. The house was the home of the United States Founding Father George Mason. It was located at the center of a 5500 acre plantation...

**, Virginia 7690 acres (31 km²)
Patuxent River State Park
Patuxent River State Park
Patuxent River State Park is a state park in the state of Maryland. The park is located along the upper reaches of the Patuxent River in Howard and Montgomery Counties. The park features hunting, fishing, hiking and horseback riding.-External links:*...

, Maryland 6650 acres (27 km²)
Sugarloaf Mountain** - Monocacy River
Monocacy River
The Monocacy River is a free-flowing tributary of the Potomac River, which empties into the Atlantic Ocean via the Chesapeake Bay. The river is long, with a drainage area of about...

- C & O Canal, Maryland 5790 acres (23 km²)
Lower Gunpowder Falls
Gunpowder River
The Gunpowder River is a tidal inlet on the western side of Chesapeake Bay in Maryland, United States. It is formed by the joining of two freshwater rivers, Gunpowder Falls and Little Gunpowder Falls.-Gunpowder Falls:The Big Gunpowder, long, begins in the extreme southern part of Pennsylvania's...

, Maryland 5325 acres (22 km²)
Chapmans
Mount Aventine
Mount Aventine is a farm complex and national historic district located along the Potomac River in Bryans Road, Charles County, Maryland. The complex includes the main house; a second-quarter 19th century Greek Revival-influenced brick house. It was enlarged about 1860 to its present five-bay,...

- Myrtle Grove
Myrtle Grove Wildlife Management Area
Myrtle Grove Wildlife Management Area is a Wildlife Management Area in Charles County, Maryland.-External links:*...

- Mattawoman
Mattawoman Creek
Mattawoman Creek is a coastal-plain tributary to the tidal Potomac River with a mouth at Indian Head, Maryland, downstream of Washington, D.C. It comprises a river flowing through Prince George's and Charles counties and a tidal-freshwater estuary in Charles County...

, Maryland 5305 acres (21 km²)
Manassas Battlefield
Manassas National Battlefield Park
Manassas National Battlefield Park, located north of Manassas, in Prince William County, Virginia preserves the site of two major American Civil War battles: the First Battle of Bull Run on July 21, 1861, and the Second Battle of Bull Run which was fought between August 28 and August 30, 1862...

, Virginia 4355 acres (18 km²)
Little Bennett, Maryland 3700 acres (15 km²)
Great Falls
Great Falls Park
Great Falls Park is a small National Park Service site in Virginia, United States. Situated on 800 acres along the banks of the Potomac River in northern Fairfax County, the park is a disconnected but integral part of the George Washington Memorial Parkway...

, Virginia - C & O Canal
Chesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historical Park
The Chesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historical Park is a United States National Historical Park located in the District of Columbia and the states of Maryland and West Virginia. The park was established as a National Monument in 1961 by President Dwight D...

, Maryland - Riverbend
Potomac Heritage Trail
The ', also known as the Potomac Heritage National Scenic Trail or the PHT, is a designated National Scenic Trail corridor in the northeastern United States that will connect various trails and historic sites in the states of Virginia, Maryland, and Pennsylvania, and the District of Columbia...

, Virginia - Scotts Run, Virginia - Carderock
Carderock, Maryland
Carderock, Maryland, is located in Montgomery County, Maryland, along the Potomac River. Carderock is just west of Bethesda.It is the location of a division of the U.S. Naval Surface Warfare Center ....

, Maryland 3440 acres (14 km²)
Lower Patapsco
Patapsco River
The Patapsco River is a river in central Maryland which flows into Chesapeake Bay. The river's tidal portion forms the harbor for the city of Baltimore...

- Rockburn Branch, Maryland 3435 acres (14 km²)
Cedarville
Cedarville State Forest
Cedarville State Forest is a state forest and protected area in the state of Maryland, near Brandywine, Maryland and Waldorf, Maryland. It offers hiking trails, campsites, and picnic and recreation areas.-External links:...

, Maryland 2848 acres (12 km²)
Smithsonian Environmental Research Center
Smithsonian Environmental Research Center
The Smithsonian Environmental Research Center is a environmental research and educational facility operated by the Smithsonian Institution. It is located on the Rhode and West Rivers near Edgewater in Anne Arundel County, Maryland, near the western shore of Chesapeake Bay...

** Maryland 2800 acres (11 km²) - limited public access
Upper Gunpowder Falls (Hereford), Maryland
Gunpowder River
The Gunpowder River is a tidal inlet on the western side of Chesapeake Bay in Maryland, United States. It is formed by the joining of two freshwater rivers, Gunpowder Falls and Little Gunpowder Falls.-Gunpowder Falls:The Big Gunpowder, long, begins in the extreme southern part of Pennsylvania's...

2755 acres (11 km²)
Rock Creek Regional (Lake Needwood - North Branch)
Lake Needwood
Lake Needwood is a reservoir in Derwood, Maryland just east of Rockville, in the eastern part of Montgomery County that is located on Rock Creek. The lake was created to provide flood control. It also protects the water quality of the creek by functioning as a retention basin to trap sediment from...

2670 acres
Susquehanna State Park
Susquehanna River
The Susquehanna River is a river located in the northeastern United States. At long, it is the longest river on the American east coast that drains into the Atlantic Ocean, and with its watershed it is the 16th largest river in the United States, and the longest river in the continental United...

, Maryland 2645 acres (11 km²)
Fountainhead
Northern Virginia Regional Park Authority
The Northern Virginia Regional Park Authority is an interjurisdictional organization that owns and operates more than 10,000 acres of woodlands, streams, parks, trails, nature reserves, countryside and historic sites in Northern Virginia in the United States. The Authority was organized in 1959...

, Virginia 2450 acres (10 km²)
Nanjemoy Creek**, Maryland 2415 acres (10 km²) - generally closed to the public
Mid-Gunpowder Falls (Baldwin-Fork)
Gunpowder River
The Gunpowder River is a tidal inlet on the western side of Chesapeake Bay in Maryland, United States. It is formed by the joining of two freshwater rivers, Gunpowder Falls and Little Gunpowder Falls.-Gunpowder Falls:The Big Gunpowder, long, begins in the extreme southern part of Pennsylvania's...

, Maryland 2300 acres (9 km²)
Eastern Neck
Eastern Neck National Wildlife Refuge
Eastern Neck National Wildlife Refuge, a part of the Chesapeake Marshlands National Wildlife Refuge Complex, is a island located at the confluence of the Chester River and the Chesapeake Bay...

, Maryland 2285 acres (9 km²)
Douglas Point - Mallows Bay
Mallows Bay
Mallows Bay is a small bay on the Maryland side of the Potomac River in the United States located at . The bay is the location of what is regarded as the "largest shipwreck fleet in the Western Hemisphere" and is described as a "ship graveyard."...

- Purse State Park
Purse State Park
Purse State Park is a state park in Charles County, Maryland, United States. It is located on the freshwater-tidal Potomac River along Wades Bay. The undeveloped park features hunting, fishing, hiking, bird watching, and fossil hunting....

(Nanjemoy Wildlife Area), Maryland 1920 acres (8 km²)
Soldiers Delight
Soldiers Delight
Soldiers Delight Natural Environmental Area is a nature reserve near Owings Mills in western Baltimore County, Maryland, USA. The site is designated both a Maryland Wildland and a Natural Environment Area and is part of the Maryland Wildlands Preservation System...

, Maryland 1920 acres (8 km²)

Rock Creek Park is a large urban natural area with public park facilities that bisects Washington, D.C. The park is administered by the National Park Service.-Rock Creek Park:The main section of the park contains , or , along the Rock Creek Valley...

, D.C. - 1750 acres (7 km²)

** quasi-public

This list does not include interrupted, scattered parts of administrative units, but rather entire, contiguous park-preserve tracts. All contiguous public park-preserve land is included in the above areas, but strip park area (<1000 foot (300 m) width for more than 1/2 mile (800 m)) and public utility land (reservoirs) are excluded.)

Much of the 72500 acres (293 km²) Aberdeen Proving Grounds, Maryland. and 56000 acres (226.6 km²) Quantico Marine Base, Virginia are undeveloped, and constitute the largest such areas within 30 miles (48 km) of either Baltimore or Washington. Neither is generally open to the public. Quantico is contiguous with Prince William Forest Park. Washington and Baltimore are 33 miles (53 km) apart.

External links

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