Visitor Guide
Calvert — Visitor Guide
Top attractions, trails, food and drink, history, seasonal activities, and everything you need to plan your visit to Calvert, Maryland.
🧭 About Calvert
Fossils, Lighthouses, and the Western Shore of the Chesapeake
Calvert County stretches down a narrow peninsula between the Patuxent River and the Chesapeake Bay, anchored by the fossil-rich cliffs that give the county its identity. Families come to sift shark teeth from 15-million-year-old beach sand, explore working lighthouses, and wander the waterfront village of Solomons. With no major highways cutting through and a slower, bayside pace, Calvert feels like Maryland's own quiet corner of the Chesapeake.
⭐ Top Attractions
Calvert Cliffs State Park
Fifteen-million-year-old Miocene-era fossil cliffs with 13+ miles of trails. The Red Trail leads about 1.8 miles to a Chesapeake Bay beach where visitors sift the sand for shark teeth and marine fossils.
Calvert Marine Museum
Solomons Island museum covering paleontology and Chesapeake maritime history, with a Megalodon skeleton, an estuarine aquarium and river otter exhibit, and historic boats including the Wm. B. Tennison.
Drum Point Lighthouse
An 1883 screw-pile cottage lighthouse relocated to the Calvert Marine Museum grounds in 1975 and restored for public tours — one of only a handful of this style left on the Bay.
Jefferson Patterson Park & Museum
A 560-acre state park and museum on the Patuxent River covering 9,000 years of archaeology, with a recreated Woodland Indian village and Maryland's Archaeological Conservation Lab. Admission is free.
Annmarie Sculpture Garden & Arts Center
Thirty wooded acres in Solomons with an outdoor sculpture trail alongside indoor galleries — a quieter, art-focused stop that draws around 85,000 visitors a year.
Cove Point Lighthouse
Built in 1828, the oldest continuously operating lighthouse on the Chesapeake Bay. County-owned and managed by the Calvert Marine Museum, with limited public open hours in summer.
🥾 Trails & Outdoors
🍺 Food & Drink Trails
🏛️ History & Heritage
Drum Point Lighthouse
1883 screw-pile lighthouse preserved at the Calvert Marine Museum
Cove Point Lighthouse
The oldest continuously operating lighthouse on the Chesapeake Bay, built in 1828
Chesapeake Beach Railway Museum
Housed in an 1898 railway station, telling the story of the Chesapeake Beach Railway resort and boardwalk era from 1900-1935
🗓️ Seasonal Guide
Spring 🌸
Cool bay breezes make it prime season for fossil hunting on the Calvert Cliffs beaches before the summer crowds arrive.
Summer ☀️
Patuxent River Appreciation Days brings free museum admission, boat rides, and a petting zoo to the Calvert Marine Museum and Jefferson Patterson Park.
Fall 🍂
The Calvert County Fair (running continuously since 1887) and the Experience Calvert Festival in North Beach bring agriculture, seafood, and live music to Prince Frederick and the Bay towns.
Winter ❄️
The Solomons Christmas Walk & Lighted Boat Parade lights up the harbor in mid-December with an illuminated boat parade and free evening museum admission.
🏨 Places to Stay
Browse all accommodations →🗺️ Plan Your Visit
Source: Maryland Mountain Side — Official Allegany County Tourism