Smallwood State Park

  The 984 acres of this park was once part of General William Smallwood’s tobacco plantation. Smallwood served in the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War and also as the 4th governor of Maryland.

  The park is located on the Mattawoman Creek where it flows into the Potomac River. None of the sites border the creek but there is a marina and boat ramp. Smallwood’s house has been renovated and is open to tour on very limited dates. A couple of trails meander through the property.

   I don’t like to make reservations because it’s hard to tell the condition of the sites and plus there’s often a reservation fee which makes the campsite expensive for a one night stay. Occasionally  that backfires. Due to coronavirus all sites at Smallwood must be reserved. Our internet was slow to bring up the park site and we had to call the Maryland park office with only minutes to spare before it closed. Luckily we ended up with a very nice site.

The park has 15 sites. None are designated as accessible but many can be used. We did not walk the trails because of the  cold weather and recent rains. The house wasn’t open. Park  38.55304, -77.1872