Story and photos by Cassandra and Joseph Ellis (unless otherwise indicated)
Capital Beltway in Maryland
People come to the D.C. area for jobs in our government, the Food and Drug Administration, the National Institutes of Health and other government entities and companies in and around the Metro area. Add that to the thousands of tourists who visit the area, crowding downtown Washington D.C. and the hustle of downtown life becomes an overcrowded nightmare, standing in line just to see a picture in a museum. I recommend looking outside of the city for a little piece of mind or just a change of scenery. As visitors to the area we like to see something different, that not everybody has experienced, and my recommendation to anyone who visits D.C. is to check out the neighboring states in the suburbs of the District of Columbia.
On the outskirts of Washington, D.C. lies the inner and outer loops of the Capital Beltway I-495. The easiest way to know which loop you are on is to know where the District of Columbia is with respect to your direction of travel. If the District of Columbia is on your right side, you are on the inner loop, you will be driving clockwise, and if D.C. is on your left side you are on the outer loop traveling counterclockwise. Passing through two of the Maryland counties that make up the suburbs of D.C., Montgomery and Prince George’s, the beltway travels around the District of Columbia.
Planning for the beltway began in 1950 and the final Maryland segment was opened to traffic on August 17, 1964. The beltway was included as part of the National Interstate Highway System in the Federal Aid Highway Act of 1956 and the total mileage is 63.8 with 41.7 of those miles travelling through these Maryland suburbs. With the Potomac River separating Virginia and Maryland, to make a full loop bridges had to be planned and built. The two Potomac River bridges were being designed as far back as the 1930s.
Chesapeake and Ohio Canal (C & O Canal)
Located in Cabin John, Maryland, the northern bridge was originally referred to as the Cabin John Bridge because of a stone arch aqueduct bridge that spanned Cabin John Creek and had been opened in 1863. As of May 30, 1969, the northern crossing officially became the American Legion Memorial Bridge, dedicated on Memorial Day in honor of the nation’s largest military veterans’ organization. The inner loop of the beltway in Maryland begins at the Clara Barton Parkway and the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, more commonly referred to as the C&O Canal.
There is an abundance of things to do on the C&O Canal that a person could spend a full day and not do everything. Several lockhouses along the canal have been refurbished in a period manner, from the late 1800s through the ‘50s and ‘60s. Staying in a lockhouse allows for exploration of the full Cabin John regional park and Seven Locks Park. Hike over Cabin John Creek crossing the Aqueduct. Try one of the locally owned restaurants in the area, like Wild Tomato or Sal’s Italian Kitchen, or venture out a little to the Grilled Oyster Company, about a 5-minute drive from the Canal. you will find history and food and places to stay and things to do, such as Glen Echo Park, where you can ride the restored 1921 Dentzel Carousel or hop over to the national historical site of Clara Barton, who was the founder of The Red Cross.
Leaving Cabin John and heading clockwise on The Beltway you can find Bethesda just a few miles off the beaten path.
Bethesda-Chevy Chase
In 1805 to 1821 Bethesda was a way station, with a tollhouse and a store and later a Presbyterian church that is currently a Baptist church. First named “Darcy’s Store,” after the man who ran the only store in the area, and later named Bethesda after the Presbyterian church that had been constructed in 1820 and rebuilt in 1849. Built at the present-day intersection of Old Georgetown Road and Wisconsin Avenue you can see the building that was “The Old Stone Tavern,” which became the center of what is now the downtown area. The turnpike heading through Bethesda was the first hard-surfaced road in the county.
The city began to build up in the 1890s as farmland was split into building tracts and the trolley came to Bethesda in 1891. Today there is a trolley trail located in the town. In 1929 the Daughters of the American Revolution constructed the “Madonna of the Trail” statue, sculpted by German sculptor August Leimbach, in honor of women’s contributions to America’s westward journey and the settlers just passing through. There are 12 identical statues, starting in Bethesda and working their way westward across the country.
Even the Great Depression could not slow down Bethesda’s growth as people with government jobs invested in the area and farmers counted on government paychecks and opened up The Farm Women’s Cooperative market in 1932, starting with a tent to sell their goods, and that same year a permanent market house was built that is still in use today.
Through FDR’s “New Deal” stimulus monies were piped into the Bethesda economy and with native stone from the Stoneyhurst Quarries a Neo-Georgian Post Office was constructed.
By World War II the NIH and the National Naval Medical Center were built and today Bethesda is known as the business and employment capital of southwestern Montgomery County. Alfred Wilson erected his general store on the site of the old tollhouse, it has been a post office, a polling place, the first library in Bethesda, and is now the oldest building in town. Today it is a United Bank.
With the introduction of Metro Station in 1984 community planning came up with an idea to allow for high-rise buildings near the station and to scale down the height moving outward to protect the residential areas from the commercial. Bethesda’s shopping district is full of eclectic eateries, chain stores, and small boutique shops such as The Blue House, in business for 26 years and in Bethesda for 11. There is something for everyone, a happy place to light up your day. You may want to check out Georgetown Cupcakes, a company that gave away 100 cupcakes a day to people who knew the secret flavor pre-pandemic. I hope to see those days return. If you like to craft, Second Story Knits is located on the second floor, above Rice Paddies Grill. And on the outskirts of town is Weaver’s Violins. They have been in operation since 1898.
Next to Bethesda is Chevy Chase, a planned neighborhood owned by the Chevy Chase Land Company. The idea was to build a high-end community with zoning regulations to ban apartment buildings and row houses. The Spring Hotel was built there and is now part of the current 4-H Center. Chevy Chase is a suburban paradise. Get out of the hustle and bustle of the city and enjoy Willard Avenue Park or go for a hike on the Little Falls Trail or perhaps you would like to eat at The Capital Grille.
Silver Spring
When Francis Preston Blair rode his horse through the area and discovered a mica-flecked spring he became so enchanted he and his wife purchased the spring and 300 acres and built their plantation estate in 1842, complete with an acorn gazebo. They named the estate Silver Spring and the city that built up around it kept the name long after the estate was torn down.
In 1942 the park commission bought the area where the spring was located, moved the gazebo, and created Acorn Park, an area designed to protect the spring from expansion of the new post office. The B&O Railroad built a train station and the city built up around it. Wilkins & Jordans was built in 1901 and from there followed the local bank in 1910 and the Maryland News in 1928.
The building that housed Silver Spring Building Supply Company and North Washington Realty Company later became the home to Track Recorders where, from 1970 to 1987, artists Linda Ronstadt, Marvin Gaye, Gloria Gaynor and Peaches and Herb recorded there.
Today’s places to go would include the AFI Silver Theater, which began with the restoration of the 1938 Silver Theater, and now hosts classic movies. The Fillmore Theater, which was patterned after the famous Fillmore in San Francisco, was designed to host 2,000 people in a cozy concert venue complete with a club lounge and premium seating. Walk the Sligo Creek Trail and the Burnt Mills East and West Special Parks, or visit the Coastline Wave Pool, maybe take a ride down the longest escalator in the Western Hemisphere at Wheaton Station.
There are great restaurants around, and for terrific Mexican and Latin-American cuisine Samantha’s on University is an excellent choice. For brewery aficionados Denizen’s Brewing Company opened in 2014 and is the only brewery located inside the Beltway in Maryland. Mrs. K’s Tollhouse Restaurant has been a fixture in Silver Spring since April 1, 1930. If you want to avoid chain hotels you might like the Etta Mae Inn B&B located a few miles down the road in Takoma Park. In Silver Spring the B&B at Lansdowne Way, located in a desirable part of town, offers comfortable rooms with a sumptuous breakfast.
College Park
In 1835 the B&O Railroad expanded their service from Baltimore to Washington, D.C., and College Station was developed after 1856, when the American Agricultural College was formed within College Park, Maryland. The college focused originally on scientific research and agriculture, and later, flight, when army pilots were trained by the Wright Brothers where they established the College Park Airfield. Visit the College Park Aviation Museum to see a replica of the plane used to teach the first military pilots to fly, or hike the trails, fish off the pier and walk through the aquatic gardens of Lake Artemesia. Explore the history of the nation at the National Archives, including the JFK assassination records.
The Hotel at the University of Maryland, a four-diamond luxury hotel, is a beautiful place to stay when you visit the area, or perhaps you would prefer the University of Maryland Inn and Conference Center. And if you are looking for something more eclectic check out Cherry Hill Park for a place to camp or glamp with your own tent or RV or unique rental units available on site.
Hyattsville/Landover/Cheverly
Beginning as farmland, after the Civil War plantation owners broke up their property, Christopher Clarke Hyatt invested in the town that bears his name and was officially established in 1886. Hyattsville is located at the head of the Anacostia River, and home to the only distillery inside the Beltway, Sangfroid Distilling, focusing on fruit brandies, rye whiskey, and Dutch-style gins, they also have a rye whiskey barrel-aged maple syrup. Maryland Meadworks was begun by Ken Carter, who began his journey to become a mead aficionado and is a member of the Brewers Association of Maryland and the American Meadworks Association,
FedEx Field, home of the Washington NFL football team, is in Landover. Cheverly was another planned suburb, founded in 1918 and incorporated in 1931, where today you can enjoy Shakespeare in the Park. The Publick Playhouse, which was established in 1947, is one of two Art Deco theaters in Prince George’s County, seating 494 in plush seats.
Temple Hills/Oxon Hill/National Harbor
And as you continue your journey you might look for Crafty Crab Seafood, in District Heights, Maryland, before finally arriving at the Woodrow Wilson Memorial Bridge, which was recently rebuilt between 2001 to 2008, and is jointly owned by Maryland and Virginia, and there ends Maryland, at Oxon Hill and the National Harbor in Prince George’s County, where you can learn more by reading Roxie LaFever’s articles about Washington, D.C., and available right here at PlayStayEat.
