Escape the crowds, access the water at two new parks on Maryland’s Eastern Shore

Looking for someplace quiet to paddle along verdant shores? To follow butterflies flitting across fields of wildflowers and hear birds calling as you stroll through a forest? To picnic by the water or cast a fishing line?

Outdoor enthusiasts eager to get away from the crowds thronging many parks and natural areas these days have two new spots on the rural upper Eastern Shore of Maryland.

Officially opened in April, Bohemia River and Cypress Branch state parks are the latest additions to Maryland’s constellation of 75 state parks, trails and natural areas. Though only partly developed so far, they are diamonds in the rough.

Bohemia River State Park, the larger of the two, offers a variety of experiences to visitors, including hiking, bicycling, horseback riding, hunting, fishing and just plain communing with the outdoors.

The park hugs the northern shore of Great Bohemia Creek just before it merges with Little Bohemia Creek and joins the river of the same name. The name harkens to natives of that western European region who settled in the area in the late 1600s.

The park’s 462 acres of forest, crop fields and meadow were purchased by the state in 2017 for $4.9 million. It had been farmed for centuries by a succession of landowners.

“Most of our state parks are larger than that,” explained Maryland Park Service Director Nita Settina, “but it was the access to the water that attracted us.”

Improving the public’s ability to reach the water is a goal of the Chesapeake Bay restoration effort. Bay states pledged to add 300 new access points by 2025 under the 2014 Chesapeake Bay Watershed Agreement.

There isn’t yet any easy water access for paddlers directly from the park. There is a rudimentary spot nearby, though, just across MD Route 213 from the park.

At the eastern end of the Bohemia River bridge, paddlers can pull off the highway onto a parking pad large enough for about four vehicles. They can transport their watercraft about 75 yards along a narrow dirt path to a sandy riverbank.

Marinas are clustered along the far shore at the launch site, but the stretch of creek bordering the park is wide, relatively quiet water. Paddlers need only pass under the bridge and bear left to reach it. On a weekday visit in July, there was only one speedboat towing tubers, though boat wakes might be more of an issue on summer weekends.

The park’s shore is fringed with phragmites, graced here and there with patches of purplish pickerelweed and large white hibiscus. About the only sign of civilization on this side of the creek is a lone picnic table sitting in a small clearing in the extensive waterfront forest. Leaning up against the bank at another spot is a weathered sign bearing the name of the Bayard family, who owned the land before the state bought it.

The water’s surface that day was peppered with dozens of spotted lanternflies. The colorful but destructive nonnative insects have been spreading rapidly across the Bay region. While this swarm posed little or no threat to the park’s visitors or its trees and fields, the same could not be said for the vineyards nearby.

The park service plans to build a canoe/kayak launch on the creek in the next few years — something made more likely by the infusion of new funding for park maintenance, development and acquisition under the Great Maryland Outdoors Act passed this year by state legislators.

On land, the park offers nearly 4.5 miles of trails. One leads to an overlook with a picnic table; the other two offer views of the water and marsh. Oak Point Trail leads from the parking lot past a soybean field and a meadow where swallowtail butterflies flutter amid black-eyed Susans, cornflowers and poppies. Blackberries beckon in the tangle of bushes down the hill.

That trail connects with two others, which meander over rolling terrain through woods, across seeps and past farm fields. The trails are a mix of mown grass, dirt path and gravel farm roads used by horses. Watch your step!

The sounds of traffic fade once you’re in the forest, making it easier to pick up the chitter of cicadas and the chirps of frogs and birds. A hiker encountered on her way out of the woods reported hearing scarlet tanager and indigo bunting, among other calls. Woodpeckers could also be heard drumming on the trees, a mix of black gum, tulip poplar, maple and oak.

An old farmhouse and barn still stand in the park’s northern end. Work is under way to restore the exterior of the Federal-style dwelling, the core of which dates to the early 1800s. The bank barn, of similar vintage, has undergone extensive restoration, with an eye toward its eventual use as an events venue.

DNR is developing a master plan for the park, which includes building a road to the canoe/kayak launch and upgrading road access to historic structures. But Settina, the park service director, said improvements aim to enhance, not change, the park experience.

“Overwhelmingly, people are looking for us to not overdevelop the park. They want to keep it natural and so do we.”

Cypress Branch State Park, on the outskirts of Millington, offers visitors a quiet spot to picnic or fish by a stocked, 3-acre freshwater pond. Once a fisheries management area, it became a state park when DNR acquired 274 acres of adjoining land for $2.8 million.

At 314 total acres, Cypress Branch is even smaller than Bohemia River State Park, but it offers open space and water access to the nearby community — which welcomed its grand opening in the spring, Settina noted.

“It’s very accessible to introduce kids to fishing and kayaking,” she said.

Entering the park, a short drive leads to a modest-sized parking lot. There are several picnic tables in the large grassy area bordering Big Mill Pond.

Not much else is clearly accessible to a casual visitor, but it’s what’s behind the curtain that brims with promise, Settina said.

Down a gravel drive is a large home occupied by members of DNR’s Conservation Corps. They’re part of an AmeriCorps program that trains young adults in natural resource management and employs them for park conservation projects.

DNR is partnering with the Washington College Natural Lands Program to create a warm-season grass meadow there, the habitat that once-abundant bobwhite quail favor.

In the next year or two, Settina said, the park service plans to develop trails where hikers can explore the mix of fields, meadows and woods, which extends all the way to the upper Choptank River. For now, visitors are free to roam the largely undeveloped expanse but advised to stay clear of the railroad tracks that cut through the park.

This park’s mission, Settina explained, is not only to provide access to the water but to be a natural and economic asset to the town.

“If we’ve given people in the future a reason to go to Millington and a reason to have a nice breakfast or dinner as part of the visit, and maybe you [decide you] want to live here, that’s good for the town,” she said.