My mom likes to boast that she picked a mini-America for her home state; my Dad that, after years of living amidst war, he wanted to settle somewhere neither the North nor South wanted to claim.  The truth is they came to America as refugees without any real choice where they’d be settled.  They just got lucky; Maryland really is an amazing little state.  We’ve got these cute baby mountains to the west, rolling piedmont in the middle, and the Chesapeake Bay and ocean beaches to the east.  The only part of Maryland that’s never really appealed to me is that inland northeastern part that touches Delaware and Pennsylvania.  Still, it’s horse country and worth an explore. 

Fair Hill Natural Resource Management Area is the place to go, everyone told me.  Unfortunately, they didn’t have stalls available the weekend Kurt planned to be in town and I was free to travel. I turned west again and began planning around a horse camp in the Virginia mountains.  Then, I got a call from Fair Hill.  There’d been a cancellation.  Did we want to come?

So, we loaded up the boys and I insisted Kurt let me drive.  The Baltimore beltway was nerve-wracking with its perpetual construction.  But 95 was smooth sailing … until it wasn’t.  In an abrupt standstill, we watched WAZE add 90 minutes to our two-hour trip and strongly recommend a detour that would have us crossing the mighty Susquehanna River across the top of a hydro powerplant built in 1928.  Well, what the hell? I’d wanted to test my trailer driving nerve and this would do it.

We got to Fair Hill as an already broody sky was darkening to night and the place was deserted; a ghost town.  Close to a hundred stalls in an old racecourse barn stood empty but our names were pinned on two doors.  Apparently, that cancellation was for an entire event that had previously had the facility booked to capacity.  We put the boys in their stalls and drove off to a nearby motel as they yelled in protest at being left in creepyville.

The next morning the sun was shining and the grounds looking a lot less ominous.  We mounted up to explore the 5,600 acres of fields and woodlands.  Formerly owned by a very horsey member of the DuPont family, the property is crisscrossed by carriage trails that meander between eventing venues, dressage rings, steeple chase courses, a lush turf racetrack, and endless rolling hayfields.  And, we pretty much had it all to ourselves as the local riding community had clearly been dissuaded from coming under the supposition the venue would be fully in use.  It was amazing.

Day two found a few more riders and bikers on the carriage trails and our boys a bit footsore from the previous day’s travel over gravel.  We switched to the wooded hiking trails and tested them with tunnels and bridge crossings.  It was another lovely day of riding and the drive home (with Kurt at the wheel) was blessedly uneventful.

Perhaps this part of Maryland merits further exploration!

Links to Explore

Fair Hill Natural Resource Management Area:  www.dnr.maryland.gov/publiclands/Pages/central/fairhill.aspx