| Maryland
is a Mid-Atlantic or South-Atlantic state. Maryland islocated on the East Coast of
the United States. This seventh state to be admitted to the union is nicknamed the Old Line State
and the Free State. Its history as a border state has led it to exhibit characteristics of both
the Northern and Southern regions of the United States. For such a small state,
Maryland possesses a great variety of topography. This is why it has the
nickname, "America in Miniature." Maryland ranges from sandy dunes
dotted with seagrass in the east, to low marshlands teeming with water
moccasins and large bald cypress near the bay. Then is changes to gently rolling hills of
oak forest in the piedmont region, and mountain pine groves in the west.
Maryland is bordered on the north by Pennsylvania; on the west by West
Virginia. Then on the north and east by Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean; and on
the south, across the Potomac River, by Virginia and West Virginia. The
mid-portion of this border is interrupted on the Maryland side by
Washington, DC, which sits on land originally part of Maryland. The
Chesapeake Bay nearly cuts Maryland in half, and the counties east of the bay
are known collectively as the Eastern Shore. A portion of extreme western
Maryland in Garrett County is drained by the Youghiogheny River, as part
of the watershed of the Mississippi River. So prominent is the
Chesapeake in Maryland's geography and economic life that there has been
periodic agitation to change the state's official nickname to
(Massachusetts's) "Bay State. And, let's not forget about those crabs! " |
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