Wednesday, May 11, 2016

Up with U.S. Geography: Maryland

State Name:
Maryland

Capital:
Annapolis

Date of Entry:
April 28, 1788

Maps:

Map of USA. Maryland outlined in dark ink & shaded.

A close-up of Maryland & its neighbors. My placement of
Silver Spring may be faulty.

Neighbors:
Pennsylvania, Delaware, Virginia, Washington, D.C., West Virginia

Water Borders:
Atlantic Ocean, Chesapeake Bay, Potomac River

Total Area:
12,407 square miles

Five Largest Cities:
Baltimore, Columbia, Germantown, Silver Spring, Waldorf

Famous Geographical Point:
Chesapeake Bay

State Nickname:
The Old Line State. Short version why: it was coined during the Revolutionary War, in reference to a particular regiment of soldiers, the "Maryland Line." Long version why.

Famous Person:
Francis Scott Key, composer of the U.S. national anthem, "The Star-Spangled Banner"

Book Set In/About:
Chesapeake by James A. Michener

A 1,000 page behemoth chronicling 400 years of the Chesapeake area, through the lens of Edmund Steed and his descendants.

Movie Set In/About:
"Step Up" (2006), directed by Anne Fletcher

A boy from the wrong side of the tracks dances his way into a brighter future. There are surprisingly few films set in Maryland (this one's in Baltimore). I picked it for regular commenter Patricia.

Headline of the Day:
"Md. Motor Vehicle Administration Unveils New Driver's Licenses and IDs" on CBS Baltimore.

4 comments:

Patricia said...

Hee. I did do a non-verbal squeal when I saw you picked Step-Up, even before I read that you picked it for me. I really like that movie. It's a top-10 CT.

My Aunt Merle lives in Maryland. She used to live in Bowie (pronounced like the floating thing in the water) which is right outside of Silver Spring. But she moved to a retirement home, so now she lives in Silver Spring.

Also, Matt was/is? reading Chesapeake. He was reading it at a very slow pace, maybe 1 page every two weeks or so (don't ask) and so I've lost track of his progress. He was quite enjoying it.

balyien said...

Those Michener books look so daunting! I didn't even know he'd written one about Maryland. I've only seen his Hawaii book, and that one is about 1,000 pages too. I don't think I could commit to that. I'm impressed that Matt is reading it, no matter how slowly. Side note: I love that you have an aunt named Merle. What a great, old-fashioned name!

Patricia said...

Her sister was named Frances...

(They both hated their names)

balyien said...

I think Frances is a lovely name! I would probably be upset if I was named Merle though, even though I like that someone else is named that.