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Recreational opportunities abound on this picturesque peninsula formed by the Chesapeake Bay and the Potomac River. Swimming, fishing, boating and camping are just a few of the activities to be enjoyed in this beautiful bay setting.
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This park's peaceful Point Lookout is a peninsula formed by the confluence of the Chesapeake Bay and the Potomac River. It attracted attention from the outset of English colonization in America. Captain John Smith explored the Point in 1612. In 1632 it was included in King Charles I's grant to George Calvert, Lord Baltimore. Calvert's younger son, Leonard, Maryland's first governor, claimed the Point for his personal manor in 1634. During the American Revolution, and again in the War of 1812, it was the subject of British raids, and served as an American lookout point for a watchman to convey, via post riders, news of British Fleet activity in the lower Bay.
In 1830 the federal government erected a lighthouse on the tip of the Point. This lighthouse, though modified, is still in existence though it is no longer active. In 1857, William Cost Johnson, a wealthy Marylander, bought much of the land on the Point to develop as a resort. The Civil War intervened to disrupt Johnson's plan and in 1862, following General George B. McClellan's unsuccessful campaign to capture Richmond, the federal government erected Hammond Hospital at the tip of the Point. The ward buildings radiated in spoke fashion from a central bay. Wounded and sick soldiers began pouring in for treatment.
Surroundings belie its history as the location of a prison camp which imprisoned as many as 52,264 Confederate soldiers during the Civil War. A museum on site recounts this vivid history. A park map is available at the camp office, ranger station, headquarters, visitor center, museum, and or camp store.
Features include a boat launch, boat rental, camp fire programs, camp sites, camp store, dump station, fishing, flat water canoeing, hiking trails, hunting, historic interest, hook ups, pet trail, picnic, playground, swimming, visitor center, pavilion and cottage.
Point Lookout sponsors historic programs and demonstrations throughout the year. Contact the park for a current schedule of historic programs.
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Potomac Heritage Partnership |
| 1623 28th St., NW |
Washington, DC 20007 |
| Phone: 202.333.4478 |
Fax: 202.333.6733 |
| info@potomacheritage.org |
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