Economic Development & Tourism

Fun Facts

Did you know...

Camp Stanton

In August 1863, following President Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation, Camp Stanton was established in Benedict, Maryland, for the purpose of recruiting and training African-American men for the Union Army. The site is now DNR's Indian Creek Natural Resource Management Area. Though black men had served in the American army during the Revolution, by the time the Civil War they were excluded from service, until President Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation.

Port Tobacco

Located along both sides of Chapel Point Road immediately south of Maryland Route 6, in a rural setting approximately three miles southwest of La Plata, Port Tobacco is one of Charles County's three incorporated municipalities.

Founded as a port in 1684 and designated the county's seat of government in 1727, the town comprised more than 80 homes, commercial structures and public buildings by the third quarter of the eighteenth century. But after 1895, when the county seat was moved to La Plata following a fire that destroyed the courthouse, the town all but ceased to exist as a physical entity. Today, only a handful of buildings remain from that period when Port Tobacco was one of Maryland's most economically viable ports and a major center of commercial, political and social activity for the entire region. Of the five surviving eighteenth and nineteenth century buildings, four have been privately restored as single family residences. Another was renovated for use as a children's museum. (From the National Park Service)