Point Lookout, at 1,083 acres, sits at the southernmost tip of the county where the Chesapeake Bay and Potomac River converge, offering beaches, camping, and a lighthouse dating to 1830, plus real Civil War history. Greenwell, along the Patuxent River, is committed to serving visitors of all ability levels, while St. Mary’s River State Park in the heart of the county features a mountain bike trail and a fishing lake. St. Clement’s Island, out in the Potomac, is Maryland’s birthplace and first colonial landing site, and Newtowne Neck, the county’s newest state park, sits just outside Leonardtown at the mouth of Breton Bay on the site of the second-oldest Jesuit mission in Maryland. Between the five of them, you’ve got everything from swimming and boating to biking, fishing, and centuries of layered history — all within a short drive no matter where you live in the county.