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Scientists' Cliffs, Maryland | |
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Coordinates: 38°31′03″N76°30′48″W / 38.51750°N 76.51333°W Coordinates: 38°31′03″N76°30′48″W / 38.51750°N 76.51333°W | |
Country | United States |
State | Maryland |
County | Calvert |
Elevation | 105 ft (32 m) |
Time zone | UTC-5 (Eastern (EST)) |
• Summer (DST) | UTC-4 (EDT) |
ZIP code | 20676 |
Area code(s) | 410, 443, and 667 |
GNIS feature ID | 591239 [1] |
Scientists' Cliffs is an unincorporated community in Calvert County, Maryland, United States. Other names used for the community include Annes Aggravation, Flippos Folly, Pathologists Quagmire.
The private community was first established in 1935 as a summer colony for scientists by Flippo and Annie Gravatt. The founders of Scientists' Cliffs chose this land because the population of American Chestnut trees showed a particular resistance to the blight. Original cabins in the area were built from felled American Chestnut trees that died from the blight. Although established as a seasonal community, the first year-round resident moved to the community in 1943.
In 1986, when residents of Scientists' Cliffs heard that forests and abandoned farms surrounding their homes were up for sale, possibly to developers, they chipped in and bought the land. A tract of 436 wooded acres near the Chesapeake Bay became the "American Chestnut Land Trust." In the years since its founding, ACLT has expanded its land preservation by partnering with the Nature Conservancy and the Maryland Department of Natural Resources. By 2019, over 4,000 acres surrounding Scientists' Cliffs have been preserved.
The community is accessed by Scientists Cliffs Road and divided into five sub-sections, called "Gates," though it is not a "gated" community. Gates are named Gate A, Gate B, Gate C, Gate D, and Gate E, respectively. The streets in each gate all begin with the corresponding letter of the gate, and are botanically named. For example, Gate A features streets named Aster, Aspen, Azalea, etc., Gate B features streets named Birch, Beech and Bluebell, and so forth.
All five gates have direct access to the Chesapeake Bay via a series of paths and wooden boardwalks. Additionally, Gate A features a community center, a residential swimming pool, tennis courts, horseshoe pit, a baseball field, a recycling center, and a private beach referred to as "South Beach".
Another feature of Scientists' Cliffs is that a restrictive covenant requires all houses within the community to have a wooden exterior, giving the homes a distinctively rustic look. Recently, however, environmentally neutral cement-based siding such as "Hardie board" has been allowed.
The tall cliffs along the edge of the bay contain one of the world's richest fossil deposits from the Miocene period. The cliffs are part of the Calvert Formation. Carcharodon megalodon teeth are found in this area.
Calvert County is located in the U.S. state of Maryland. As of the 2020 census, the population was 92,783. Its county seat is Prince Frederick. The county's name is derived from the family name of the Barons of Baltimore, the proprietors of the English Colony of Maryland Calvert County is included in the Washington–Arlington–Alexandria, DC–VA–MD–WV Metropolitan Statistical Area. It occupies the Calvert Peninsula, which is bordered on the east by Chesapeake Bay and on the west by the Patuxent River. Calvert County is part of the Southern Maryland region. The county has one of the highest median household incomes in the United States. It is one of the older counties in Maryland, after St. Mary's, Kent County and Anne Arundel counties.
The Chesapeake Bay is the largest estuary in the United States. The Bay is located in the Mid-Atlantic region and is primarily separated from the Atlantic Ocean by the Delmarva Peninsula with its mouth of the Bay at the south end located between Cape Henry and Cape Charles. With its northern portion in Maryland and the southern part in Virginia, the Chesapeake Bay is a very important feature for the ecology and economy of those two states, as well as others surrounding within its watershed. More than 150 major rivers and streams flow into the Bay's 64,299-square-mile (166,534 km2) drainage basin, which covers parts of six states and all of District of Columbia.
Chesapeake Beach is a town in Calvert County, Maryland, United States. Its major attractions include the Chesapeake Beach Railway Station, the Chesapeake Beach Rail Trail, a water park, marinas, piers, and charter boat fishing. The town's population was recorded as 5,753 in the 2010 census.
Lusby is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Calvert County, Maryland, United States. The population of the CDP was 1,835 at the 2010 census. Residents of the Chesapeake Ranch Estates and Drum Point communities also use the Lusby ZIP code designation.
Owings is a town center and census-designated place (CDP) in northern Calvert County, Maryland, United States. The population was 2,149 at the 2010 census, up from 1,325 in 2000.
Prince Frederick is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Calvert County, Maryland, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population of Prince Frederick was 3,226, up from 2,538 in 2010. It is the county seat of Calvert County.
Cape Charles is a town / municipal corporation in Northampton County, Virginia, United States. The population was 1,009 as of the 2010 Census.
The Patuxent River is a tributary of the Chesapeake Bay in the state of Maryland. There are three main river drainages for central Maryland: the Potomac River to the west passing through Washington, D.C., the Patapsco River to the northeast passing through Baltimore, and the Patuxent River between the two. The 908-square-mile (2,352 km2) Patuxent watershed had a rapidly growing population of 590,769 in 2000. It is the largest and longest river entirely within Maryland, and its watershed is the largest completely within the state.
Southern Maryland is a geographical, cultural and historic region in Maryland composed of the state's southernmost counties on the Western Shore of the Chesapeake Bay. According to the state of Maryland, the region includes all of Calvert, Charles, and St. Mary's counties and the southern portions of Anne Arundel and Prince George's counties.
Calvert Cliffs State Park is a public recreation area in Lusby, Calvert County, Maryland, that protects a portion of cliffs that extend for 24 miles along the eastern flank of the Calvert Peninsula on the west side of Chesapeake Bay from Chesapeake Beach southward to Drum Point. The state park is known for the abundance of mainly Middle Miocene sub-epoch fossils that can be found on the shoreline.
Point Lookout State Park is a public recreation area and historic preserve occupying Point Lookout, the southernmost tip of a peninsula formed by the confluence of Chesapeake Bay and the Potomac River in St. Mary's County, Maryland. The state park preserves the site of an American Civil War prisoner of war camp and the Point Lookout Light, which was built in 1830. It is the southernmost spot on Maryland's western shore, the coastal region on the western side of the Chesapeake Bay. The park is currently closed for renovations.
The Chesapeake Ranch Estates (CRE), also known locally as the Ranch Club, is located in Lusby, Maryland, United States, in southern Calvert County. CRE was founded in 1958 and is governed by a homeowners' association, which is officially called the "Property Owner's Association of the Chesapeake Ranch Estates" (POACRE). Today, CRE is composed of over 4,000 homes. The community is counted as a census-designated place for population statistics, with a residential population of 10,519 as of the 2010 census. At the 2000 census, the area was part of the Chesapeake Ranch Estates-Drum Point CDP.
The Golden Gate National Recreation Area (GGNRA) is a U.S. National Recreation Area protecting 82,116 acres (33,231 ha) of ecologically and historically significant landscapes surrounding the San Francisco Bay Area. Much of the park is land formerly used by the United States Army. GGNRA is managed by the National Park Service and is the most visited unit of the National Park system in the United States, with more than 15 million visitors a year. It is also one of the largest urban parks in the world, with a size two-and-a-half times that of the consolidated city and county of San Francisco.
Port Republic is a small, rural unincorporated community located at the crossroads of MD routes 2/MD 4, MD 264, MD 509, MD 765, and Parkers Creek Road in Calvert County, Maryland, United States. It is approximately five miles south of Prince Frederick, the county seat of Calvert County.
Parkers Creek is a small tributary of the Chesapeake Bay located in central Calvert County, Maryland, United States. The creek entrance is just north of the bayside community of Scientists Cliffs. Most of the land surrounding the creek has been protected from development by numerous land trust purchases and conservation easements. Much of the creek is navigable by canoe. The creek's headwaters are south of the town of Prince Frederick.
The Chesapeake Beach railway station is a historic railway station located at Chesapeake Beach, Calvert County, Maryland, United States. It is composed of two one-story, hip-roofed sections; one part was once an open passenger boarding area that was later enclosed for storage. The station was erected in 1898, for the Chesapeake Beach Railway. It is now operated as a railway museum.
Maryland Route 261 is a state highway in the U.S. state of Maryland. The highway runs 12.86 miles (20.70 km) from MD 263 near Parran north to MD 778 at Friendship. MD 261 connects Prince Frederick with and serves as the main street through the Chesapeake Bay beach communities of Chesapeake Beach and North Beach in northeastern Calvert County and Rose Haven in southeastern Anne Arundel County. The highway was constructed from north of its present terminus through Chesapeake Beach in the early 1930s. The road was built as MD 613 east from Friendship in the mid-1930s and extended east to Rose Haven in the late 1940s. MD 261 was extended south to its present terminus near Parran and north through North Beach to Rose Haven in the mid-1950s. MD 261 took over MD 613 west to Friendship in the early 1960s.
Chestnut Hill Cove is an unincorporated community in Anne Arundel County, Maryland, United States.
Annie Gravatt was an American forest pathologist. Her areas of research included plant physiology and white pine blister rust. She also studied Chestnut blight, the fungus that devastated American chestnut trees in the early 20th century. Along with her husband, George Gravatt, she founded the community of Scientists' Cliffs, Maryland.
The land that is now the State of Maryland in the United States of America was widely populated by indigenous tribes prior to European arrival, however only 1.0% of the state's population self-reported as Native American in the 2010 United States Census. Native Americans have inhabited the area since c. 10,000 BC.