Religious Freedom Byway
Religious Freedom Byway is a National Scenic Byway in Maryland. Within Maryland it covers roughly 140 miles. The map below shows its route. Use “Plan a drive” to open it in the Road Sorties route planner — already routing along Religious Freedom Byway with scenic roads turned on, ready to add your own stops.
The Religious Freedom Byway crosses Southern Maryland from Port Tobacco to Point Lookout, following the roads that link the colony's earliest religious settlements to the Potomac River. Its centerpiece is Historic St. Mary's City, Maryland's colonial capital and the site historians call the birthplace of religious toleration in North America, alongside nearby St. Clement's Island, where English settlers celebrated the first Roman Catholic Mass in the British American colonies in 1634. Farther along, the byway reaches Chapel Point and St. Ignatius Catholic Church, founded by Jesuits in 1641 and still the oldest continuously serving Catholic parish in the United States, and the Mt. Carmel Monastery, established in 1790 as the country's first religious community for women. Between these landmarks, the drive follows quiet country roads past colonial-era dwellings, rolling farmland, and Potomac River views that have changed comparatively little since the colony's founding.
- Port Tobacco to Point Lookout, Southern Maryland
- Historic St. Mary's City, Maryland's colonial capital
- St. Clement's Island — 1634 first Catholic Mass site
- St. Ignatius Catholic Church (1641)
- Mt. Carmel Monastery (1790)
- Potomac River farmland views
Designated for its historic qualities
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Places to stop along Religious Freedom Byway
Mount Carmel Monastery
The first community of Catholic nuns in the original United States, founded in 1790, with restored original buildings.
WebsitePort Tobacco Courthouse
A reconstructed 1819 courthouse in a colonial port village, with exhibits on tobacco, the Civil War, and local archaeology.
St. Clement's Island State Park
Where Maryland's first English colonists landed in 1634, reached by a seasonal water taxi from the museum on shore.
Point Lookout State Park
The peninsula tip where the Potomac meets the bay, with a lighthouse and the site of a huge Civil War prison camp for Confederate soldiers.
Where to Stay along Religious Freedom Byway
No campgrounds are listed close to Religious Freedom Byway yet, but there are rooms near the route.
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Photos of Religious Freedom Byway
What is a National Scenic Byway?
National Scenic Byways are roads recognized at the federal level for at least one outstanding quality — scenic, natural, historic, cultural, archaeological or recreational — that gives travelers a reason to seek them out rather than just pass through.