Roots and Tides Byway
Roots and Tides Byway is a State Scenic Byway in Maryland. Within Maryland it covers roughly 45 miles. The map below shows its route. Use “Plan a drive” to open it in the Road Sorties route planner — already routing along Roots and Tides Byway with scenic roads turned on, ready to add your own stops.
The Roots and Tides Byway runs 47 miles down Maryland's Western Shore from the state capital, Annapolis, south to Huntingtown. It traces Chesapeake Bay towns that grew up around the Four Rivers Heritage Area. Annapolis itself holds more surviving 18th-century buildings than any other American city, including the Maryland State House, which briefly served as the nation's capital in 1783, and the Banneker-Douglass-Tubman Museum of African American history. South of the city, the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center in Edgewater offers canoeing and wooded trails, and Historic London Town and Gardens preserves a colonial river port. The byway finishes among the small bay towns of Rose Haven, North Beach, and Chesapeake Beach, where marinas, antiques shops, and waterfront restaurants replace the city sightseeing of Annapolis with a slower, beach-town pace along the same tidewater coast.
- 47 miles, Annapolis to Huntingtown
- Maryland State House, briefly the nation's capital (1783)
- Banneker-Douglass-Tubman Museum
- Smithsonian Environmental Research Center, Edgewater
- Historic London Town and Gardens
- Chesapeake Beach & North Beach waterfront towns
Plan a drive on Roots and Tides Byway →
What is a State Scenic Byway?
State Scenic Byways are roads a state has formally recognized for their scenic, natural, historic or cultural value — each state's own curated collection of drives worth taking slowly.
Where to Stay along Roots and Tides Byway
No campgrounds are listed close to Roots and Tides Byway yet, but there are rooms near the route.
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