Douglas Point Recreation Area

Bureau of Land Management, Eastern States

The Potomac River doesn’t just pour out of Washington DC and head straight for the Chesapeake. It has to bend around the Nanjemoy peninsula which juts out of Maryland like a big bulbous nose. Not a lot of people live here, and that makes it beautiful.

The Douglas Point Recreation Area in Charles County, Maryland offers 3 miles of trails for hiking, horseback riding, hunting, and mountain biking. This also includes 548 acres of hardwood forest and marshes, picnicking, Potomac River shoreline, universally accessible historical interpretative walk, and hunting blind. Douglas Point is also part of the Potomac Heritage National Scenic Trail segment and water trail stop.

This area, one of the last remaining undeveloped tracts along the Potomac River, near fast-growing Washington, DC, offers outstanding potential for recreation, wildlife habitat, and cultural resources. The Douglas Point tract contains magnificent hardwood forests. Other unique resources in the general vicinity include the site of a Civil War encampment of approximately 25,000 troops; and archeological sites, habitat for a wide variety of terrestrial and aquatic species, unique wetlands and woodlands, and the evolving ecosystems of the shipwrecks at Mallow Bay.

As always, please practice the Seven Leave No Trace Principles.

Learn more about the Douglas Point Recreation area, the field office to contact for more information, and a map of the area on the BLM.gov website.

The BLM Know Before You Go portal is full of critical information about what to expect at BLM managed recreation areas, proper equipment, and tips and tricks to enrich your experience on #YourPublicLands, visit it now.