St. Marys River State Park

SUMMATION: Beautiful area, but not that interesting. Unless you wish to fish, hunt, or mountain bike, this park is of little interest.
NAME: St. Marys River State Park
DESCRIPTION:
PARK: The 2 parts of the park are in the northern end of the St. Marys River watershed. Site 1, the St. Marys River Watershed Fish Management Area, includes the 250 acre St. Marys Lake, small streams, swamps, woodlands, and trails. Site 2, the Maryland Wildlands, is primarily an undeveloped woodland area.
RIVER: The St. Marys River is a 22.3-mile-long (35.9 km) river in southern Maryland. Its origin is in southern St. Mary’s County, flows to the southeast through Great Mills, and widens into a tidal estuary near St. Marys City. The river is approximately 2 miles (3 km) wide at its mouth on the Potomac River, near the Chesapeake Bay. Its watershed is 5600 acres. One of the last natural areas in Maryland.
MY RATING: Average (2.8÷5)
SIZE: 2346 acres
TITLE: «Not on St. Marys River» [Yelp, Parguera Pirate review #444, 9 November 2015]
CHESAPEAKE BAY TRIP REVIEW NUMBER: 13
TELEPHONE: (301) 872‑5688
WEB PAGE:
LOCALITY: 21 250 Camp Cosoma Road, Callaway, MD 20 620. Site 1 is along Maryland Route 5, between Leonardtown and Great Mills (3 mi N of Great Mills and 24 mi N of Pt. Lookout St. Park), at the end of Camp Cosoma Road. Site 2 is to the east (see online maps). Historic Sight Marker 897.
POSTAL ADDRESS: St. Mary’s River State Park, c/​o Point Lookout State Park11175 Point Lookout RoadScotland, Maryland 20 687
LATITUDE, LONGITUDE: 38°15’6.3“N, 76°32’29.5“W (bike trail head)
DIFFICULTY LOCATING: fairly easy
DIRECTIONS: see their web page
PARKING: Large, gravel parking lot at Site 1, designated areas at Site 2
HOURS OF OPERATION: sunrise-​sunset (fishing, boat launching, and hunting can be conducted outside park hours)
FEES: $ 3/​vehicle/​day for locals, non-​Marylander $ 5.
VIEW: very nice
ANIMALS: Pets are allowed.
AMENITIES: The park has bathrooms, picnic tables, a playground, and boat launch ramps. Picnicking is permitted, but there are few tables.
RECOMMENDATIONS: The bike trail is not for novices. The surface is dirt and can be muddy. Tree roots are the biggest obstacles.
ENVIRONMENTAL: Management is environmentally sound; however, it is not a reserve as sport fishing, bow and firearm hunting, and trapping is permitted. Only electric powered boats are not permitted in the lake.
CORRECTIONS: «3000 BC» (5000 ybp, Park webpage) is prehistory, not «History.» This is a rather scant archaeological record. One would have expected a maximum of 10,000−12,000 ybp.
CONFUSIONS: This park should be called «St. Marys River Drainage State Park.» It has nothing to do with the St. Marys River.
AWARDS: Maryland Green Travel Partner; Trophy Bass [A] Lake; the park did not qualify for a listing in the National Register of Historic Places (1968, updated 2003, Maryland Inventory of Historic Properties # SM-​879);
REVIEWS: Only the bike trail has been reviewed and rated Very Good, 3.59÷5, 39 reviews (mtbr); Very Good, 4.00÷5, 9 reviews (SingleTracts); Poor, 2.2÷5, 5 reviews (TrailLink); [1]
HISTORY: The park was proposed in the 1960s. Lands were acquired from 1968 to 1983. Extensive recreational development of the park was proposed, but never conducted.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] Review systems with fewer than 5 reviews [Google; Southof50; Trails​.com] not listed.
SPECIES:
[A] Largemouth Bass, Micropterus salmoides
REFERENCES:
Anonymous. 2010. From our backyard to our bay: A St. Marys County residence guide to improving our environment and drinking water. St. Marys River Watershed Association and others, 40 pp., also