Date of Sojourn: February 2017
Location: Berlin, Maryland, Assateague Island National Seashore, and Environs; Map
In February 2017 we took a weekend trip to Berlin, Maryland on Maryland’s Eastern Shore, visiting Assateague Island National Seashore, Furnace Town, and the nearby towns of Snow Hill and Pocomoke City.
In Berlin we stayed at the historic Atlantic Hotel, built in the late 19th Century and mostly recently renovated in the early 21st Century. Berlin is a small town not far from Salisbury and Ocean City, with a central business area of restaurants, galleries, antique stores, and other shops.
Our first morning we were up before dawn for a nine mile, 15 minute drive to Assateague Island National Seashore to view the sunrise.
Later we visited Snow Hill and Pocomoke City on the Eastern Shore south of Berlin.
The nearby Furnace Town Living History Village provides a glimpse into early 19th Century life at the Nassawango Iron Furnace where bog ore from the Nassawango Swamp was turned into iron used in the cities of Philadelphia, Baltimore, and New York from 1828-1850. Today it’s a collection of 19th Century buildings housing artisans’ studios and telling the story of life in swamp.
Furnace Town is bordered on the east by a portion of The Nassawango Preserve of The Nature Conservancy. We walked the Paul Leifer Nature Trail, a one-mile walking trail skirting the Nassawango Swamp and in places crossing the swamp with a series of boardwalks. A section of the trail is on the towpath that bordered the Canal used during the time of the Furnace.
Lastly we explored the northern end of Assateague Island National Seashore, including the Life of the Dunes Nature Trail.
And no trip to Assateague would be complete without this………..
