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The Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge in Maryland is one of the best bird-watching spots in the U.S.  Located less than 2 hours from the Baltimore/Washington metro area, it makes visitors feel miles from civilization.

WEBSITE: https://www.fws.gov/refuge/Blackwater/

Overview

The Eastern Shores of Maryland remain relatively undeveloped, especially for the crowded east coast.  This was an area of early settlement, but the land proved hard to tame.  Thus, the area looks much as it did when the nation was founded.

Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge is a 28,000-acre area set aside as a wildlife refuge in 1933.  There is a wonderful visitors center, a great drive and trails for both hiking and canoeing/kayaking.  Right next door is the Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad National Historic Park.

The refuge is located about 10-miles from the small town of Cambridge, Maryland.  We visited in November 2019 and spent the night in Cambridge.

Visitors Center

Your first stop at Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge should be the visitors center.  This is a state-of-the-art two-story building.  It houses wildlife exhibits and on the second floor there is an observation deck.  From this deck there are scopes where you can watch the birds in the marsh.

The visitors center also has a life-size eagles next and cams that show the actual osprey and eagles nest in the parks.  This is also where you pick up information about hiking, paddling and doing the Wildlife Drive.

Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge is where salt and fresh water meet.  Much of the water is brackish, a mixture of salt and fresh water.  This leads to a large diversity of wildlife, especially birds.  The refuge is along the path of the migratory Atlantic Flyway.

I learned this all at the visitors center!  Make sure and talk to the staff because they will also tell you where to best view wildlife given the current conditions/time of year.  We came on a windy, rainy November day and there were very specific spots birds tend to hang out in that type of weather.

Wildlife Drive

The Wildlife Drive is a 4-mile one-way paved road that runs along the Blackwater River.  There are several parking areas leading to hiking trails.  There are also multiple places to pull over on the side of road when you spot wildlife.

There is a minimal fee of $3 per car to access the Wildlife Drive.  This fee is self-served and paid by putting money in an envelope at the entrance.  The park is included in the annual National Park Pass so you don’t have to pay the fee.  We put our pass in the windshield when we went for our walk.

What you see varies depending on the time of year.  You can go here to find a full seasonal guide.  Late fall through winter can be a great time to see waterfowl.  Many birds migrate from Canada through the refuge.

Bald eagles are a major attraction at Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge.  They build nests in tall pine trees along Wildlife Drive.  At the visitors center they told us where to view the nests.  Unfortunately, it was a rainy day and we did not see any bald eagles.  We heard they are a fairly common site throughout the year.

Trails

Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge is unique in that it has both hiking trails and paddling trails. We hiked the short Marsh Edge Trail.  This half-mile trail was accessible from a parking lot off the Wildlife Drive.

At the trailhead you can pick up a guide to the sites along the trail.  During bald eagle mating season, generally from January to August, the Marsh Edge Trail is closed.

There are also three paddling trails that are accessed by canoe or kayak.  It was a cold November day when we visited so water activity was not on our itinerary.

Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad National Historic Park

In 2013, a 480-acre portion of Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge was set aside for the Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad National Historic Park.  Harriet Tubman was raised in this area as a slave.  She escaped to freedom and helped other slaves escape via her famed underground railroad.

Be sure and check out our full guide to Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad National Historic Park.  It is right down the road from the Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge Visitors Center.  When visiting this isolated area, you should definitely check out both sites.

Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad National Historic Park

Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad National Historic Park is a new national monument and park.  It is located along the eastern shore of the Chesapeake Bay, in an area that looks much the same as it did at the time of the Civil War. Overview Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad National Historic Park is located about 10 […]

For a great historical novel featuring this area be sure and read James Michener’s Chesapeake.  This novel follows a group of fictional family in this area from the 1500s to the time the book was published in 1978. Slavery and the underground railroad form an important part of the story.

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