Explore the New Bohemia River State Park

Maryland has roughly 50 state parks that showcase our state's extraordinary, diverse and beautiful public lands – stretching from the Appalachian Mountains in the west to the Atlantic Ocean on the eastern-most shore. Chesapeake City is home to Maryland's newest state park, Bohemia River State Park, which opened to the public in April 2022. When you stay with us at the Inn at the Canal, you're just 7 minutes from the park's main gate.

As its name suggests, Bohemia River State Park has significant water frontage along the Bohemia River, as well as Great Bohemia and Burkalow creeks. All total, the park encompasses 460 acres in southern Cecil County, with a mixture of upland forest, emergent wetlands and agricultural fields. To preserve its natural resources, the park focuses on passive recreation, including hiking, biking, birding, canoeing, kayaking, fishing, deer hunting and horseback riding.

The park is being developed in two phases, the first of which is complete. Phase 1 gives visitors 5 miles of natural-surface, multi-use trails that traverse through hardwood forests, meadows and tidal marshes, and offer amazing views of the Bohemia River. With Phase 2, the park will get a paddling launch site on Great Bohemia Creek at Oak Point, as well as an additional 5 miles of trails for recreation and exploration.

The history of the land dates back to the mid-1600s and a man named Augustine Herman, a native of Bohemia (now the Czech Republic). He was commissioned by Lord Baltimore to map the upper Eastern Shore region and, as payment, received a land grant of 4,000 acres that he named Bohemia Manor. The land that is now Bohemia River State Park was part of that original land grant. Through the years, a succession of landowners farmed the land before it was ultimately purchased by the state. A federal-style manor house and Pennsylvania bank barn that date back to the 1800s remain on the property and are undergoing significant structural and historical restoration.

Bohemia River State Park
4030 Augustine Herman Hwy
Chesapeake City, MD 21915