Looking at a map, you wouldn't guess that Maryland
would be a very diverse state. Maryland is small, oddly shaped and squeezed
between East Coast heavyweights Pennsylvania and Virginia. But appearances
can be deceiving. High up in the wooded Appalachians, Western Maryland has
all the mountain trappings of West Virginia. Closer to sea level, crab boats
bob in the Chesapeake, evoking a stately Southern feel. Near Virginia, Southern
Maryland is a wash of suburbs surrounding Washington D.C. and in Baltimore,
well, Charm City has a charm all its own.
Diversity is has been integral to Maryland's
identity for centuries. An Italian, Giovanni De Verrazona, was the first to
survey Maryland's shores in the 1500s - though it was English Catholics, swimming
against a Protestant tide - that eventually settled the state. During the
Civil War, Maryland's diversity was grimly evident: 62,000 Marylanders fought
for the North and 22,000 fought for the South. Since then, the long march
of Irish, German, Hungarian, Scandinavian and Russian immigrants through the
Port of Baltimore and steady flow of African-Americans from Southern States
has made Maryland a state where stereotypes and assumptions are as fragile
as a steamed crab's shell.
Now that you're moving to Maryland, there are
a couple facts you'll want to keep in mind:
- Maryland is home to 5,296,486 residents - making it the 19th most populous
state in America even though it's only the 42nd largest.
- Maryland's official state sport is jousting.
- Maryland's state house, in Annapolis (the state capital), has the largest
all wood dome in the U.S. It's topped by a sculpture of an acorn (a symbol
of wisdom which is, ironically, installed upside down).
- In Maryland it's illegal to take a lion a movie theater. It's also illegal
to sell chicks or ducklings to a minor within one week of Easter.
- Maryland's state song is "Maryland, My Maryland," sung to the
melody of "Oh Christmas Tree."
- Francis Scott Key wrote the "Star-Spangled Banner" in Baltimore,
while watching the bombardment of Fort McHenry during the War of 1812.
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