Mark’s Score 8.5
I grew up in Northern New England, and though I love the Eastern Shore, I find July and August unbearably hot, and let us not even talk about bugs. Though we have an abundance of excellent national and state parks, I avoid the parks in summer. Instead, I switch my focus to the smaller city and county parks. I especially love the parks near town centers as they allow me to combine a bucolic walk, through forests or marshes with a walk through one of our historic villages. One of my favorite nature/town walks is the Stephen Decatur Park Nature Trail combined with a walk in Berlin’s town center.
The Stephen Decatur Park comprises 21 acres (8.5 hectares) on the east side of downtown Berlin. The park is named after local revolutionary war naval hero, Stephen Decatur. The trail runs around a man-made pond and functional wetland that was constructed in 1993. The wetland and trail were created to provide a safe accessible place for residents to walk, provide a habitat for amphibians, aquatic plants, turtles, and birds, and educate the community about the importance of wetlands.
The park parking lot is used for overflow downtown parking during the tourist season. Therefore, making it a perfect opportunity for a nature/town walk. The reclaimed wetlands and trail are small, the constructed wetlands comprise less than a quarter of the entire park. Consequently, you can walk the trail in less than 30 minutes. The trail is short there are several educational placards as you circle the pond, that tell the story of Maryland’s wetlands and the important role they play in the local ecology. There is also an impressive stand of majestic loblolly pines.
As you round the final bend of the trail you come up to the back of St Paul’s Episcopal Church, which shone brilliantly white under the summer’s sun. Built in the early 1900s, St Paul’s is one of the finest examples of Oxford Movement architecture on the Eastern Shore. The movement encouraged a return to medieval architecture and worship. I crossed church property from the trail, passing by the church cemetery and then on into the center of town.
Though Berlin is one of the areas earliest settlements, having been part of the Burley Plantation established in 1677, the architecture of the town center is late Victorian. Most the town was destroyed by the great fire in 1904. The walk from the church takes you past some stately Victorian homes and up Bay Street to the front of the Atlantic Inn, which formed the backdrop for a number of scenes in the Runaway Bride. To this day, you can still book the Richard Gere room, which was featured in the movie.
By the time I got to the Atlantic Hotel it was time for lunch, bringing my walk to a satisfying end. What more could you ask of a walk; historical architecture, bucolic wetlands and woods, and a nice lunch in an historic town? For me, this is a perfect summer’s walk.
What else is there to do in Berlin?
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