1.
United States
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Forty-eight of the fifty states and the federal district are contiguous and located in North America between Canada and Mexico. The state of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east, the state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U. S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean, the geography, climate and wildlife of the country are extremely diverse. At 3.8 million square miles and with over 324 million people, the United States is the worlds third- or fourth-largest country by area, third-largest by land area. It is one of the worlds most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, paleo-Indians migrated from Asia to the North American mainland at least 15,000 years ago. European colonization began in the 16th century, the United States emerged from 13 British colonies along the East Coast. Numerous disputes between Great Britain and the following the Seven Years War led to the American Revolution. On July 4,1776, during the course of the American Revolutionary War, the war ended in 1783 with recognition of the independence of the United States by Great Britain, representing the first successful war of independence against a European power. The current constitution was adopted in 1788, after the Articles of Confederation, the first ten amendments, collectively named the Bill of Rights, were ratified in 1791 and designed to guarantee many fundamental civil liberties. During the second half of the 19th century, the American Civil War led to the end of slavery in the country. By the end of century, the United States extended into the Pacific Ocean. The Spanish–American War and World War I confirmed the status as a global military power. The end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 left the United States as the sole superpower. The U. S. is a member of the United Nations, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Organization of American States. The United States is a developed country, with the worlds largest economy by nominal GDP. It ranks highly in several measures of performance, including average wage, human development, per capita GDP. While the U. S. economy is considered post-industrial, characterized by the dominance of services and knowledge economy, the United States is a prominent political and cultural force internationally, and a leader in scientific research and technological innovations. In 1507, the German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller produced a map on which he named the lands of the Western Hemisphere America after the Italian explorer and cartographer Amerigo Vespucci
2.
Maryland
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The states largest city is Baltimore, and its capital is Annapolis. Among its occasional nicknames are Old Line State, the Free State, the state is named after Henrietta Maria of France, the wife of Charles I of England. George Calvert was the first Lord of Baltimore and the first English proprietor of the colonial grant. Maryland was the state to ratify the United States Constitution. Maryland is one of the smallest U. S. states in terms of area, as well as one of the most densely populated, Maryland has an area of 12,406.68 square miles and is comparable in overall area with Belgium. It is the 42nd largest and 9th smallest state and is closest in size to the state of Hawaii, the next largest state, its neighbor West Virginia, is almost twice the size of Maryland. Maryland possesses a variety of topography within its borders, contributing to its nickname America in Miniature. The mid-portion of this border is interrupted by Washington, D. C. which sits on land that was part of Montgomery and Prince Georges counties and including the town of Georgetown. This land was ceded to the United States Federal Government in 1790 to form the District of Columbia, the Chesapeake Bay nearly bisects the state and the counties east of the bay are known collectively as the Eastern Shore. Close to the town of Hancock, in western Maryland, about two-thirds of the way across the state. This geographical curiosity makes Maryland the narrowest state, bordered by the Mason–Dixon line to the north, portions of Maryland are included in various official and unofficial geographic regions. Much of the Baltimore–Washington corridor lies just south of the Piedmont in the Coastal Plain, earthquakes in Maryland are infrequent and small due to the states distance from seismic/earthquake zones. The M5.8 Virginia earthquake in 2011 was felt moderately throughout Maryland, buildings in the state are not well-designed for earthquakes and can suffer damage easily. The lack of any glacial history accounts for the scarcity of Marylands natural lakes, laurel Oxbow Lake is an over one-hundred-year-old 55-acre natural lake two miles north of Maryland City and adjacent to Russett. Chews Lake is a natural lake two miles south-southeast of Upper Marlboro. There are numerous lakes, the largest of them being the Deep Creek Lake. Maryland has shale formations containing natural gas, where fracking is theoretically possible, as is typical of states on the East Coast, Marylands plant life is abundant and healthy. Middle Atlantic coastal forests, typical of the southeastern Atlantic coastal plain, grow around Chesapeake Bay, moving west, a mixture of Northeastern coastal forests and Southeastern mixed forests cover the central part of the state
3.
Inner Harbor
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The Inner Harbor is a historic seaport, tourist attraction, and landmark of the city of Baltimore, Maryland, USA. It was described by the Urban Land Institute in 2009 as “the model for post-industrial waterfront redevelopment around the world. ”The Inner Harbor is located at the mouth of Jones Falls, creating the wide and short northwest branch of the Patapsco River. The district includes any water west of a line drawn between the foot of President Street and the American Visionary Art Museum, the harbor is within walking distance of Camden Yards and M&T Bank Stadium. A water taxi connects passengers to Fells Point, Canton, while Baltimore has been a major U. S. seaport since the 18th century, the historically shallow water of the Inner Harbor was not conducive to large ships or heavy industry. These were concentrated in Locust Point, Fells Point, and Canton, in the mid-20th century, Baltimore suffered from the economic decline of restructuring common to many industrial cities in the United States. Old harbors were abandoned with the arrival of ships after World War II. Later, the old harbors were adapted as focal points to reconnect cities with their waterfronts, and develop public spaces, tourism, business, during the 1940s, John H. Threadgill, the head of the Steamship Trade Association, initiated a study for a cross-harbor bridge. A bridge across the Inner Harbor of Baltimore was one idea that was discussed frequently, Threadgill was named head of Baltimores Port Commission during the 1950s. In the 1950s, economic changes ended both the freight and passenger use of the Inner Harbor, such as the Old Bay Lines steamers, rotting warehouses and piers were eventually torn down and replaced by open, grass-covered parkland that was used for recreational purposes and occasional large events. The renewal of Baltimores Inner Harbor area began with the adoption of the 33-acre Charles Center project by the City Council, between 1958 and 1965, Baltimore renewed the center of its business district by rebuilding Charles Center with office buildings, hotels, and retail shops. At the beginning of mayor Theodore R. McKeldins second term in 1963, corporate headquarters and hotels were built around the shoreline of the Inner Harbor. A public park and promenade were added for leisure activity and community gatherings. On July 4,1976, following the rendezvous of Tall Ships in New York for the U. S. Bicentennial, eight ships from other nations visited Baltimore, where they attracted a huge number of tourists. The nearby Baltimore Convention Center and Hyatt Regency Baltimore Hotel added to the services and resulted in population density, with the success of the Inner Harbor in the 1970s and 1980s, Baltimore became a worldwide tourist destination and model of urban planning and development. S. In recent years, the area along the waterfront to the east of the Inner Harbor has been developed with condominiums, retail space, restaurants, and hotels – an ongoing project known as Harbor East. While little development land remains around the Inner Harbor, the land has been subject to many plans. In September 2003, the Inner Harbor area was flooded by Hurricane Isabel, in March 2004, a water taxi capsized during a storm on the Northwest Branch of the Patapsco River near Fort McHenry. While occurring over a mile downstream of the Inner Harbor, the accident was associated with the Inner Harbor by news reports, five passengers died in the accident, which the National Transportation Safety Board determined was caused when the small pontoon-style vessel encountered unpredictable strong winds and waves
4.
Stream
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A stream is a body of water with a current, confined within a bed and banks. Streams are important as conduits in the cycle, instruments in groundwater recharge. The biological habitat in the vicinity of a stream is called a riparian zone. Given the status of the ongoing Holocene extinction, streams play an important corridor role in connecting fragmented habitats, the study of streams and waterways in general is known as surface hydrology and is a core element of environmental geography. Brook A stream smaller than a creek, especially one that is fed by a spring or seep and it is usually small and easily forded. A brook is characterised by its shallowness and its bed being composed primarily of rocks, creek In North America, Australia and New Zealand, a small to medium-sized natural stream. Sometimes navigable by motor craft and may be intermittent, in parts of Maryland, New England, the UK and India, a tidal inlet, typically in a salt marsh or mangrove swamp, or between enclosed and drained former salt marshes or swamps. In these cases, the stream is the stream, the course of the seawater through the creek channel at low. River A large natural stream, which may be a waterway, runnel the linear channel between the parallel ridges or bars on a shoreline beach or river floodplain, or between a bar and the shore. Tributary A contributory stream, or a stream which does not reach the sea, sometimes also called a branch or fork. There are a number of names for a stream. Allt is used in Highland Scotland, beck is used in Yorkshire, Lancashire, Dumfriesshire, Cumbria, Norfolk, and Lincolnshire. Bourne or winterbourne is used in the chalk downland of southern England, brook is used in the Midlands, Lancashire and Cheshire. Burn is used in Scotland and North East England, gill or ghyll is seen in the north of England and other areas influenced by Old Norse. Rivulet is an term encountered in Victorian era publications, stream is used in Southern England. Syke is used in lowland Scotland and Cumbria for a seasonal stream, branch is used to name streams in Maryland and Virginia. Falls is also used to name streams in Maryland, for streams/rivers which have waterfalls on them, little Gunpowder Falls and The Jones Falls are actually rivers named in this manner, unique to Maryland. Kill in New York, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and New Jersey comes from a Dutch language word meaning riverbed or water channel, run in Ohio, Maryland, Michigan, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Virginia, or West Virginia can be the name of a stream
5.
Maryland Route 25
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Maryland Route 25, locally known for nearly its entire length as Falls Road, is a state highway in the U. S. state of Maryland. It begins north of downtown Baltimore, just north of Penn Station, the road passes through the communities of Hampden, Medfield, Cross Keys, and Mount Washington in the city, and Brooklandville and Butler in Baltimore County. The entire length of MD25 that uses Falls Road—and its locally maintained continuation north to Alesia—is a Maryland Scenic Byway, Lafayette Street and Lanvale Street head west as two-lane streets and intersects another one-way pair of streets, northbound Charles Street and southbound Maryland Avenue. Paul Street and 12-20 E. Lafayette Street, the highway passes underneath Howard Street and North Avenue bridges and by the Baltimore Streetcar Museum buildings and sheds. MD25 passes under Wyman Park Drive just south of the former Stieff Silver Company factory building,1, down the hill from the Stone Hill Historic District. The street becomes undivided and reduces to two lanes at the street of Hampden, 36th Street or The Avenue. North of 41st Street, MD25 passes between the neighborhoods of Medfield to the west and Hoes Heights on the east, MD25 intersects Northern Parkway, then descends again into the Jones Falls valley and passes through the center of Mount Washington. MD25 enters the Bare Hills Historic District and Bare Hills area of Baltimore County, the state highway crosses over the Baltimore Light Rail line again and the Jones Falls next to the Falls Road station. The station is accessed via unsigned MD746, which runs underneath MD25 along the latter highways overpass on its way to the station parking lot. MD25 continues north through an affluent area between Towson (county seat of Baltimore County to the east and Pikesville to the west with its headquarters for the Maryland State Police. The highway descends to and crosses Jones Falls twice on side of an underpass of I-83. North of MD133, the passes the Rockland Historic District. MD25 has a ramp to the Jones Falls Expressway as the road begins to parallel the expressway, the highway, which is unsigned MD 25A north of I-695, has its northern terminus at an orthogonal intersection with MD25 and Joppa Road, which heads east toward Towson. MD25 makes a turn east at the north end of the parallel section. The highway passes through an area to MD130, north of which the highway becomes two lanes again. MD25 continues through the region of estate homes until the highway reaches Shawan Road and Tufton Avenue at the hamlet of Shawan, MD25 crosses Western Run and passes through the village of Butler, where the highway meets MD128. The highway follows Blackrock Run and Indian Run through a pair of ridges, at the second ridge, MD25 has a Y intersection with MD88 at Coopersville. The state highway crosses Blackrock Run again and intersects MD137 at Whitehouse between Hampstead and Hereford, MD25 reaches its northern terminus at Beckleysville Road west of Beckleysville and Prettyboy Reservoir near the Baltimore–Carroll county line
6.
Northeast Corridor
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The Northeast Corridor is an electrified railway line in the Northeast megalopolis of the United States. Owned primarily by Amtrak, it runs from Boston through New York City, Philadelphia, the NEC closely parallels Interstate 95 for most of its length, and is the busiest passenger rail line in the United States by ridership and service frequency as of 2013. Branches to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and Springfield, Massachusetts, though not considered part of the Northeast Corridor, the corridor is used by many Amtrak trains, including the high-speed Acela Express, intercity trains, and several long-distance trains. Most of the corridor also has frequent commuter service, operated by the MBTA, Shore Line East, Metro-North Railroad, New Jersey Transit, SEPTA. Several companies run freight trains over sections of the NEC, much of the line is built for speeds higher than the 79 mph allowed on many U. S. tracks. Acela covers the 225 miles between New York and Washington, D. C. in under 3 hours, and the 229 miles between New York and Boston in under 3.5 hours. Under Amtraks $151 billion Northeast Corridor plan, which hopes to roughly halve travel times by 2040, the Northeast Corridor was built by several railroads between the 1830s and 1917. The route was later consolidated under two railroads, the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad between Boston and New York, and the Pennsylvania Railroad between New York and Washington, boston-Providence, Boston and Providence Railroad opened 1835, partially realigned in 1847 and in 1899. Became part of the Old Colony Railroad in 1888, providence-Stonington, New York, Providence and Boston Railroad opened 1837, partially realigned 1848. Stonington-New Haven, New Haven, New London and Stonington Railroad opened 1852-1889, New Haven-New Rochelle, New York and New Haven Railroad opened 1849. New Rochelle-Port Morris, Harlem River and Port Chester Railroad opened 1873, Port Morris-Sunnyside Yard, New York Connecting Railroad, opened 1917. Sunnyside Yard-Manhattan Transfer, Pennsylvania Tunnel and Terminal Railroad opened 1910, Manhattan Transfer-Trenton, United New Jersey Railroad and Canal Company opened 1834-1839,1841, partially realigned 1863 and 1870. Trenton-Frankford Junction, Philadelphia and Trenton Railroad opened 1834, partially realigned 1911, frankford Junction-Zoo Tower, Connecting Railway opened 1867. Zoo Tower-Grays Ferry Bridge, Junction Railroad opened 1863-1866, grays Ferry-Bayview, Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore Railroad opened 1837-1838,1866,1906. Bayview Yard-Baltimore Union Station, Union Railroad opened 1873, Baltimore Union Station-Landover, Baltimore and Potomac Rail Road opened 1872. Electricity was in use on branch lines of the NYNH&H for interurban streetcars via third rail or trolley wire. The NH announced in 1905 that it would electrify its main line from New York to Stamford, electric locomotives began serving Grand Central on February 13,1907, and all NYC passenger service into Grand Central was electrified on July 1. NH electrification began on July 24 to New Rochelle, August 5 to Port Chester and October 6,1907 the rest of the way to Stamford, steam trains last operated into Grand Central on June 30,1908, after which all NH passenger trains into Manhattan were electrified
7.
Interstate 83
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Interstate 83 is an Interstate Highway in the Eastern United States. Its southern terminus is in Baltimore, Maryland at a intersection with Fayette Street, its northern terminus is in Harrisburg. Most of the south of Lemoyne, Pennsylvania is a direct replacement of U. S. Route 111. The Jones Falls Expressway, known to residents as the JFX, is a 10. 2-mile-long freeway that carries I-83 from downtown Baltimore to the northern suburbs. It is the areas true north–south artery, because I-95 runs mostly east–west through much of the city and its southern terminus is at Fayette Street, and its northern terminus is at Maryland Route 25, just north of the Baltimore Beltway. Inside Baltimore, the road is maintained not by the Maryland State Highway Administration, which controls most freeways in the state, but by the citys Department of Transportation. The freeway begins at an at-grade four-way intersection between the Jones Falls Expressway, Fayette Street, and President Street, located in proximity to the Phoenix Shot Tower. President Street continues south along the edge of the central business district to terminate at a traffic circle in Harbor East. Fayette Street serves as a route into the downtown area. Passing beneath the Orleans Street Viaduct, the JFX runs north, between Exits 3 and 4, there is a 90-degree turn that sometimes requires motorists to slow down just before entering it. The curve is located between the Guilford Avenue and Preston Street overpasses, within the curve, the southbound JFX interchanges with MD2. Having passed this curve, the JFX begins to parallel MD25, interchanging with North Avenue before continuing north past Druid Lake, forming the northeastern boundary of Druid Hill Park. Running northwest out of the city center, the JFX is paralleled by its river, the Jones Falls, on one side. Closer to downtown, the rail line peels off in a different direction. After interchanging with Cold Spring Lane and Northern Parkway, the JFX exits Baltimore, at the Beltway, I-83 leaves the JFX and joins I-695 for a distance of 1.4 miles, where it separates from the latter route to continue onward into northern Maryland. Meanwhile, the JFX continues for another 0.5 miles in a four-lane divided format before terminating at an intersection with MD25 Falls Road. I-83 and I-695 split off at the terminus of the Baltimore-Harrisburg Expressway. After separating from the Beltway, I-83 is now known as the Baltimore-Harrisburg Expressway, running due north away from the Beltway, the route parallels MD45 York Road, the former route of US111
8.
Light RailLink
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The Baltimore Light Rail is a light rail system serving Baltimore, Maryland, United States, as well as its surrounding suburbs. It is operated by the Maryland Transit Administration, in downtown Baltimore, it uses city streets. The origins of the Light Rail ultimately lie in a plan drawn up for the Baltimore area in 1966 that envisioned six rapid transit lines radiating out from the city center. By 1983, only a line was built, the Northwest line. The Light Rail lines were quickly and inexpensively and without money from the U. S. federal government. The initial system was a single 22. 5-mile line, all at grade except for a bridge over the Middle Branch of the Patapsco River just south of downtown Baltimore. The line ran from Timonium in Baltimore County in the north to Glen Burnie in Anne Arundel County in the south, the Light Rail began service in April 1992, the same month that the Orioles began play at Camden Yards. Three extensions to the system were added in 1997, in September of that year, the line was extended north 4.5 miles to Hunt Valley, adding five stations that served a major business park and a mall. In 1998, the Hamburg Street station opened as a station between the existing Westport and Camden Yards stations. Adjacent to M&T Bank Stadium, it was only open during Ravens games and other major stadium events, however, in 2005. To save money, much of the system was built as single-track, the northern section up to Timonium reopened in December 2005, the rest opened in February 2006. The line north of the Gilroy Road station & on the BWI Airport spur remain single tracked, various routing strategies have been used on the network. Some trains heading north from either BWI Airport or Cromwell/Glen Burnie may terminate at North Avenue to go out of service until peak operation hours resume, during these times, ridership is not high enough to send trains all the way through. Passengers must check train destination signs before boarding, the light rail operates 3,30 a. m. –1,30 a. m. on weekdays,4,15 a. m. –1,15 a. m. Saturdays, and 10 a. m. –10 p. m. on Sundays, the Camden Yards-Penn Station route sees 30-minute headways at all times. Most of the light rails route is on a dedicated right-of-way, however, on the downtown portion of the route that runs along Howard Street, trains mix with automobile traffic and their movement is controlled by traffic signals. In 2007, a signal priority system was implemented on this portion of the route. The space mean speed between Hunt Valley and BWI is about 22 miles per hour, MTA fares are identical for the Metro Subway, the Light Rail, and local buses, a one-way trip costs $1.70
9.
Pennsylvania Station (Baltimore)
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Baltimore Pennsylvania Station is the main transportation hub in Baltimore, Maryland. Designed by New York architect Kenneth MacKenzie Murchison, it was constructed in 1911 in the Beaux-Arts style of architecture for the Pennsylvania Railroad. It is located at 1515 N. Charles Street, about a mile and a north of downtown. Originally called Union Station because it served the Pennsylvania Railroad and Western Maryland Railway, the building sits on a raised island of sorts between two open trenches, one for the Jones Falls Expressway and the other the tracks of the Northeast Corridor. The NECs northern approach is the 1873 Union Tunnel, which has one single-track bore, Penn Station is the seventh-busiest rail station in the United States by number of passengers served each year. Penn Station is served by Amtrak, MARC, and the Maryland Transit Administrations light rail system, the station is the northern terminus of the Light Rails Penn-Camden shuttle, connecting the Mount Vernon neighborhood with downtown, the southern terminus is Baltimores Camden Station. MARC offers service between Washington, D. C. and Perryville, Amtrak Acela Express and Northeast Regional trains from Penn Station serve destinations along the Northeast Corridor between Boston and Washington, D. C. Some Regional trains from the station continue into Virginia and serve Alexandria, Newport News, Norfolk, Lynchburg, other long-distance trains from the station serve, St. Louis, and Atlantic City, New Jersey. Louis to its Missouri namesake, and the Buffalo Day Express, as late as 1956, this route also hosted the Liberty Limited to Chicago and the Dominion Limited to Toronto, Canada. Baltimore Light Rail service began in 1997, as part of the Northeast Corridor Improvement Project, the station was restored to its 1911 appearance in 1984. The stations use as a Western Maryland station stop allowed passengers from Penn Station to ride directly to various Maryland towns such as Westminster, Hagerstown, passenger service on the Western Maryland ended in 1958. Baltimore Penn Station is also used for MARC train storage during the weekends and overnight via off-peak service times on tracks 1,3,5, Pennsylvania Station opened on September 15,1911. It is the railroad depot on its North Charles Street site. The first one was a structure built by the Northern Central Railway that began operating in 1873. The old station was demolished in January 1910, during what became known as the Checkers speech, on September 23,1952, Richard Nixon, then a U. S. Nixon referred to the station by its former name, Union Station in Baltimore. In 2004, the City of Baltimore, through its arts program. His work, a 51-foot -tall aluminum statue entitled Male/Female, has generated controversy ever since. As The Baltimore Sun editorialized, Could this explain why defenders of Male/Female, No, Male/Female gets a lot of attention strictly on its artistic merits, and much of it isnt very positive, especially concerning its setting in front of the Beaux–Arts railroad station
10.
Lake Roland (park)
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Construction companies, including pavilions, playgrounds, trails, bridges and even a dog park. Under the new administration of Baltimore Countys Parks and Recreation, the park was reopened to the public on Friday and it formed the third largest municipal landscaped park in the country. Lake Roland Historic District, declared in 1992, is a historic district in Baltimore City and Baltimore County, Maryland. The central portion of the district is occupied by Lake Roland, with a stone dam capped by a stone valve house. The lake was developed in the mid 19th century as a part of the municipal water system. The lake is surrounded by areas and woods. In 1945, the park was designated as the Robert E. Lee Memorial Park after General Robert E. Lee and this was done at the request of a wealthy Baltimorean Elizabeth B. In the aftermath of the 2015 Charleston church shooting and in response to the controversy revolving the display of Confederate symbols. On September 28,2015, the Baltimore County renamed the park to Lake Roland on September 28,2015 after being approved to do so by the Baltimore City Council. Currently the Park covers over 500 acres, has a nature center. Pavilions, and waterfront activities, and many other recreational opportunities
