Interesting Facts about Maryland

• Near the town of Hancock, Maryland is only about 1 mile wide, the narrowest width of any state.
• The British attack on Fort McHenry during the War of 1812, with its "rockets' red glare," inspired onlooker Francis Scott Key to write the poem that is now the national anthem.
• Jan Frazier of the Cumberland area was expecting a child when she was captured by the Indians. The Indians raided another settlement to get clothes for the infant, who nevertheless died. The mother escaped, walking for 300 miles and living on herbs and bark until she reached a house of friends, only to find her husband had remarried.
• One of the king's colonial grants was known as the Thumb Grant, because the grantee was given as much land as his thumb could cover on a map.
• Maryland is the only state to have developed a distinct breed of dog--the Chesapeake Bay retriever.
• Maryland has the only official state sport -- jousting.