History, waterfalls, and standout meals—no overnight required.
written and photographed by pam kasey
When you’re ready for a summer day trip with a little bit of everything, point your car east to Garrett County, Maryland. You can find enough there to make a satisfying day of it and be back in town before bedtime.
Head first to Oakland. It’s a little faster to take I-68, but WV Route 7, a West Virginia Scenic Byway, runs alongside the Deckers Creek gorge, then crosses pretty Preston County farm country to go through Kingwood and Terra Alta—well worth the extra few minutes.
If it’s Saturday morning, check out Oakland’s Mountain Fresh Farmers Market. When you’ve finished browsing the produce, baked goods, jams and jellies, and artisan products, walk over to the restored 1884 Baltimore & Ohio Railroad station next door—just look for the steam engine parked out front. The depot is a striking example of Queen Anne railway architecture. The B&O Museum inside is chock-full of artifacts, and its displays will give you a new appreciation for the transformation that fast east–west transport brought to the Appalachian highlands. Don’t miss the last room, where you’ll find railroading lingo with great backstories—like date nails, fishplates, and gandy dancers.
Ready for lunch? You can walk around the corner to 206 Alder Bistro & Bar for creative, scratch-made dishes, then browse The BookMark’et bookshop. Or for a hearty plateful, take the short drive to 3rd Street Diner.
One thing the railroad made possible was the development of breezy mountain getaways for wealthy city dwellers. A five-minute drive from Oakland gets you to Mountain Lake Park, once a summer retreat with a 5,000-seat amphitheater that hosted speakers including labor leader Samuel Gompers and evangelist Billy Sunday. Today, the community celebrates its history with trolley tours, street vaudeville, and living history reenactors in a Victorian Chautauqua every July. The rest of the year, you can learn about the community’s history at the Ticket Office Museum—reach out in advance to arrange your visit. Pick up a historic district map there and take the self-guided tour to see some grand turn-of-the-century homes.
If you’ve got kids with you, they’ll get excited about the splash pad at Mountain Lake Park, and you may want to pack your swim trunks—but don’t get wet yet. It’s just a 20-minute drive to Swallow Falls State Park. A short walk among towering old-growth hemlocks takes you to Muddy Creek, Swallow, and Tolliver falls and to smooth boulders where the whole family can cool off in the Youghiogheny River.
After the falls, there are restaurants for every taste at Deep Creek Lake. Ace’s Run Restaurant & Pub overlooks the water. Dutch’s at Silver Tree is known for its crab cakes, and MoonShadow has an eclectic menu and creative craft cocktails. If you’re in more of a beer–and–food truck mood, head to High Ground Brewing in Terra Alta, just back over the border into West Virginia. There’s a big yard where the kids can work out the last of their energy, and you can sip a beer in the sunset glow of a day well spent.
READ MORE STORIES FROM OUR SUMMER 2026 ISSUE
Leave a Reply