3 Best Sights in Lexington Park, Annapolis and Southern Maryland

The St. Mary's River, which once powered Historic Cecil's Old Mill, is just a trickle in this area now, so the water wheel now runs on electricity. Today the building, which dates to 1900, contains an artist co-op as well as a small display of artifacts and photographs of the mill. In keeping with the setting, most of the arts and crafts on sale are quaint and rustic: rural scenes painted on circular saw blades or lighthouses on driftwood, crocheted place mats, and colorful quilts. The mill is about five miles west of Lexington Park and quite difficult to find—there are no signposts. Once a year, in the fall, the mill is powered up for sawing logs. Call for details.

The Patuxent River Naval Air Museum houses items from the research, development, testing, and evaluation of naval aircraft. Nineteen vintage aircraft are displayed outside—which, while the museum is undergoing renovation, is all you can see.

The distinguished house on the grounds of this 18th-century plantation is the earliest (1703) post-in-ground structure known to exist in the United States; in place of a foundation, cedar timbers driven straight into the ground support it. The house is a sampler of architectural styles and interior design from the last two centuries. On the grounds of this National Historic Landmark are other buildings from the 18th through early 20th century: a Colonial customs warehouse, a smokehouse, a "necessary" (an outhouse), and a restored slave cabin from the 1830s. The house also has Colonial Revival gardens and nature trails overlooking the Patuxent River. Admission, which is less for children, includes a tour.