Chapel Point State Park is an undeveloped public recreation area located on the

Port Tobacco River The Port Tobacco River is a tidal tributary of the Potomac River in Charles County, Maryland, in the United States. The river is about long.U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map access ...

, a tributary of the Potomac, in

Charles County Charles County is a county located in the U.S. state of Maryland. As of the 2020 United States census, the population was 166,617. The county seat is La Plata. The county was named for Charles Calvert (1637–1715), third Baron Baltimore. The ...

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It borders the states of Virginia to its south, West Virginia to its west, Pennsylvania to its north, and Delaware to its east ...

. The

state park State parks are parks or other protected areas managed at the sub-national level within those nations which use "Federated state, state" as a political subdivision. State parks are typically established by a state to preserve a location on accou ...

offers fishing and hunting and is under the management of Charles County.

History

Chapel Point was once part of the St. Thomas Manor patented by the

Roman Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

in 1638. In the 1880s, the

Jesuits The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...

, in partnership with J. C. and W. M. Howard, built a resort known as Hotel Belleview on Chapel Point, with guests brought in by steamboat from

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

In 1924, the site hosted the first Charles County Fair. From about 1926 to 1948, Chapel Point was the site of an amusement park that offered picnicking, rollerskating, a restaurant, beach with bath houses, and hotel. The site was acquired from the Corporation of Roman Catholic Clergymen by the

Maryland Department of Natural Resources The Maryland Department of Natural Resources (DNR) is a government agency in the state of Maryland charged with maintaining natural resources including state parks, public lands, state forests, state waterways, wildlife, and recreation areas. I ...

in 1972 to protect its scenic value and the open space associated with the state's early development.

Features

Adjacent to the park, St. Ignatius Church and cemetery, the oldest continuous

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

parish in the United States, offers a scenic river view.

References

External links

Chapel Point State Park
Maryland Department of Natural Resources
Chapel Point State Park Map
Maryland Department of Natural Resources {{authority control State parks of Maryland Parks in Charles County, Maryland Protected areas established in 1972