We continue our list of Mid-Atlantic small towns to visit with Berlin, Maryland, a two-hour drive from the Anne Arundel region.
Berlin is by far the smallest town on this list, but there’s still plenty to do and see in this cozy community. It’s even been a filming location for the movies “Runaway Bride” and “Tuck Everlasting.” The website Budget Travel actually crowned Berlin as the “Coolest Small Town in America.”
One of the area’s most unique attractions is the Mermaid Museum, which collects mermaid memorabilia and artifacts from around the world. It’s far from historically accurate, but it’s an interesting collection of oddities and folklore. Visitors can even have professional photos taken of them as mermaids!
If you want to see the town in an unorthodox way, sign up for a railbike tour. The tour company Tracks and Yaks has rails built throughout the town and nearby farmland and forests. Participants journey through the area on railbikes—self-propelled vehicles that travel over old railway tracks.
If you’re in Berlin, visiting nearby Assateague Island is a must. The national park is best known for its population of wild horses, and seeing a herd of horses on a beach is truly a one-of-a-kind sight. Just be careful to look and not touch these stunning stallions—they can injure visitors who get too close, so petting and feeding them is off limits. Visitors who aren’t there for the horses often come to the island to fish, camp and kayak.
Berlin is also about 20 minutes from Ocean City if you want the best of both worlds, with the big city and a small-town day trip excursion.
