Experience Cumberland, MD

Our holiday travels take us from Fayetteville, WV to eastern PA.  Fortunately for us Cumberland, MD is just about half way.  We’ve recently spent a few nights in this charming, historic community.  Here’s a few reasons you also might want to stop in Cumberland if you’re passing through or make it a holiday vacation destination.

• I-68 passes right through downtown Cumberland so within minutes you can get off the interstate and be downtown where you’ll find historic buildings and local restaurants and shops as opposed to the neon signs, gas stations, and chain restaurants of the typical interstate exit.
• The downtown is a glow with holiday lights and decorations.
• Friendly people.
• The downtown is very walkable, actually some of the brick lined streets prohibit vehicles.
• It’s a Preserve America community

Stay

We stayed in the Fairfield Inn located right at the juncture of the C&O Canal and Great Allegheny Passage trails and just a few blocks from downtown.  It even has a bike wash station to accommodate trail users.  We were glad to see them participating in the Clean the World program, now just wish they would do something about all of the plastic and styrofoam disposables at breakfast.

Eat & Drink

Numerous unique restaurants and pubs to choose from.  Get some homemade ice cream at the Queen City Creamery, homemade pork barbeque and crab soup at the Crabby Pig, wet your whistle at the Baltimore St. Grill, or drive just a few miles east and have some wood fired pizza and brew in a restored Civil War hospital at Puccini’s .

Do

Walk the historic downtown and check out the architecture dating back to the canal and railroad days and other historic sites, visit art galleries and performing art venues, walk or ride east on the C&O Canal or west on the GAP, or take a train ride on the Santa Express.

Special events this holiday season include Midnight Madness tomorrow night where the stores will be staying open until midnight with special discounts, refreshments, and music and the New Years Eve Ball Drop.

Have you been to Cumberland, MD?  Know of any other authentic Appalachian holiday destinations?

See you on the trail?

Tags: crabby pig, cumberland md, geotourism, green travel, Preserve America, queen city creamery, travel green appalachia

This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 14th, 2011 at 10:36 am and is filed under Blog, TGA's Travelogues. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.