Last month, Mike and I took a quick 2-day trip to Fredrick, MD, but this would be such a great day trip from DC, too. It's only about an hour drive between DC and Frederick, and there's lots of good stops for food, shopping, and history.
We spent about one and a half days in Frederick, plus a few extra excursions on the morning of our first day. We made a pit stop at the Clarksburg Outlet Mall, on the way up, which was nice since it's an entirely outdoor mall and it was nearly empty in the morning. After an hour or so at the mall, we then stopped by the Clustered Spires Golf Club where Mike taught me how to golf at the driving range for about an hour as well. We stayed in a cozy Airbnb right in downtown Frederick so we could eat and window-shop our hearts away.
Here's a few Frederick items we checked off on our trip, and you could definitely squeeze all of this into one day!
Monocacy National Battlefield Driving Tour
The Battle of Monocacy is known as "The Battle that Saved Washington" in the Civil War. Lucky for us, there's a free self-guided audio tour with five stops around Monocacy National Battlefield. This was a great option for the morning since the park opened at 7:30am, and then we could just drive at our leisure to each stop. Stop 2 was under construction for us, but there was a pull-off on the side of the road where we could listen to the audio real quick (and about a special covered bridge - more on that below!). There are trails off a few stops, but we opted to do the short half-mile loop at Stop 5 which was along the Monocacy River. Definitely an easy, free, socially-distant morning excursion worth exploring!
Wine & Covered Bridges
We also drove up 20 minutes north of Frederick to Catoctin Breeze Vineyard to enjoy a bottle of wine together. By the time we got there, it was slightly past lunch time, so we grabbed a few fresh baked goods at Catoctin Mountain Orchard right next door to snack on while we sipped on wine at one of the vineyard's picnic tables.
On the drive home, from the vineyard we opted for the scenic route which took us over three historic covered bridges. Now I know this may not seem too exciting, but the bridges were built before the Civil War and were added to the National Register of Historic Places. We learned about one on our Monocacy Battlefield tour too. They're definitely worth driving by, and if you want to get out at either Loy's Station or Roddy Ridge, there is easy parking near both!
Shopping & Provisions
Downtown Frederick has some really cute boutique and specialty shops. We walked up and down North Market Street and East Patrick Street - we loved the Creme de la Creme and Emporium Antiques was MASSIVE! Lots of other fun stores like old fashioned candy shops, book stores, and map (!) stores. We also walked along Carroll Creek Park which had a boat parade happening in the canal, plus many beautiful bridges and murals to see nearby.
As far as food goes, the first night we got dinner at Jojo's Restaurant and celebrated being away from the house with dinner accompanied by fancy cocktails and duck bite appetizers. On the second day, we got coffee and breakfast at Frederick Coffee Co & Café, and an excellent BBQ lunch at Black Hog BBQ for lunch. I also got a VERY EXCELLENT moonshine styled drink there. BLACK HOG BBQ - SUPER EXCELLENT! We chilled out on Brewer's Alley's rooftop with an outdoor heater and had some bar bites for dinner.
During our window shopping, we stopped for flights by Olde Mother Brewing Co and Tenth Ward Distilling Company. The flights at Tenth Ward were intriguing - especially the Absinthe Nouvelle, Maryland's first absinthe. Mike tasted it in his spirit tasting flight, and me, in my cocktail flight.
Also all of our bartenders and servers at each place were super friendly and helpful recommending places to see and food to eat!
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