Chesapeake Bay Environmental Center (Grasonville)

Trails and grounds are open year-round, but the Visitor Center is closed from mid-November to mid-April. Dogs are allowed on leash with a CBEC Dog Membership.

About this adventure

A 510-acre nonprofit nature preserve on the Queen Anne's County shore of the Chesapeake Bay, just off US 301/US 50 at Grasonville. Families can walk about six miles of trails through forest, meadow and marsh, picnic and play on a small beach, and visit the center's captive birds of prey. It is a birding hotspot: eagles, ospreys, owls, herons, egrets, swans and ducks appear through the year, and winter migrants start arriving on the lakes and ponds in November and stay until late February or March, which makes a cold-weather walk worthwhile with binoculars. Foxes, raccoons, deer, otters and muskrats live on the property, and turtles and terrapins turn up along the shorelines. In warmer months there is kayaking and paddleboarding on Marshy Creek and the Bay, and the center runs education programs for preschoolers and school-age children. Visitors are asked not to disturb animals or plants or take anything home, and fishing is not allowed in the ponds and lakes.