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The only large town in the far west of Maryland, CUMBERLAND started life as a coal-mining center in the late 1700s. Often confused with Daniel Boone's Cumberland Gap in southwest Virginia, this Cumberland was also an important trans-Appalachian crossing, but its main place in history is as the terminus of the ill-fated C&O (Chesapeake and Ohio) Canal , an impressive engineering feat begun in 1813 but not completed until 1850, by which time the railroads had already made it obsolete.

The visitor center in the Western Maryland Station Center (Mon-Fri 9am-5pm, Sat & Sun 10am-4pm; tel 301/777-5905, ), at 13 Canal St, can provide information on hiking, cycling, canoeing and camping; in summer, the historic trains of the Western Maryland Scenic Railroad set off on ninety-minute rides through the surrounding mountains (May-Sept Wed-Sun; Oct daily; Nov-Dec 14 Sat & Sun, 11.30am; tel 301/759-4400 or 1-800/872-4650, ; $18, kids $10). The tiny black and white log cabin where George Washington served his first commission in the 1750s stands directly opposite the station on the other side of the canal.

About twenty miles before Cumberland, I-68 slices straight through a wedge of sedimentary rock, exposing a dramatic syncline that can be viewed from a platform at the excellent Sideling Hill Exhibit Center (daily 9am-5pm; tel 301/842-2155); there's a special geologic exhibit staffed by an on-site geologist, and the views east of the hill from the parking lot are quite stunning.