Qualla: Washington, Baltimore and Annapolis Trail

Washington, Baltimore and Annapolis Trail: Introduction

Mon, 01 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Joe1020, CC0. The name is misleading. The Washington, Baltimore and Annapolis Trail does not actually reach any of the three cities in its name. It runs 11.7 miles from a wooded terminus near Lanham, Maryland, to a parking lot at Odenton Road, paralleling power lines and threading through the suburbs of Prince George's and Anne Arundel counties. What it does follow is the right-of-way of the Washington, Baltimore and Annapolis Electric Railway - a state-of-the-art interurban that carried commuters between Washington and Baltimore from 1908 until the railway died in 1935, killed by the rise of the automobile and the same Route 1 that would later be called one of the deadliest roads in the world. The trail's path traces what was once one of the most modern transportation projects of the early twentieth century. The trail itself took a quarter century to finish because of a property dispute over a single section of riverbank.

Image: Joe1020 | CC0

Washington, Baltimore and Annapolis Trail: The Electric Railway

Mon, 01 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Joe1020, CC0. Between 1908 and 1935, the Washington, Baltimore and Annapolis Electric Railway ran some of the most advanced interurban trains in the country. Powered by overhead electric lines, the cars could move passengers between the District and Baltimore in less than ninety minutes - fast...

Image: Joe1020 | CC0

Washington, Baltimore and Annapolis Trail: Morris Warren's Trail

Mon, 01 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Pubdog (talk), Public domain. The idea of turning the WB&A right-of-way into a rail trail came from a Prince George's County advocate named Morris Warren, who began pushing the county in the 1980s. Warren founded the Prince George's WB&A Trail Club before 1991. State Delegate Marsha Perry of Crofton introduce...

Image: Pubdog (talk) | Public domain

Washington, Baltimore and Annapolis Trail: The Bridge That Took Twenty-Five Years

Mon, 01 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Carl Lindberg, CC BY 2.5. The trouble started at the Patuxent River. A conservationist and trail opponent named Buz Meyer owned land next to the right-of-way. Meyer and his brother Robert argued that the original deed granting the railroad easement included a reversion clause - that if the tracks went unu...

Image: Carl Lindberg | CC BY 2.5

Washington, Baltimore and Annapolis Trail: Power Lines and Tunnels

Mon, 01 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Joe1020, CC0. Walk the trail and the WB&A's history is constantly underfoot, and overhead. The electric railway's original 33kV distribution line still parallels the path for most of its length - some sections active, some out of service, all of them following the same alignment the trains onc...

Image: Joe1020 | CC0

Washington, Baltimore and Annapolis Trail: Future Connections

Mon, 01 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Joe1020, CC0. Phase IVb of the WB&A would extend a 2.06-mile spur from Strawberry Lake Way through the Odenton Natural Area and the grounds of Arundel High School and Middle School to connect with the South Shore Trail, which would in turn extend the route to Annapolis. Planning for that phase...

Image: Joe1020 | CC0