Battle Creek Cypress Swamp
Western Shore treasure recalls an environment from a hundred millennia ago

Why You Should Visit
Visit this preserve and you'll be immersed in a landscape where now-extinct animals like mammoths once roamed.  Battle Creek Cypress Swamp harbors bald cypress trees at the northernmost limit of this species' natural range in the United States, making this a uniquely captivating place in the region.  The Calvert County Natural Resources Division operates a quarter-mile boardwalk and a nature center to further enhance your visit.  Admission is free.

Location
One hour drive south from Washington, DC, near Prince Frederick, Maryland.

Hours
The nature center is open year round
Tuesday-Saturday: 10:00 to 5:00
Sunday: 1:00 to 5:00
Phone: (410) 535-5327

How to Get the Most from Your Visit

  • Bring plenty of drinking water, sun protection (sunscreen, hat, sunglasses), rain gear, and bug protection. Binoculars, field guides, and a camera may be useful.
  • Pets are not allowed on Conservancy preserves or field trips.
  • Smoking is not permitted.
  • Please do not remove any plants, animals, or rocks.
  • Wear long sleeves, pants, and comfortable shoes and socks. Poison ivy grows near, and sometimes over, the boardwalk. Wearing light colors will help you spot and remove ticks.

Please help us maintain this unique natural environment by taking home everything that you bring, including biodegradable materials.

Visit or phone the nature center where you can obtain more information about tours and hikes along the boardwalk.  Large groups are welcomed but must make arrangements with nature center staff prior to their visit.

TICK AND MOSQUITO ALERT
When you get home, plan to drop your clothing directly in the laundry and do a tick check before you shower. Deer ticks, the type that carry lyme disease, are about the size of a pinhead and tend to attach in hair, under ears, underarms, trunk of the body, groin, and backs of the knees. Remove them by gently pulling with tweezers and wipe the skin near the bite with a mild disinfectant. If, within 7-10 days after exposure, you experience a rash (especially an expanding "bull's eye" rash), chills, fever, headache, stiff neck, fatigue, swollen lymph nodes and/or aching joints and muscles, contact your doctor. You can find more information on lyme disease at www.lyme.org or www.aldf.com, or by calling the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention at (404) 332-4555.

Directions

  • From Washington's Capital Beltway (I-495), take Route 4 South into Calvert County
  • From Baltimore, take Rt. 301 South to Route 4 South
  • Just south of Prince Frederick, turn right onto Sixes Road (Rt. 506); from Sixes Road, turn left (south) on Grays Road for one quarter mile to the Cypress Swamp on your right.

What to See: Plants

  • In the spring, a blanket of wild flowers covers the ground in the northern part of the swamp
  • bald cypress trees, some standing 100 feet tall
  • May-apples, pink lady's slippers

What to See: Animals

  • warblers, including the Kentucky, worm-eating, prothonotary, and others

Why the Conservancy Selected This Site
Battle Creek Cypress Swamp is the only stand of bald cypress trees found in Maryland west of the Chesapeake Bay.  It is also at the northernmost limit of this species' natural range.

What the Conservancy Has Done/Is Doing Here
Protected in 1957, Battle Creek Cypress Swamp is The Nature Conservancy's first preserve in Maryland.  Since 1977, the preserve has been leased to Calvert County and operated as a county park.  The Nature Conservancy owns 100 acres here.