Rural Montgomery County

Rural Montgomery County, Maryland, is a fairly oddball choice for a trip, as people generally don't think to visit the countryside so close to the metropolis just southeast. It gets a fair amount of visitor traffic nonetheless, simply because it is so easy for residents of the close-in Montgomery County D.C. suburbs to get to. In particular, Sugarloaf Mountain is a very popular destination. But if you look a bit further and feel like wandering along quiet country roads, there are other gems to explore, be they farms where you can go picking, petting zoos, wineries, or even Maryland fried chicken.

Towns
Damascus, Poolesville, Clarksburg, and Darnestown are the main small towns in the region.

Get in
I-270 is the principal highway running through Rural Montgomery County, and I-70 runs east-west just to the north. The former is a quick way to get here from either D.C. or Frederick; the latter from Baltimore or Pennsylvania via Gettysburg.

Washington Dulles International Airport is not at all far away, although the rarely-bridged Potomac River does make it harder to get to. The fun way to get here from there would be via White's Ferry off of US-15 in Virginia by Leesburg.

Amtrak doesn't have any stops here between Rockville and Harpers Ferry, but the MARC Train Brunswick Line does have stops at, , and. You will need to take a taxi, Uber, or Lyft afterwards.

Do




Sleep


Surprisingly enough, there is not one place in this fair part of the county to lay one's head. You'll have to backtrack to Germantown or onwards to Frederick.

Connect
There are two public libraries out in these parts, with public WiFi and terminal use.



Go next

 * White's Ferry across the Potomac towards Leesburg, VA was a fun outing until the ferry stopped running. If you are in the mood, Leesburg has great shopping at the Leesburg Corner Outlets.
 * Historic, beautiful Harpers Ferry in West Virginia is a relatively easy drive through western Frederick County.
 * Decided the country isn't for you? No worries, you hardly left the city, and it takes no time to get back to the built up Montgomery County suburbs, or for that matter D.C. via I-270 or even Baltimore via I-70. If you want somewhere in between, the small, laid back city of Frederick is close by and a nice place for a dinner or some antiques shopping.
 * Past Frederick, and generally no more than an hour's drive from Rural Montgomery County is Antietam National Battlefield—a must for Civil War buffs (or really anyone with a passing interest in American History).