Point Lookout State Park

Point Lookout State Park
Maryland State Park
Point Lookout Confederate Cemetery Monument
Country	United States
State	Maryland
County	Saint Mary's
Elevation	0 ft (0 m) [1]
Coordinates	38°3′52″N 76°20′4″W / 38.06444°N 76.33444°W / 38.06444; -76.33444 [1]
Area	1,070 acres (433 ha) [2]
Established	Unspecified
Management	Maryland Department of Natural Resources
Location in Maryland
Website: Point Lookout State Park

Point Lookout is a Maryland state park located at the southern tip of St. Mary's County on a peninsula formed by the confluence of Chesapeake Bay and the Potomac River.^[3][4]

Captain John Smith explored the point in 1612.^[5] In 1634, the point was part of St. Michael's Manor, one of three manors granted to Leonard Calvert, Maryland's first proprietary governor.^[6] British raids took place here during both the American Revolution and the War of 1812.^[5] The Point Lookout Light, which still stands, was built here in 1830.^[5]

Civil War

In 1862, during the American Civil War, much of the land around Point Lookout was transformed into a bustling port and temporary city of civilians and military personnel and numerous buildings, including a large army hospital, an army garrison at Fort Lincoln, and a Union prisoner of war camp to hold Confederate captives. Of the 50,000 soldiers held in the army prison camp,^[7] who were housed in tents at Lookout Point between 1863 and 1865, according to the Maryland Department of Natural Resources, nearly 4,000 died, although this death rate of 8 percent was less than half the death rate among soldiers who were in the field with their own armies.^[5] The camp, originally built to hold 10,000 men, swelled to between 12,000 and 20,000 prisoners after the exchange of prisoners between armies was placed on hold. The result was crowded conditions with up to sixteen men to a tent in poor sanitary conditions.^[8] It was the largest Union-run prison camp, its reputation being one of the worst.^{[9][10][11][12]}

Today, a Confederate prisoner of war memorial and cemetery exist on the former grounds of the Point Lookout prisoner of war camp.^[13] The mass grave is marked by a pillar inscribed at its base with the names of the dead.^[14] The privately funded Confederate Memorial Park occupies a three-acre site next to the cemetery.^[15] Because of the extensive water erosion of the Chesapeake Bay shoreline in the last 150 years, half of the original site of the prisoner of war stockade has been obliterated and washed away by the bay.^[3]

State park

Today, Point Lookout State Park retains Point Lookout Light, the original light house built in 1830, a fishing pier, boat launch facilities, public beaches and facilities, overnight camping, Civil War historical remains, and, reputedly, ghosts. The Civil War Museum/Marshland Nature Center has seasonal hours and is closed in winter.^[3]

In popular culture

The park is used as the setting in the Point Lookout add-on for the video game Fallout 3, which includes references to its use as a POW camp as well as various features of the park, including Calvert's manor and the lighthouse.^[16]

See also

• Prisoner of war mail
• List of Civil War POW Prisons and Camps

References

External links

• Point Lookout State Park Maryland Department of Natural Resources

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v t e Nature centers in Maryland Anne Arundel County Jug Bay Wetlands Sanctuary Baltimore city Carrie Murray Cylburn Arboretum Masonville Cove Environmental Education Center Baltimore County Cromwell Valley Park Irvine Marshy Point Oregon Ridge Sparks Bank Nature Center at Gunpowder Falls State Park Calvert County Battle Creek Cypress Swamp Carroll County Bear Branch Charlotte's Quest Piney Run Cecil County Fair Hill Frederick County Fountain Rock Park Garrett County Deep Creek Lake State Park New Germany State Park Harford County Eden Mill Harford Glen Environmental Education Center Howard County Howard County Conservancy Robinson Nature Center Montgomery County Agricultural History Farm Park Black Hill Visitors Center Brookside Gardens Croydon Creek Locust Grove Maydale Meadowside Woodend Nature Sanctuary Prince George's County Clearwater Hard Bargain Farm Environmental Center Merkle Wildlife Sanctuary and Visitor's Center Mt. Rainier Patuxent Research Refuge National Wildlife Visitor Center Watkins St. Mary's County Point Lookout State Park Talbot County Phillips Wharf Environmental Center Pickering Creek Audubon Center

v t e Maryland in the American Civil War Battles Maryland Campaign Battle of Antietam Battle of Boonsboro Battle of Crampton's Gap Battle of Folck's Mill Battle of Funkstown Battle of Hancock Battle of Monocacy Battle of South Mountain Battle of Williamsport Events Baltimore Riot of 1861 Ex parte Merryman Special Order 191 Maryland Constitution of 1864 Miscellaneous "Maryland, My Maryland" Museums Baltimore Civil War Museum National Museum of Civil War Medicine President Street Station Surratt House Museum USS Constellation People Maryland Civil War regiments Soldiers and civilians Places Antietam Battlefield Burnside's Bridge Fort McHenry Heart of the Civil War Heritage Area Loudon Park Cemetery Monocacy Battlefield Point Lookout State Park