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Elk Neck State Forest

Cecil County, Maryland geography stubsMaryland protected area stubsMaryland state forestsProtected areas of Cecil County, Maryland

Elk Neck State Forest belongs to the Maryland Department of Natural Resources and is managed by the Maryland Forest Service, and is adjacent to the town of North East, in Cecil County. It is often confused with Elk Neck State Park, which lies further south, near the end of the same peninsula. The main entrance to the state forest (with a parking lot and office) runs north off of Irishtown Road. Other entrances, blocked by gates (to deter vehicles), are located on Huminski Road and Starkey Lane. Visitors to the state forest who are not using the shooting-ranges can park for free. Users of the shooting-ranges need to acquire permits under a self-service honor-system. This nature area, consisting of 3,300 acres (13 km2), provides hiking trails, hunting opportunities (during legally established hunting seasons), and ranges for archery and for handgun- and rifle-shooting. A portion of the Mason-Dixon Trail runs through this state forest. Although there is a reduced-size area-map of the state forest online, a larger, more detailed map (including Elk Neck State Park) can be purchased from the Maryland Dept. of Natural Resources. Elk Neck State Forest is part of the Northeastern coastal forests ecoregion. It contains wooded flatland, rolling hills, and marshlands. Plum Creek and Plum Creek Pond form an important water-feature in the south-central area. The primary, wide, gravel roads within the state forest—labeled as Trails 1, 2, and 3 -- allow limited vehicle traffic (starting from the main entrance, where Trail 1 begins). These forest roads are flanked by thick woods (mixed deciduous trees and evergreens) and provide entrances (for hikers) into some forest-trails. There are small parking areas along these roads, as well as several marked small meadows with blind hunting structures, including one for handicapped hunters. The northwestern corner of Trail 1, in particular, is the location of the shooting ranges.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Elk Neck State Forest (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors).

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Elk Neck State Forest



Maryland, United States
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Elk Landing
Elk Landing

Elk Landing is the name of a historic home located at Elkton, Cecil County, Maryland. The house at Elk Landing was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1984.It is a two-story, fieldstone dwelling, three bays wide by two bays deep, with a gable roof dating to about 1780. Its interior features a corner fireplace in its northeast corner as well as a full basement. Interior doors and chair rail moldings in most of the rooms may also be original to the house.The property on which the house is located was part of an early settlement of Swedish and Finnish immigrants. Elk Landing was the home, trading post and base of operations of the Swedish-American trader, John Hansson Steelman (1655–1749) who occupied the site from 1693. Steelman traded with the Indians of South Central Pennsylvania and Northern Maryland exchanging small items of housewares for animal pelts. Steelman's establishment was a trading post until about 1739 when the Shawnee moved westward into the Ohio and Allegheny River Valleys. It also included a dwelling and a tavern. Archeological excavations have discovered the remains of the original long house of John Hanson Steelman. The site is north of and adjacent to the stone house.The site of Elk Landing is significant for its association with trade between the Scandinavian settlers and the Susquehannock, as well as with the history of early Swedish settlement in Maryland. Elk Landing was also the site of the arrival of the Lutheran priests, Andreas Rudman and Erik Bjork, who landed on June 24, 1697, to renew the work of the Church of Sweden started in the former New Sweden colony.Zebulon Hollingsworth later acquired the land in 1735. The structures standing at Elk Landing date from the period of the Hollingsworth family, the Steelman structures were demolished around 1905.