Middle Patuxent Environmental Area

River Hill is the last and westernmost village to be developed in the town of Columbia, Maryland, United States, though some residents maintain addresses in Clarksville. The village is home to 6,520 residents in 2,096 housing units in 2014. The area was used as a game preserve by James Rouse to entertain clients and personal hunting during the buildout of the Columbia project. In 1976, County Executive Edward L. Cochran selected the 784-acre parcel owned by Howard Research and Development for an alternate location for a county landfill; a task force selected Alpha Ridge Landfill instead. Residential construction started in 1990. It is bounded by Maryland Route 108 and Maryland Route 32, and is centered on Trotter Road. The village is divided into two neighborhoods: Pheasant Ridge and Pointers Run, with about 6,500 residents.The original plan called for the village to be connected to the rest of Columbia via an extension of Little Patuxent Parkway. In addition, a dam on the Middle Patuxent River would have created a large lake in that watershed. However, with the rise of the environmental movement, a large part of the watershed was made into a park, with approximately half of its acreage devoted to open space, which includes the 900 acres (3.6 km2) of the Middle Patuxent Environmental Area. In 1998, the county initiated managed deer hunting in River Hill, becoming the first time hunting was permitted in the Columbia development since the land purchases of 1963–1966. River Hill is largely disconnected from the rest of the city, accessing Columbia Town Center only by roads on the periphery of the city. The original plan called for 90 acres (360,000 m2) to be devoted to apartments, but the rural neighbors wanted a lower population density. The county zoning board decided upon 33 acres (130,000 m2) for apartments. Consequently, River Hill has the most open space of all the villages.

John Due House or Henry Warfield House, is a historic slave plantation located in Clarksville in Howard County, Maryland, United States. The Stone house resides at 6044 Trotter Road, a road named after Emma and John Trotter who owned the property in the 1930s. The 18th century kitchen predates the 1836 additions. The property includes a slave quarters, corn crib and smokehouse. It was built for Benjamin Franklin Warfield with his nephew Nicholas Warfield. By the 1960s the property was subdivided down to 29.47 acres. John L Due performed a restoration with a recommendation that the property should be added to the National Register.

River Hill Farm is a historic slave plantation located in Clarksville in Howard County, Maryland, United States. River Hill Farm resided on a land tract patented as "Four Brothers Portion". The house was built in the 18th century out of field stone with stucco covering. Outbuilding included a slave quarters. The 500 acre property was the home of Major Henry Owings of Owingsville. In 1972, Rouse used the River Hill farm as a game preserve while other sections were being developed. Howard Research and Development placed the Game Manager lived in the historic house. In 1974 The property was proposed for use as a landfill, but Alpha Ridge Landfill was selected. The house was not preserved or submitted for the historic registry by the Rouse Company. It was demolished for the development of Pointers Run.

Howard County General Hospital is a 225-bed, not-for-profit health care provider located in Columbia, Maryland.

River Hill High School is a public high school in Clarksville, Maryland, United States. It is part of the Howard County public schools system. River Hill High School was awarded a "gold medal" by U.S. News & World Report. It was recognized by BusinessWeek as having the "Best Overall Academic Performance" in Maryland. It was also ranked 4th of 225 High Schools in the State of Maryland as of 2018.It was rated the 165th best school in the nation by US News in 2013.

The James and Anne Robinson Nature Center is a nature education facility situated on 18 acres of park land adjacent to the Middle Patuxent Environmental Area. Geothermal heating/air-conditioning, porous paving, solar panels, water conservation methods and other features make this building environmentally-friendly and have earned it the LEED Certified Platinum designation. Each year, the Center runs over 450 programs including field trips, public programs, birthday parties, home school and scout programs. James and Anne Robinson cared for the property for decades and kept it from being used by developers, ultimately arranging transfer to Howard County, Maryland for enjoyment by the general public. The Center continues to be partially supported by the James & Anne Robinson Foundation and is owned and operated by the Howard County Department of Recreation & Parks.

Harper's Choice is one of the ten villages that comprise Columbia, Maryland, United States. It lies in the northwest part of Columbia and consists of the neighborhoods of Longfellow, Swansfield, and Hobbit's Glen and had a December 1998 population of 8,695.

Welling's Stone House or Clifton is a historic stone house situated between Clarksville, Maryland and Fulton, Maryland. Clifton was built on a tract of 2500 acres of land patented as "White Wine & Claret" in 1702 by John Dorsey. The land was inherited by Dorsey's grandsons, Charles and William Ridgley. The tract was divided into an 820-acre tract for William Ridgley, 930 for Charles Ridgley, and 234 acres to John Ridgley. The house was situated along Guilford road, one of the region's earliest "rolling roads" where tobacco would be transported from slave plantations by rolling hogshead containers to docks at Annapolis. William Welling built the two and a half stories tall house with stone construction. The property was surrounded by 238 acres of farm fields until it was purchased by the Rouse Company division, Howard Research and Development for subdivision. A portion of the property was used for recreation vehicle parking for the Columbia development for several years. The barns were removed, and the address was changed to a cul-de-sac address on Warm Sunshine Path. The Welling cemetery has been fenced in with new gravestone markers.

Hatfield Safe House, or Simpsonville Mill Miller's House is a historic home located at Columbia, Howard County, Maryland, United States.The three-story wood-framed house is three bays wide and one bay deep on a 9-acre parcel. A house was built on a stone foundation built in 1755 for a possible grist mill. It is known as a safe house for the Underground railroad. The original structure burned down, with a new frame building built on the original foundation. From 1865 to 1878 it was owned by William Braysahaw. In 1878, James Simpson resided at the residence to which "Simpsonville" is named. In the late 1920s the terraced landscape was dotted with chicken coops. From 1909 to 1934 the house was the residence of county commissioner William W. Inglehardt. The building is a component of Simpsonville Historic District.

Hickory Ridge is one of the 10 villages in Columbia, Maryland, United States, located to the west of the Town Center with a 2014 population of 13,000 in 4,659 housing units. The village overlays the former postal community of Elioak. It was first occupied in 1974. Neighborhoods in the village are Hawthorn, Clary's Forest, and Clemens Crossing. The name Hickory Ridge is derived from the 1749 estate "Hickory Ridge" in nearby Highland, which later became the family home of the nephew of hospital and university founder Johns Hopkins.Clary's Forest is named after John Clary's 100-acre original land grant patented on 10 June 1734. Streets in Clary's Forest are based on the work of William Carlos Williams. Hawthorn is the name of an Amy Lowell poem. The street names come from her work. Clemens Crossing is named after American author Mark Twain, otherwise known as Samuel Clemens, and the street names come from Clemens' work. The land surrounding Sierra Villas Condominiums and Barnside Condominiums in Clary's Forest originally belonged to the Kahler family farm. The farm's silo remains in the condominium property. The Kahler farm was one of three large tracts originally purchased by Robert Moxley that started the Columbia project in 1963. Hickory Plaza was built on the site of Midway Farm, the last piece of a 400-acre (160 ha) farm owned by the Bassler family before the creation of the Rouse development.

Edgewood Farm is a historic farm located at Ellicott City next to Clarksville and Columbia, Howard County, Maryland, United States. The historic 253 acre farm is affiliated with the Dorsey, Clark and Gaither families of Howard County. The property was once part of the Charles Carroll Estate. A wood framed farm house was built onsite, as well as a stone barn. A nineteenth century onsite cemetery contains the remains of several of the Clark and Dorsey family. On 18 May 1833, William Gibbons inherited the property in a trust before the formation of Howard County from Anne Arundel County. The property was conveyed to Michael Dorsey, then Owen Dorsey. The farm passed ownership several times to Mr and Mrs. W. Clark Gaither. The county's only major aircraft incident occurred at Homewood in 1962. A Vickers Viscount disabled by a bird strike crashed on the farm killing all aboard.By 1978 the property was subdivided to just 92 acres. The remaining farm has been subdivided for residential development and for use by the Howard County Public School system. The farmhouse was demolished for new house construction with the stone barn retained as a residential car garage. The Gaither farm is also referenced as the "Homewood" farm after the Baltimore Estate of the Carroll Family.

Howard Community College (HCC or Howard CC) is a public community college in Columbia, Maryland. It offers classes for credit in more than 100 programs, non-credit classes, and workforce development programs. In addition to the main campus in Columbia, courses are also held at two satellite campuses.