One of the first towns settled in northwestern Maryland, FREDERICK , at the junction of I-70 and I-270 an hour west of Baltimore, was laid out in 1745 by German farmers lured from Pennsylvania by the promise of cheap fertile land. It grew to become a main stopover on the route west to the Ohio Valley, and the bulk of today's tidy town survives from the early 1800s. A visitor center (daily 9am-5pm; tel 301/228-2888 or 1-800/999-3613) at 19 E Church St has wal... [More]