courtesy Hyatt

The Hyatt Regency Chesapeake Bay

The Free State is increasingly becoming a destination for conferences, business meetings and other special events. According to TravelScope, more than 1 million persons attended conferences in Maryland in 2003, nearly doubling the 1994 figure of 613,000.

Little wonder. Conference centers and event sites can be found in all categories, from modest to posh. Whether you're staging a family reunion picnic for 50, holding a week-long business conference for 500 or planning a Polish-style 3-day wedding for 200 revelers, you'll find an appropriate site in Maryland.

And Maryland's sites are as different as its diverse landscape. You can opt for the glitz of an Ocean City resort on the Atlantic, the bucolic beauty and charm of the Eastern Shore, the striking Chesapeake Bay setting of historic Annapolis, the happening scene at Baltimore's vibrant Inner Harbor, the peaceful hunt country of Howard and Carroll counties, the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area or the mountains and lakes of the western panhandle.

We cut a wide swath across the state, spoke to event planners and conference coordinators and attendees, to come up with sites that offer something extra. The following recommendations are arranged geographically.
 

Annapolis

Historic Inns of Annapolis, 58 State Circle, Annapolis, MD 21403. 410-263-2641; www.annapolisinns.com (reservations).

Across from the Maryland State House, where George Washington resigned his commission as commander-in-chief, is the Governor Calvert House, the largest of the three Historic Inns of Annapolis, with meeting and event space for groups from 10 to 250 and overnight accommodations for 150. The Calvert House's two-story atrium and adjacent ballroom are popular for weddings and large receptions. Nearby, the Maryland Inn has a meeting room and ballroom with working fireplace, Treaty of Paris restaurant, and King of France tavern. The inn's cozy bar, a popular watering hole for state pols and locals, earned the name Drummer's Lot because the town crier/drummer stood in that very spot to announce the news of the day and to call state legislators to session. The Robert Johnson House, a stone's throw from the other inns, features 26 deluxe guest rooms. Frequently, groups take over all the properties because of their proximity to one another. Because the inns are in the heart of the historic district, with its bustling harbor, wonderful architecture, shops and restaurants, special events and, of course, the U.S. Naval Academy, it is advisable to book as well in advance as possible.
 
For more information on Annapolis: www.visit-annapolis.org.

Baltimore

The Baltimore Museum of Industry, 1415 Key Highway. 410-727-4808; www.thebmi.org.

courtesy BMI

Baltimore Museum of Industry's Decker Gallery

For something different, consider staging your next event in the historic Baltimore Museum of Industry, dedicated to the technology that fueled the Industrial Revolution in and around Baltimore. Housed in the original Platt Oyster Cannery (1865), the museum's dramatic Decker Gallery accommodates up to 200 seated guests, 400 standing. It's available evenings after 5pm for events, receptions and banquets, as is the stunning waterfront promenade, with its sweeping vista of the Inner Harbor. A conference center and two smaller rooms are available for daytime meetings. Bring the kids along. Families flock to the many hands-on, interactive exhibits at this popular attraction, and numerous hotels are within walking distance. Take advantage of the Federal Hill location and explore the Inner Harbor attractions, Fort McHenry, The American Visionary Arts Museum, and the nearby Fells Point, Boston, and Little Italy neighborhoods. There's plenty of free onsite parking (a rarity in this 'hood); or arrive by seaport taxi at the BMI's private pier.

The B&O Railroad Museum, 901 Pratt St. (at Poppleton). 410-752-2490; www.borail.org.

The world-renowned museum of railroad memorabilia is a few blocks from the Inner Harbour and has a wide range of facilities for event rentals. Meetings and events for small groups (35 max.) are usually in a circa 1925 former Colonial Diner. The covered outdoor Train Pavilion has seating for 450 and room for 900 standing. A large education station is also available for daytime rentals. Events are booking now for the historic 1884 Baldwin Roundhouse which can accommodate about 2,000. After the February 2003 blizzard blitzed it, the restored Roundhouse will open to the general public in November and for special events in February 2005. Bookings have been flooding in for months. An events coordinator will arrange train rides, city tours, crab feasts, and bull roasts (or anything else, within reason). Overnight accommodations are available at a wide range of hotels in and around the Inner Harbour.

For more information on Baltimore: www.baltimore.org; www.baltimoreevents.org.

Calvert County

Chesapeake Beach Hotel & Spa, 4165 Mears Ave., Chesapeake Beach, MD 20732. 410-257-5596; www.chesapeakbeachhotelspa.com.

With meeting and special events facilities for groups up to 400, and 72 guest rooms (some waterfront with balconies and whirlpool tubs), this hotel/resort on the Chesapeake Bay is about an hour from Washington, D.C. and half-hour south of Annapolis. It opened in March 2004 and it offers something for everyone. Fast becoming a popular site for meetings and weddings, it's also a good choice for family reunions and other special events. Guests can get a massage, hairstyling or manicure in the full-service spa and salon, dine in the three onsite restaurants, and opt for a fishing charter or cruise. In summer, the waterpark across the street draws youngsters and their families. Chesapeake Beach and adjacent North Beach have retained their laid-back, small-town feel. Tucked between the narrow streets of renovated summer-type cottages, and along the waterfront promenade, one finds restaurants, galleries and antiques shops.

For more information on Calvert County: www.co.cal.md.us.

Eastern Shore

Aspen Wye River   2010 Carmichael Rd., Box 222, Queenstown, MD 21658     410-820-0905; www.aspenwyeriver.com

A complex of three retreats on 1,100 wooded acres on the Wye River, Aspen Wye River is a hop, skip and jump from the Bay Bridge. The center has six conference/meeting rooms and can accommodate 86 overnight guests in hotel-like rooms. Several golf courses—among them, Hunter's Oak and Queenstown—are nearby. Dine in the area's numerous seafood restaurants, swipe your plastic at the Queenstown off-price shopping outlet, and enjoy the many opportunities for outdoor recreation on the Eastern Shore. Easton, St. Michael's, and Chestertown are easy drives for sightseeing, dining and shopping. But you may not wish to leave the lush grounds and solitude of Aspen Wye River. For more active types, the facility offers biking, tennis, outdoor pools, fishing and sailing. Stressed-out business guests cap a day of team-building or brainstorming with a massage in the state-of-the-art spa. The retreat is well known for its Outward Bound programs.

Harbourtowne Golf & Conference Center,  9784 Martingham Dr., St. Michael's, MD 21663. 410-745-9066; www.harbourtowne.com (reservations)

Harbourtowne nestles in a picture-postcard setting on the Miles River, a short stroll from Talbot Street, the main drag in St. Michael's. The center has meeting rooms/facilities for up to 180 indoors; more outdoors. Some of the overnight accommodations for 200 are waterfront with small terraces. With its Pete Dye-designed golf course, onsite restaurant and catering facilities and wedding coordinator, riverfront pool and tropical bar, one need not leave the premises. But it would be a shame not to check out the boutiques, souvenir shops, restaurants, cruises and Maritime Museum that are all within walking distance. Quiet coves, antiques shops, and opportunities for boating, biking and fishing are all within easy reach, on foot or by car. For a scenic drive into the past, continue south/east out of St. Michael's on State Road 33 to Tilghman Island or Blackwalnut Point.

Hyatt Regency Chesapeake Bay Resort, 100 Heron Blvd., Cambridge, MD 21613. 410-901-1234; www.chesapeakebay.hyatt.com (reservations).

This large, luxe Hyatt Regency resort on the Choptank River features 400 rooms (including 16 suites), an 18-hole championship golf course, marina with 150 slips, full spa, multilevel indoor/outdoor pool and Camp Hyatt with supervised activities for kids from 4 to 12, daily between Memorial Day and Labor Day; weekends the rest of the year. Among the meeting and reception areas are an 11,000-sq.-ft. ballroom, 6,000 sq.-ft. room with a waterview, 11 conference rooms with private patios, and terraces for outdoor receptions. In addition to the Water's Edge Grill, a full-service restaurant open daily for breakfast, lunch and dinner, and Blue Point Provision, a high-end seafood restaurant open for dinner Thursday through Saturday, you may wet your whistle in the lobby lounge, grab something light from the poolside snack bar, purchase snacks in the self-serve general store, and order room service from 6am to midnight. All  without leaving the premises. As time permits, one can explore the lower Eastern Shore or  head for Ocean City, less than an hour away.

Kent Manor Inn and Restaurant, 500 Kent Manor Dr., Stevensville, MD 21666. 410-643-5757; www.kentmanor.com

 

courtesy Kent Manor Inn

The Kent Manor Inn in Stevensville

Set on 226 scenic acres with a mile of waterfront on Thompson's Creek, the Kent Manor Inn has long been a favored weekend escape. The inn is known for its old-world hospitality, charm, European-style service and accessibility to the Washington-Baltimore metro areas. A few minutes from the Chesapeake Bay Bridge, the inn is convenient to Annapolis (12 miles),  Baltimore (42 miles) and Washington, D.C. (56 miles). Several rooms are available for meetings and breakouts. To stir up their creative juices or to decompress, pinstripers retreat to the gazebo by the creek. Between meetings--and before retiring to one of the 24 guestrooms, some with four-posters, balconies and fireplaces--guests swim in the Olympic-size pool, bike, stroll the scenic nature trail to the water, or play golf on nearby championship courses. Weddings in the glass-enclosed garden house are worthy of any current-day Cinderella and Prince Charming. Discriminating diners have long made the restaurant a destination unto itself. Seafood stars here, served indoors or on the dining porch with its lovely, unobstructed Eastern Shore views. (When in doubt, try the crab cakes with cheese grits, sherried jumbo shrimp, crispy-skinned rockfish, or cioppino.)

Princess Royale Oceanfront Hotel & Conference Center, 9100 Coastal Highway, Ocean City. 1-800-4-ROYALE or 410-524-7777; www.princessroyale.com.

Outside of a bowling alley and heliport, there is little, if anything, lacking at the Princess Royale. One glimpse of the primo oceanfront setting with its broad beach and one muses, "Who needs  a bowling alley or heliport?" Because this is an all-suites resort, every unit has a well-stocked kitchen with a full-size refrigerator, microwave, dishwaser, disposal, icemaker and coffee maker, and separate sitting/living room area. A total of 30,000 square feet of meeting and banquet space includes about a dozen meeting rooms on two floors. Any two or more can be combined depending on the group's numbers and needs. The permutations make my head swim. An exhibit hall accommodates up to 700 people. There is ample space for poolside and beachfront receptions, and a 4-story glass atrium is a favored wedding site.  When you tire of boardwalk fare, there is an oceanfront restaurant and lounge, breakfast buffet and bodacious Sunday brunch. A food stand is open on the beach in July and August for hot dogs, hamburgers, drinks and other light fare. Too pooped to venture out? The hotel will deliver pizza to your suite. A favorite pastime is playing a round of Sky Golf (miniature golf) on the roof. Who needs Miami or Vegas?

For more information on the Eastern Shore and Ocean City: www.qac.org; www.tourtalbot.org; www.tourdorchester.org; www.ococean.com.

Howard County

Turf Valley Resort and Conference Center, 2700 Turf Valley Rd., Ellicott City, MD 21042. 1-800-TEE-TURF; 410-465-1500. www.turfvalley.com.

courtesy Turf Valley

The Turf Valley Resort

Deep in Maryland's hunt country, and a 30-minute drive from Baltimore's Inner Harbor, Turf Valley is a huge, self-contained conference center/resort with high visibility in the Washington-Baltimore metro area and beyond. Situated on a thousand rolling acres, Turf Valley serves groups of up to 1,000 in 28 conference and breakout rooms of varying sizes. Two 18-hole golf courses, tennis courts, a full spa, indoor and outdoor pools, fitness room, and all that lush greenery lure business travelers who believe the old saw that "all work and no play make Jack a dull boy" (and Jill a dull girl). Onsite are 3 restaurants: Alexandra's for fine dining; the Terrace on the Green and Fairway Lounge for more casual fare. Guests bed down in 200 rooms overlooking the tees or in hillside villas. Special events include seasonal wine dinners, concerts by headline entertainers and retreats for prospective brides and their moms. Ellicott City's charming, old downtown area beckons with boutiques, antiques and restaurants.

For more information on Howard County: www.visithowardcounty.com.

Western Maryland

Rocky Gap Lodge & Golf Resort, Cumberland, MD. 301-784-8400; www.rockygapresort.com.

About a 2-hour drive from the Washington, D.C. and Baltimore beltways, Rocky Gap occupies a scenic Alpine lakeside setting deep in the Allegany County hills of Western Maryland. The rooms at Maryland's only AAA 4-diamond resort overlook the links (recipient of 4 stars from Golf Digest magazine) or Lake Habeeb. Nine rooms for meetings and receptions can accommodate groups from 15 to 550. Social functions are also held outdoors, poolside or in a 2,400-sq.-ft. tent. When not preoccupied with serious concerns such as improving company profits or making a hole-in-one on Maryland's only Jack Nicklaus golf course, guests play tennis, swim laps in the indoor and outdoor pools, work out in the fitness room, soak in a whirlpool tub, get a massage, hike, bike, canoe, kayak, fish, and even rapell. Some prefer nothing more vigorous than kicking back in the Lodge at Signature's Bar & Grill with a drink and light fare. The Lakeside Restaurant serves breakfast, lunch and dinner daily and Sunday brunch. Kids stay free at Rocky Gap where there's in-room Nintendo. Rocky Gap is also pet friendly.

For more info: www.mdmountainside.com; www.garrettchamber.com.

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