Ashton-Sandy Spring: Forest, History and Culture

Ashton-Sandy Spring offers a range of options for a stay: a forest trail with historical significance, a Quaker meeting house that has been in continuous use for many years, museums, and a ropes course. If you’re looking for a hotel for this trip, you can focus your plans on culture and history or on an active experience in the forest. The offerings differ considerably in theme and format, so you can tailor your stay to a range of interests.

Forest Trail and Ropes Course

The Underground Railroad Experience Trail is part of the National Park Service’s National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom program. It runs mostly through forest and loops around a cornfield. This brings together a clearly described landscape route and a historical subject.

The Adventure Park at Sandy Spring is a ropes course in the forest. Its Aerial Forest is a color-coded network of bridges, zip lines, and platforms with nearly 250 different challenges. Unlike the trail, the focus here is not the route but the network and its individual elements. This helps you choose what to focus on: on one hand, there’s a trail with a historical theme; on the other, a ropes course with numerous challenges.

Quaker History and Architecture

The earliest written records of the Sandy Spring Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends date to 1753. The Sandy Spring Meeting House was completed in brick in 1817 and has been in continuous use ever since. The dates refer to different milestones: 1753 to written records of the Meeting, and 1817 to the completion of the building.

The Sandy Spring Friends Meeting House is a large Federal-style Quaker meeting house, also built in 1817. Its bricks are laid in Flemish bond. This term describes how the bricks are arranged in the masonry. Together, the style, construction, and continuous use offer different insights into the building: the architecture describes its design, while its continuous use tells the story of the building since its completion.

Museums and Changing Exhibitions

The Community Gallery at the Sandy Spring Museum presents short-term, small-scale exhibitions by local artists. Since individual exhibition programs vary, it’s best to check what will be on display during your stay before you travel. The Woodlawn Museum at Woodlawn Manor Cultural Park explores local agricultural, Quaker, and African American history in a restored stone barn dating to 1832. Historical subjects take center stage here, while the Community Gallery presents changing works by local artists.

The Sandy Spring Slave Museum campus includes a cross-section of a Clipper-type slave ship, a cabin from the era of slavery, an arts pavilion, and a large hall. You can explore the exhibition at your own pace; brochures, signage, audio guides, and digital tools enhance the experience. It’s best to arrange tours before your trip. This makes it easier to distinguish the cultural offerings by their respective focus: from Quaker history and architecture to local agricultural and African American history, as well as art and exhibitions by local artists.

Explore more destinations: Sandy Springs, Gaithersburg, Redland, Wheaton-Glenmont, Olney, Rockville, Potomac, Bethesda

For the broader travel overview: Montgomery.