Pasadena-Downs Park

This Anne Arundel County (AAC) Park‘s West end offers  remote parking, with wooded trails to the public kayak launch with access to Locust Cove and Bodkin’s Bay. 

One paddling destination is at the far North end of Bodkin’s Bay, where you can land on the historic farm, Hancock’s Resolution (open to the public from April through October,  staffed on Sunday afternoons 1-4pm.

Hancock’s Resolution is on the National Register of Historic Places. The farm is managed and maintained as part of Fort Smallwood, an AAC park. In addition, Captain John Smith was known to map Bodkin Creek on the first of his two trips to the Northern Bay in 1608.

Check out the Friends of Hancock’s Resolution’s website for more information of upcoming events such as the Spring Farm Festival, Spring Herb Sale, Musket Firing, Surveying, Honeybees, War of 1812 Remembrance ($), and the Annual Fall Harvest Festival Farm Meal ($).

The much more popular East end of the AAC Park offers more amenities: like a fishing pier, facing the Chesapeake Bay.

When kayaking from Downs, guests are required to tell the gatehouse attendant that they will be kayaking. The attendant will ask you to fill out a card, which allows the park rangers to call you if they find your car unattended at the park’s closing time before seeking rescue assistance.

The park’s gatehouse is at the entrance of the east end on the right, which you must visit prior to gaining access to the west end gate on the left across the street.