Maryland Route 329 (MD 329) is a
state highway
A state highway, state road, or state route (and the equivalent provincial highway, provincial road, or provincial route) is usually a road that is either ''numbered'' or ''maintained'' by a sub-national state or province. A road numbered by a ...
in the
U.S. state
In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sover ...
of
Maryland
Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...
. Known as Royal Oak Road, the state highway runs east-west through
Royal Oak
The Royal Oak is the English oak tree within which the future King Charles II of England hid to escape the Roundheads following the Battle of Worcester in 1651. The tree was in Boscobel Wood, which was part of the park of Boscobel House. C ...
in western
Talbot County, connecting with
MD 33 at both termini. MD 329, which formed part of the original road between
Easton and
Saint Michaels, was constructed as a shell road by the time it was brought under
Maryland State Roads Commission
The Maryland State Highway Administration (abbreviated MDOT SHA or simply SHA) is the state transportation business unit responsible for maintaining Maryland's numbered highways outside Baltimore City. Formed originally under authority of the Ge ...
maintenance in the mid-1920s.
Route description
MD 329 begins at an intersection with MD 33 (St. Michaels Road) just west of the village of
Newcomb. The two-lane undivided state highway heads south, skirting the southern edge of the community. MD 329 enters the community of Royal Oak, where the highway passes around a branch of Oak Creek and curves to the east. The state highway intersects Bellevue Road, which heads south toward Bellevue and that village's dock of the seasonal
Oxford–Bellevue Ferry
The Oxford–Bellevue Ferry is a ferry service linking Bellevue, Maryland with Oxford, Maryland across the Tred Avon River. The ferry began operations in 1683 and is thought to be the oldest privately owned ferry service in the United States.
Hi ...
across the
Tred Avon River
The Tred Avon River (a corruption of "Third Haven River") is a main tributary of the Choptank River in Talbot County on Maryland's Eastern Shore. The river is long.U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline d ...
to the town of
Oxford
Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...
. MD 329 continues east past farmland and scattered residences, heading around the other branch of Oak Creek. After Hopkins Neck Road, the state highway heads straight northeast through a forested area to its eastern terminus at MD 33.
History
MD 329 follows the path of the original road between Easton and Saint Michaels, which generally followed present-day MD 33 except for dipping south around the head of Oak Creek and passing through Royal Oak.
When MD 33 was constructed in the early 1920s, it paralleled the
Baltimore, Chesapeake and Atlantic Railway
The Baltimore, Chesapeake and Atlantic railroad, nicknamed Black Cinders & Ashes, ran from Claiborne, Maryland (with steamship connections to Baltimore), to Ocean City, Maryland. It operated of center-line track and of sidings.Interstate Com ...
through Newcomb.
The Maryland State Roads Commission assumed maintenance of the shell road through Royal Oak by 1927.
Junction list
See also
*
References
External links
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MDRoads: MD 329Maryland Roads - MD 329
329
Maryland Route 329