From Catoctin Mountain Park, our route heads south on undivided Hwy-6 and two-lane Hwy-17 along the hikers’ Appalachian Trail, winding up at Washington Monument State Park between the I-70 freeway and the small town of Boonsboro. A 35-foot-tall, bottle-shaped mound dedicated to the memory of George Washington stands at the center of the park; Boonsboro citizens completed the monument in 1827, making it the oldest memorial honoring the first U.S. president.
Atop a hill south of the park, across an old alignment of the National Road (US-40), the South Mountain Inn (301/432-6155) has
operated as a tavern and inn since 1732, and now serves dinner nightly (closed Mon.) and lunch on weekends.
