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Photo: Carl Lindberg, CC BY 2.5 via Wikimedia Commons
Patuxent River Naval Air Station is the Navy's primary aircraft test facility. Virtually every aircraft flown by the Navy since World War II has been testing at Pax River. The base is, of course, not open to the public, but you can visit the Naval Air Museum, which includes a large collection of jet-age Navy aircraft, including an F-14A, NF/A-18A, AV-8B Harrier II, and the two experimental aircraft that competed for the Joint Strike Fighter contract, the Boeing X-35C and the Lockheed-Martin X-32B. Visitors can walk up and touch the aircraft. Museum exhibits also include flight motion simulators.
The Patuxent River Naval Air Museum is a museum at Lexington Park, Maryland, first opened in 1978, which preserves and interprets the Naval Air Station Patuxent River history and heritage of advancing US naval aviation technology with artifacts, photographs and film, documents, and related heritage memorabilia from Patuxent River and other naval stations. The museum is dedicated to those who have employed their talents in advancing naval aviation research, development, testing, and evaluation.
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Point Lookout State Park sits at the southernmost tip of Maryland's western shore on a peninsula formed by the Chesapeake Bay and the Potomac River. Recreational opportunities abound in this picturesque Bay setting. Swimming, fishing, boating and camping are just a few of the activities to be enjoyed. The park's peaceful surroundings belie its history as the location of a prison camp for more than 52,000 Confederate soldiers during the Civil War. A museum on site recounts this vivid history. Civil War Ghosts wander the grounds.