Point Lookout, Maryland

Point Lookout State Park
Maryland State Park
Point Lookout Confederate Cemetery Monument
Country	United States
State	Maryland
County	Saint Mary's
Elevation	0 ft (0 m)
Coordinates	38°03′30″N 76°19′54″W / 38.05833°N 76.33167°W / 38.05833; -76.33167Coordinates: 38°03′30″N 76°19′54″W / 38.05833°N 76.33167°W / 38.05833; -76.33167
Area	1,079 acres (437 ha)
Established	Unspecified
Management	Maryland Department of Natural Resources
Location in Maryland
Website: Point Lookout State Park

Point Lookout State Park is a Maryland state park occupying Point Lookout, the southernmost tip of a peninsula formed by the confluence of Chesapeake Bay and the Potomac River in St. Mary's County, Maryland. The state park preserves the site of an American Civil War prisoner of war camp and the Point Lookout Light, which was built in 1830. It is the southernmost spot on Maryland's western shore, the coastal region on the western side of the Chesapeake Bay.

Captain John Smith, the famed explorer who surveyed the Mid-Atlantic region for the British Crown, came ashore at Point Lookout in 1608. He surveyed the lands and waters of the area, including the mouth of the Potomac River on the south side of Point Lookout and its small nearby tributary, the St. Mary's River. Smith gave very favorable reports on the area to the king of England, remarking on the abundant game and fishing opportunities, the fertile soil and the strategic military value of the area, overlooking the confluence of the Potomac River, Patuxent River and the St. Mary's River, along with its key vantage point on the Chesapeake Bay itself. All of these factors led him to describe it as a prime spot for a potential British colony.

The first settlement in Maryland occurred in 1634, in nearby St. Mary's City. At that time, Point Lookout became part of St. Michael's Manor, one of the main holdings of Leonard Calvert's, the leader of the new colony and the first proprietary governor of colonial Maryland.