A midsummer antidote to the District-area commute

Summer is the time for frazzled D.C. commuters to take the cure. What I recommend is a drive, but not the kind most do five days a week along Columbia Pike, Arlington Boulevard or Pennsylvania Avenue. Here are a few summer drives, built on suggestions from the Maryland and Virginia transportation departments, that might remind you what it was like when motoring was still fun.

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Trip: Annapolis to Plum Point. About 47 miles, sticking close to the west shore of Chesapeake Bay south of Annapolis.

Roads: Rowe Boulevard; West Street; Routes 2, 253, 214, 468, 256; Franklin Gibson Road; Leitch Road; Town Point Road; Routes 423, 261 and 263. Connects with Routes 2/4 back to the D.C. area.

Sights: The Maryland State Highway Administration calls this the “Roots and Tides” trail. Good for history buffs, sailors, beach-goers and seafood lovers. See the old statehouse, Naval Academy and harbor views in Annapolis, and bayside London Town, Galesville, Shady Side, Fairhaven, Herrington Harbour, Chesapeake Beach and Breezy Point.

Trip: Emmitsburg to Point of Rocks. About 95 miles, crossing Maryland in Frederick County from north to south, with loops to the west.

Roads: Routes 15, 806, 340, 15. The highway administration suggests an upper loop from Thurmont via Routes 77, 491 and 550, and a lower loop from Smithsburg via Route 17, Highland School Road, Gambrill Park Road and Routes 40 and 17. At Point of Rocks, head southeast toward the District via Route 28.

Sights: Towns to visit include Emmitsburg, Frederick and Point of Rocks, by the C&O Canal. The upper loop’s Route 77 is a favorite of mine for the drive along Big Hunting Creek and a refreshing visit to the 78-foot waterfall in Cunningham Falls State Park. The lower loop allows visits to South Mountain and Catoctin Mountain and several state parks, including Gambrill, Gathland and Greenbrier.

Trip: Whites Ferry to Sharpsburg. About 126 miles of scenery and Civil War history. It’s also longer and more complicated than the other Maryland trips. With more ambition and time, start from Leesburg and go north on Route 15 to Route 655 and cross the Potomac via the ferryboat Jubal Early. (Phone 301-349-5200 for current information.)

Roads: Routes 107 and 109; Comus Road; Mount Ephraim Road; Routes 28, 109, 28, 85; Michael’s Mill Road; Baker Valley Road; Routes 355, 40, Alt. 40, 17, 67 and 34. Heading southeast back to the D.C. area, drivers can take Alt. 40 from Boonsboro to Interstates 70 and 270.

Sights: Have a picnic at White’s Ferry and hike a rustic segment of the C&O Canal. Confederates crossed the Potomac near there in the 1862 campaign that led to Antietam. Several communities along this route, including Pooles­ville, Beallsville, Buckeys­town and Urbana, shared in that wartime history. In Frederick, stop at the Barbara Fritchie House. (“Who touches a hair of yon gray head dies like a dog!” Gen. Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson said. At least, according to the poem by John Greenleaf Whittier.) From Frederick, the trip follows old Route 40 before heading toward Burkittsville and Gathland State Park (see the War Correspondents Arch), then on to Boonsboro and the Antietam National Battlefield. From nearby Sharpsburg, drivers can reach Harpers Ferry by heading south on Harpers Ferry Road.