This special edition of the Southern Maryland Extra, produced by a team of Washington Post editors, reporters, editorial aides, photographers and artists, is a guide to our community. Included is important information about how to get around the region, how to contact elected officials and fun things to do with the whole family.

Hundreds of people move to Southern Maryland every month. If you are one of the newcomers, you may still be trying to get your bearings. Where is the nearest hospital or public library? Who handles trash pickup, or do you have to haul your own? What's in that park you pass on the way to work?

We hope this guide will help you find answers to some of those questions, whether you are new to Calvert, Charles and St. Mary's counties or have lived here for years.

We welcome your comments and suggestions about the Guide. Send them to theguide@washpost.com or call 202-334-6005.

The features that regularly appear in the Thursday Extra will resume next week. The community and entertainment calendars that normally would have been included today were published in last Sunday's Extra.

-- Tom Lansworth, Editor, Southern Maryland Extra

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