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Leonardtown, Md.

County seat of St. Mary's County, this small community has been overshadowed by the development of the naval base and related facilities at the nearby Patuxent River Naval Air Test Center. Leonardtown has an 18th-century Tudor Hall housing the St. Mary's County Memorial Library and the Old Jail Museum, built in 1858. The town, founded in 1652, was named for Benedict Leonard Calvert, the 4th Lord Baltimore and sponsor of the first settlement expedition. Potomac Arch Park is located near the shores of the Breton Bay south of town. Leonardtown is located on Md. 234 one mile north of the intersection with Md. 4. St. Clement's Bay_Named by the first settlers in Maryland in 1634, this bay is marked by St. Clement's Island and Colton Point. The peninsula of land between Breton Bay and St. Clement's Bay is the site of St. Francis Xavier Church, built in 1731, making it the oldest Catholic Church in continuous use in English-speaking America.