Fort Smallwood Park Beach
Pasadena, MD
You'll find Fort Smallwood Park where the Patapsco River empties into the Chesapeake, a former coastal defense fort turned county park with a rocky and sandy shoreline, fishing piers, and old gun battery ruins to explore between swims. It's less polished than Sandy Point up the bay, and the regulars there like it that way.
The fort ruins and fishing piers give it more to do than a straight swim beach, though the shoreline itself is rockier and less swim-friendly than the Bay's better sand beaches.
How we score beachesWalk the shoreline past the main swim area to the old fort battery. It's the kind of thing most first-time visitors never realize is there.
A large lot just inside the park entrance on Fort Smallwood Road, with an $8 per vehicle entrance fee.
A paved path runs from the parking lot down to the shoreline, though the beach itself is a mix of sand and small stones rather than soft sand throughout.
Summer water temperatures climb into the mid 70s by August, with the park open daily from 5:30am to sunset year round. Fall visits trade warm water for empty fishing piers and quiet ruins to explore.
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