The Maryland Office of Tourism offers vacationers a free travel kit to help make a visit to Maryland as much fun as possible.

The basic travel kit includes a travel guide, a map of Maryland, and a calendar of events. The travel guide has sections on paddle sports, fishing and boating, hiking and biking, trails, bird watching and nature observation, camping, and an at a glance chart of the amenities available at the Maryland Parks and Forests.

In addition to receiving the basic travel kit, up to nine other brochures, booklets, or maps can be ordered for free.

A few of the choices include:

- an “African American Heritage Guide” that has a listing of points of interest by region in the state and includes biographical information on some of Maryland’s notable African Americans including Beatrice Gaddy who was known as the Mother Teresa of Baltimore and Josiah Henson whose autobiography was used by Harriet Beecher Stowe as the basis for the character of Uncle Tom in the classic Book “Uncle Tom’s Cabin.”

- a “Golf Guide” with information on Maryland’s 200+ golf courses

- an informative “Underground Railroad” brochure that includes a map of 30 underground railroad sites, some of which are open to the public

- a guide to the Chesapeake Bay Area (don’t forget to have some crab cakes!) that includes a map of the Bay’s lighthouses along with which ones are accessible to the public,

To order your free travel kit and brochures, go to the visitmaryland website. Most of the materials are also available for viewing online if you prefer to be “green” and save the paper.