The Gem Hunt
America decides what makes the map.
Every state has a spot the algorithms miss — the one locals send strangers to. Name it. Vote on the finalists. The winners get built into Roamward, the scenic road-trip app that proves you actually went. No download required to play.
Nominate
What does Maryland do better than anywhere?
One hidden gem — a place a chatbot would never know. The most-named spots become finalists, and the crowd votes the winner into Roamward.
Vote
Maryland gems, most-loved first
- 1Swallow Falls State ParkMaryland's tallest free-falling waterfall, the 53-foot Muddy Creek Falls, anchors a loop trail through old-growth hemlocks some over 300 years old, in the state's far-western mountains.
- 2Antietam National BattlefieldOne of the most pristine and least crowded Civil War battlefields, with an 8.5-mile driving tour through rolling Sharpsburg farmland — quieter than Gettysburg and genuinely moving.
- 3Ladew Topiary GardensTwenty-two acres of whimsical sculpted hedges, including a famous fox-and-hounds hunt frozen mid-chase across the lawn, in the horse country north of Baltimore.
- 4Calvert Cliffs State ParkA 1.8-mile woodland trail leads to a Chesapeake beach where you can sift the sand for 10-to-20-million-year-old shark teeth and Miocene fossils, on southern Maryland's western shore.
- 5Blackwater National Wildlife RefugeA four-mile Wildlife Drive winds through tidal marsh holding one of the East Coast's densest concentrations of nesting bald eagles, in a place locals call the Everglades of the North.
- 6Smith IslandReachable only by boat from Crisfield, this remote Chesapeake island moves at a vanished pace across three tiny watermen's villages and is the birthplace of Maryland's ten-layer state cake.
- 7Havre de GraceWhere the Susquehanna River meets the Chesapeake, this walkable town charms with a lighthouse, promenade, and the offbeat Decoy Museum devoted to the art of duck decoys.
- 8Historic St. Mary's CityAt Maryland's birthplace in the south, a reconstructed 1600s colonial capital comes alive with a tall-ship replica, costumed interpreters, and active archaeology — a peaceful history detour.
- 9F. Scott Fitzgerald's GraveIn a quiet Rockville churchyard, the Fitzgeralds rest beneath a stone inscribed with the famous last line of "The Great Gatsby" — a free, contemplative literary pilgrimage in the DC suburbs.
- 10Kent Island Sci-Fi MuralIn Stevensville on Kent Island, a brewery wall bursts with a sprawling science-fiction mural that's become an unexpected photo magnet just over the Bay Bridge — a colorful Eastern Shore surprise.
Not your state’s turn yet?
Want Roamward to map Maryland next?
Add your vote — the loudest state gets mapped first.
How it works
Nominate
Drop the most underrated spot in your state — the gem an itinerary generator would never surface.
The crowd ranks it
Name a place someone already nominated and it rises. The most-loved gems become the state’s finalists.
Vote the winner in
Finalists go to a public vote. Winners get built into Roamward — credited to the people who found them.
Go verify it
Drive it, GPS-verify the stop, earn the badge, and share the map that proves you were first.
Don’t miss the winners
Be the first to find what the crowd picks.
Join early access and we’ll tell you when your state’s gem wins — and when Roamward opens for iOS testing.
Get early access