Bird-watchers have identified nearly 150 different species of birds along the corridor. Sharp-eyed visitors may spot wild turkeys, deer, herons, bald eagles, egrets, and a variety of waterfowl from the trail. The trail also passes two other tributaries, Old Woman Run and Tobacco Creek, as well as three wildlife management and environmental areas. Heading eastward, the trail leaves the town and passes a wide-open view of the wetlands surrounding Mattawoman Creek, a tributary of the Potomac River and a productive breeding estuary for migratory fish. Trail users can park at Charlie Wright Park or Village Green Park, about 0.3 mile north of the trailhead, and follow signs across Indian Head Highway/MD 210 to the trailhead. There’s no parking at the trailhead on Mattingly Way. The area’s Indigenous community has petitioned for the name to be changed, however, asserting that it alludes to violence inflicted on them in years past. Local leaders say the town’s name is most likely derived from the peninsula where the town sits (known as the Indian Headlands) and the Algonquian peoples who once lived here. The town of Indian Head grew up around the base and was incorporated in 1920. The trail starts on Mattingly Avenue near the gates of the Naval Surface Warfare Center, a facility that got its start in 1890 as a weapons base. The eastern end of the trail opened in 2009. The facility, whose name and mission has changed over the years, still exists, but the railroad corridor is no longer needed and was transferred to Charles County under the Department of the Interior’s Federal Lands to Parks Program. Navy’s weapons facility built on the Indian Head peninsula overlooking the Potomac River. The trail follows a former railroad line built in 1918 to transport sup-plies to the U.S. The 13-mile paved rail-trail travels alongside creeks and through woods halfway across Charles County from the town of Indian Head on the Potomac River to the inland community of White Plains. Although located within easy reach of the Washington, D.C., metro area, the Indian Head Rail Trail in southern Maryland seems far removed from the hectic pace of urban life.
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