The Star-Spangled Banner National Historic Trail was established in 2008 to commemorate the dramatic chain of events, people, and places that led to the birth of our National Anthem. You can influence the future of the new trail by sharing your thoughts with the National Park Service during the Trail’s comprehensive management planning process. You can send us your comments on this website, join a social networking group to learn about and discuss the Trail, or visit the sites in the Chesapeake Bay that tell a piece of the Chesapeake Bay story. 

Even though the development of the Trail is a “work in progress,” the stories that the Star-Spangled Banner National Historic Trail will tell are already here awaiting discovery. The Trail, once its routes are more clearly defined, will link existing places in new ways for visitors and residents to experiences the Chesapeake Bay and become stewards of this national treasure.

The National Park Service administers the Trail in coordination with Fort McHenry National Monument and Historic Shrine. The Trail includes dozens of sites in the Chesapeake Bay Gateways and Watertrails Network and shares hundreds of miles of water trails with the Captain John Smith Chesapeake National Historic Trail.