Thurmont

Thurmont is a small town in Frederick County, Maryland. It hosts the Catoctin Colorfest, an arts and crafts festival that draws in about 125,000 people each autumn.

See: 4
Do: 5
Eat: 5
Buy: 1

15 places

Beach at Hunting Creek Lake

Sandy beach on a small lake in the middle of the forest. Swimming in the lake is allowed only between the weekend before Memorial Day and Labor Day. Lifeguards are typically on duty every day between Memorial Day and Labor Day, between 11AM and 6PM. Arrive early in the day because capacity is limited, and people are turned away when capacity is reached, which often happens by mid-morning on weekends and holidays.

Small charge at entrance, paid in cash

Eat

Bollinger's Restaurant

Very cozy atmosphere. Specializes in barbecue. Its Facebook page describes it as "down home people with down home cooking".

Mon-Sat 6AM-8PM, Sun 7AM-2PM

See

Catoctin Furnace

An iron furnace that played a role in the Revolutionary war and was important to the industrialisation of Thurmont.

See

Catoctin Wildlife Preserve

Zoo just outside of Thurmont. Has 1100 animals including exotic animals like lions and local wildlife like timber wolves and native turtles. Between April and September runs daily Safari rides.

Adults $22.50, Seniors (65+) and Military $21.50, Children (3-12) $16.95. Safari rides add $16.50/person

Colorfest

A huge arts and crafts festival that takes place over one weekend annually. Several thousand people flock to the town for it. The festival completely takes over the town.

Magnolia Meadow Farm

Pick pumpkins at the pumpkin patch, navigate your way through the corn maze, and even fire the two pumpkin cannons at 50 foot tall Transformer robots!

Eat

Mountaingate Family Restaurant

Both a menu and a buffet-style restaurant. Has private banquet rooms for between 10 and 200 guests. Southern American food.

5AM-10PM

Buy

Pryor's Orchard

Family-owned farm since 1905. Operates a fruit market in a barn built in 1940. Sells cherries, blueberries, apricots, plums, nectarines, pears, peaches, apples, corn, tomatoes, squash, peppers, potatoes, kale, cabbage, sweet potatoes, melons, and pumpkins, when each is in season.

Eat

Simply Asia

Serves Chinese, Thai, Japanese food, and a variety of sushi. "A Pan Asian Bistro"

Mon-Thu 11AM-9:30PM, Fri Sat 11AM-10PM, Sun noon-9:30PM$5-20

See

Thurmont Community Park

This is the town park. It has a nice exercise trail, several pavilions, a park for younger children, and a baseball and basketball court.

7AM-10PM

Eat

Thurmont Kountry Kitchen

Award winning family owned restaurant. Large selection of food and very good broasted chicken. Motto: "Just like home but we do the dishes". American Southern food. Well-known for breakfast.

6AM-9PM