Savage Park
8400 Fair Street, Savage, MD 20763
Amenities: Paved parking in multiple lots. Restrooms.
Special Attractions: Like other parts of the Savage area county parkland, history and scenery share billing with interesting flora and fauna in this 270-acre fall line park. Historic Savage Mill-related ruins are along the river, and there are many trails
Handicapped Access: The River Trail has both steep, rocky portions and rough floodplain sections. Parts of the upland trails have more gentle slopes. The paved Patuxent Branch Trail segment is accessible from the northwest corner of the north parking lot near the information board.
Habitat: Mostly deciduous woods with scattered remnant pines. Steep, south-facing slopes drop to the rocky Little Patuxent River adjacent to a narrow floodplain with expansive stands of invasive Japanese Knotweed and native pawpaws. Trees on the rocky substrate of former quarries are shallow-rooted and subject to blowdowns. The park contains varied flora and fauna.
Layout: Although the trails are neither as flat as the Savage Mill Trail nor as steep as parts of the Wincopin Trail, the majority are easy to traverse. From the River Trail entrance behind the tennis courts, the trail soon splits. To the left (east), the trail passes crumbling portions of the mill race and other ruins related to the historic mill. Turning right at the initial junction will drop the hiker to the floodplain. The second entrance to the River Trail can be reached at the north end of the parking lot near the information board. A short distance downhill, the Patuxent Branch Trail extension comes in from the right (north). That trail stays on the upland, goes around the schools, and emerges on Vollmerhausen Road. At that point, if one turns left (downhill) to the river, the entrance to the leg of the Patuxent Branch Trail running to Lake Elkhorn will be on the right, just west of the bridge. The park’s alternate entrance to the River Trail can be reached from the same information board in Savage Park, but instead of turning right on the Patuxent Branch Trail extension, continue straight downhill to the intersection where the trail parallels the river in both directions.
Howard County Recreation and Parks information
Compilers: Joanne Solem and Tom Miller
