"Navy Base Town" Lexington Park by grandmaR

Looking toward the town fromOld Cedar Point Light

Lexington Park is an otherwise unremarkable small town - not even the county seat - that is right outside the Patuxent River NAS. The population (year 2000) is 11,021, it has an elevation of 112 feet and an area of 8.0 square miles

The pictured lighthouse cupola used to be part of the Cedar Point Light, which was on the southern shore of the Patuxent River. The lighthouse was abandoned and gradually fell apart. I have painted a picture of it as I imagine it used to be for one of the screens of my sailboat.

The cupola used to be right on MD Rte 235 (Three Notch Rod) in the NAS museum. When the museum was moved so the road could be widened and I believe the cupola went to another museum. The airplanes and the rest of the museum was moved to a temporary location farther up the road.

The building on the right background houses the Peking Restaurant (see tips), and a donut shop among other enterprises.

Photo of disintegrating lighthouse

The Lexington Park area used to be known as Jarboesville (named after the Jarboe family which is one of the local families), and another part of the area was known as Pearson. When the US Navy came to the county in 1941 (just before Pearl Harbor and the outbreak of WW II), the bought up the land that made up Jarboesville and Pearson under the right of imminent domain to built the Patuxent Naval Air Station, they built housing for their employees near the new base. This area was named Lexington Park in honor of the USS Lexington (an aircraft carrier). The Lexington Park post office was established in 1947.

A lot of the stuff that is in the Lexington Park area (zip code: 20653) has a California MD address, so check also the restaurants at California

• Pros:Many Retail Establishments
• Cons:Suburban Sprawl without Tourist Destinations
• In a nutshell:Military Base town