A commuter's holiday: Drawing summer pleasures along well-traveled routes Solomons to Benedict. This driving trip, a portion of Maryland's Star-Spangled Banner Scenic Byway, follows routes 4, 2, 765, 506, 508 and 231 in Southern Maryland. Many closer to Washington would reach Solomons by driving down Route 5 , then taking Route 235 to Route 4. The entire scenic byway, which takes you to Fort McHenry in Baltimore, is 106 miles. We'll save some for next year. The fighting was hot in 1814. It's about 43 miles from the Capital Beltway to Solomons, then about 25 miles to Benedict. This portion of the trip is flanked by the mouth of the Patuxent River and by Chesapeake Bay. A traveler from the District can go a fair distance in most directions before sensing escape from the metropolis. Southern Maryland is different. Escape comes more quickly when heading in this direction. The area is rich in early American history. During the War of 1812, Commodore Joshua Barney's small flotilla faced the British navy, part of the "star-spangled" connection. See also the mansion and the slave house at a former tobacco plantation called Sotterley off Route 235 in Hollywood. For seafood as well as scenery, stop in Solomons. Calvert Cliffs State Park in Lusby is famous as a fossil-hunting site. Washington to Popes Creek. Follow this route of about 66 miles from Ford's Theatre, and you will have a much more pleasant escape from the District than John Wilkes Booth did in 1865. The driving path follows Route 5, Old Branch Avenue, Brandywine Road, back to Route 5 , and Routes 6 and 301 to Popes Creek Road. Three special points of interest: The Surratt House, country home of Mary Surratt on Brandywine Road; Samuel A. Mudd's House, home of the doctor who treated Booth's leg, off Poplar Hill Road in Waldorf, and the Zekiah Swamp, off Route 6 near La Plata, where Booth and his accomplice hid out before crossing the Potomac River to Virginia. You have a chance of spotting a bald eagle along the edges of the swamp. The driving tour could end with seafood and a view at Captain Billy's Crab House on the bank of the Potomac along Popes Creek Road. From the restaurant, you can see the Nice Bridge, taking Route 301 over the river. Booth continued on, and so can you. Follow Route 301 across the Potomac and then over the Rappahanock River into Port Royal. The trip could end with a walking tour of the town. Booth made it about 21 / 2 miles farther south to a barn at the Garrett Farm, where he was fatally wounded. Today, Route 301 at that point is a divided highway with a wooded median, and the farm is long gone. An option for returning to the D.C. area is to take Route 17 west from Port Royal and pick up Interstate 95. West, without the Greenway. Drive about 53 miles through the western side of the D.C. region, starting in Leesburg, adding Loudoun County scenery, villages and wineries while subtracting commuter tolls.