One day on a weekend staying over in St. Mary’s County, we visited Elm’s Beach Park. It was a hot summer day and we had just been rejected by Point Lookout State Park (it was at capacity before noon) when we turned into Elm’s Beach Park. I was a bit nervous about the price ($25/vehicle for nonresidents) but was able to pay just $7 because we were staying only about ten minutes away. $25 might not be that bad though if you make a day of it.

The guy at the entrance was incredibly happy, an enthusiastic greeter who happily warned us that there were plenty of people there that camp out for the whole day cooking food and such and to find parking wherever and to just not get stuck in a ditch or mud. Once we drove in what that meant was the parking lot is very small and you just park on the side of the roadway which can get very muddy and deep after rain. But it was just fine.

Walking in there is a big playground, but its right in the sun so probably not great if you are there in a hot summer day, and there are only port-a-potties (and the bay of course for #1).

It was quite a scene with lots of BYO hammocks, grilling, and music with the whole day beach crowd. Yet, the beach area was not crowded and I even managed to snag enough space in the shade to put our two chairs.

The beach is cove style with the typical bay set up of shallow water, mostly narrow sandy beach. The sand was soft, water warm. Not too buggy. People fishing and a little boy nearby us found a turtle and fish and maybe some other animals he was collecting in sand toy buckets. The only major problem were the jellyfish. It was basically a jellyfish pond. But after one sting, Perry took it upon himself to be a jellyfish hunter and had a blast scooping them out of the water and putting them in the grass. [Sorry jellyfish lovers! But there were PLENTY left]. Lucy and friends enjoyed building in the sand.

I was about to consider this a great beach for $7 but not $25 when we made an incredible discovery. If you go to the end of the paths, you will go to another beach that seems to endlessly go on and on. It doesn’t seem as shallow or placid as the other side, but it was one of the largest soft, white sand beaches I’ve seen on the bay. [Sandy Point’s yellow sand doesn’t count]. And there were barely any people there. So a lovely peaceful walk and me thinks this would be a definite place to return and spend the day.

What we liked…

• The biggest soft white sand on the bay I’ve seen
• The no frills style of entrance, parking, hanging out
• Shallow warm water

Not a fan of…

• Jellies!!!!!
• No real bathroom
• Cost for out of county

Concluding Thoughts..

Would definitely love to come back after or before jelly season and just hang out and swim and make a whole day of it. Grab a grill, bring our whole set up, and have that perfect beach day.