Have you heard of the Maryland Ice Cream Trail? It’s a real thing and there are prizes too! This was a highlight of Summer 2024 for us as my daughter (5 years old at the time) and I traveled to each of the cow to cone places, supporting small businesses while enjoying some of the most delicious ice cream. It was such a great motivation to explore new areas and took us from western Maryland to north of Baltimore to the Eastern Shore. Review the official site for the current dates, check out the interactive map and make sure to photograph your visit to each one and consider sharing on social media for prizes. In 2024, we won a cute ice cream squishy in one of the weekly social media contests! Check out my Instagram highlight.

Broom’s Bloom Dairy, Bel Air (Saturday, 7/20/2024)

• We visited this one and Prigel Family Creamery on the same day. Our adventure included White Marsh Mall, the Bel Air Library (a Harford County library, see my pics of this amazing location) and Annie’s Playground (double check if this has reopened if you plan to go).
• You could also consider pairing this with Havre de Grace which is an adorable city to explore with another incredible library, a great coffee shop, unique shops and street art. Plus don’t miss Millard Tydings Memorial Park and the boardwalk path to see the lighthouse. Check out my IG highlight.
• We loved the colorful spoons here and the wall paintings inside. Lots of outdoor seating too.

Chesapeake Bay Farms, Berlin (Wednesday, 6/19/2024, Juneteenth)

• We paired this with historic Berlin and Ocean City! Ice cream post on IG here.
• Check out my comprehensive Maryland’s Eastern Shore post with tons of ideas by city called, Explore the Eastern Shore.

Deliteful Dairy, Williamsport (Saturday, 8/31/2024, Labor Day weekend)

• We visited this one and Moo Cow Creamery on the same day. While we visited as part of a long weekend trip, this could easily be a day trip. Surreybrooke is a whimsical garden store that my daughter and I wandered around. Bring a dollar or two for a snack.
• You could also consider pairing this with a beach day at Greenbriar State Park (just remember to reserve and pay for your ticket beginning in 2025) or a relaxing day exploring the small town of Middletown (the library is beautiful here).
• This was our last stop on the trail and it was my least favorite because it’s soft serve (I’m just not a soft serve ice cream person), but my daughter loved it! We loved going outside to see the highland cow, donkeys, horses and cows.

Happy Cow at Grand View Acre Farms, Union Bridge (Sunday, 7/28/2024)

• We visited this one and Woodburne Creamery on the same day. We started our day with strolling Carroll Creek and the downtown Frederick’s C. Burr Artz public library (which has a huge kids room with toys, games and usually a scavenger hunt) followed by the Fountain Rock Park and Nature Center which is free to explore. You can see real animals, walk the trails and also enjoy the shaded playground.
• Of course, if you haven’t been, you must check out the Big Wooden Slide at Mt. Tabor Park. Check out my IG reel! This was super fun and free!
• This was one of my favorites and I recommend picking a nice day to visit. We opted for a milkshake here. There are lawn games, a small playground, sand to play in and animals to see (if they decide to come within view). The goats came right up to the fence for us.

Keyes Creamery, Churchville (Tuesday, 7/16/2024)

• After a fun overnight trip to Lancaster, Pennsylvania and the Cartoon Network hotel, we stopped here to break up our drive home, northeast of Baltimore. We then continued our drive and popped off the highway into the Storyville at the Rosedale Library in Baltimore which is free and similar to the Woodlawn Library location.
• This location had shaded benches under a pavilion and we enjoyed a flight (4 flavors) here.

Lockbriar Farms, Chestertown (Saturday, 8/24/2024)

• If you don’t mind crossing the Chesapeake Bay Bridge (make sure to have an EZ pass), this is a great day trip. Many Eastern Shore libraries are closed on Sundays, we opted to do this trip on a Saturday so we could check out the Queen Anne’s County Library which was a great stop.
• After the farm, we went to downtown Chestertown which happened to have a back-to-school free fair. Addy had the best time collecting things and everyone was so kind. Then we headed to Wilmer Park for the playground and a walk by the water. If we had known, I may have visited downtown earlier in the day to visit KidSPOT Children’s Creativity Center while it was opened since my daughter loves art.
• This was one of our favorites! The fruit flavored ice creams are super flavorful and the sweetest cat hung out with us while we ate. One of the owners was so kind to walk us around with the dog, and take us inside the chicken coop where Addy got to hold an egg. The u-pick garden here is stunning.

Misty Meadows Farm Creamery, Smithburg (Sunday, 7/21/2024)

• We visited this one and Rocky Point Creamery on the same day. We ate our ice cream on the shaded porch.
• We wanted to check out the Discovery Station (kids museum) in Hagerstown and it’s free the third Sunday of each month. My daughter’s favorite is the top level with the art supplies and painting on an easel. We also enjoyed walking to the downtown library which has a cute kids section and finding the large painted butterflies around town. IG highlight here.
• This one is super family friendly with a butterfly maze, sunflowers (we went past peak and they were 25 cents per stem), large tires to climb, little ride on vehicles and a playground. Inside we got a few free bits of broken up waffle cone to feed the goats and visited the cow and donkey too. I would love to return to this one.

Moo Cow Creamery at Walnut Ridge Farm (bonus location), Middletown (Saturday, 8/31/2024)

• We started our day here for a long weekend adventure that would ultimately include: Surreybrooke, the C&O Canal in Williamsport (to earn a Junior Ranger badge), Deliteful Dairy (another stop on the ice cream trail), Winchester (VA), Berkley Springs (WV), Cumberland (MD), Frostburg (MD) and the Paw Paw Tunnel.
• We loved the street art here and seeing the sweet kitties and golden retriever. This location does not scoop ice cream so we bought a 1/2 pint to share and a chocolate milk.

Prigel Family Creamery, Glen Arm (Saturday, 7/20/2024)

• We visited this one and Broom’s Bloom Dairy on the same day. This could also be paired with a day in the Baltimore area. I have a whole highlight of ideas here.
• Don’t miss a picture with the colorful cow outside. This location offers workshops and a kids’ Wonderfarm Club. If these may interest you, check out the dates and information online to sign-up and plan accordingly for your visit.

Rocky Point Creamery, Tuscarora (Sunday, 7/21/2024)

• We visited this one and Misty Meadows Farm Creamery on the same day. In between the two ice cream stops, we popped into the Francis Scott Key Mall which has a Barnes & Noble to turn in Addy’s summer reading paper and get a free book.
• This location was quite busy which was fun to see! We got our picture on the cow bench and then stopped at Rio Washingtonian on the way home.

South Mountain Creamery, Middletown (Saturday, 6/29/2024)

• In my personal opinion, make sure to check out the creamery location instead of the storefront location. On the way here, we visited Pinecliff Park which is pretty large and also has a built in scavenger hunt. We then visited the Middletown Library – don’t miss the beautiful porches. Of course if you’ve never been to Sophie and Madigan’s Playground, this would be my top choice for the area playgrounds. I have more ideas in my Frederick highlight.
• We understand why this place gets rave reviews. You can walk through and visit the baby cows, take a picture on a tractor and play at the playground with lots of toys. There’s a shaded pavilion right by the playground too plus various photo opportunities. We loved this one!

Woodbourne Creamery, Mt. Airy (Sunday, 7/28/2024)

• We visited this one and Happy Cow on the same day. We sat behind the building in the shade under the tree. There were also beautiful flowers blooming here and a playground (that’s full sun).
• On our drive home, we went to Damascus Recreational Park which had an incredible playground structure and bathrooms. If you’d rather explore closer to the ice cream stop, check out the small town of New Market to get coffee at 5 West Cafe and then play some games at nearby Adventure Park USA (keep an eye on Groupon – we got $100 credit for $48). This was perfect for the indoor ropes course and zipline, laser tag, some video games, bowling, etc.

A couple of general suggestions:

• Follow each farm on social media as you may find another event to pair your trip with or decide to try their U-pick (flowers, fruit, etc.), they may offer a special or they may change their hours. (I have found that Google doesn’t always get it right, particularly with places that have seasonal hours. Hyperlinks above lead to their official websites.)
• Many were closed on Sundays or things in the immediate area were, so again, make sure to plan accordingly so you’re not disappointed.
• Document what you try so you can rank them at the end. I wish I had done a better job of this.
• Some places will split a single, which means you can get a “single scoop” but try two flavors. On days when we tried multiple ice cream places, or when we couldn’t pick a favorite, we loved that we could do this. Make sure to ask. It’s also fun to try the different flavored milks and be prepared that each location may not offer samples.
• Bring cash just in case. I believe I was able to pay with my credit card everywhere, but since these are small businesses and may have a minimum purchase amount or a credit card fee, it’s always a great practice to have some cash as an option.
• If you enjoy hiking, check out the official site with the nearby trail for each stop.
• Add a local library to each stop. If you’re a Maryland resident, you can get each Maryland county’s library card. This is great for access to online resources. I particularly love it because it allows me to add more cards to my Libby app so I rarely have to wait for a title. And at the same time, sign-up for Summer Reading! Even if you don’t think you’ll return to the county to finish, many library systems give you a prize just for signing up.
• Have fun!!

New in 2025:

There is a Let’s Rallie app this year and also some new places on the trail to include Brown Cow Creamery in Mt. Airy, Glamourview Creamery in Walkersville, and Miller Farms in Clinton. We have been to the last one and plan to try these other too when we make our way to the Frederick area. When we visited Miller Farms, we combined it with Oxon Cove Park and Oxon Cove Farm, which is free and a place to earn a Junior Ranger Badge and ice skating at Tucker Road Ice Rink. We are excited to explore some parts of the Lancaster Ice Cream trail this summer. There’s a lot more than just Turkey Hill in this area.

About the Author

Lydia Garry and her family, TeamTravelsBaby, live in Silver Spring, Maryland, and are working to achieve “vagabond status”. Much of their affordable family travel experiences include U.S. travel, national parks and Europe. Adventure with them here, subscribe to their free newsletter and follow along on Instagram!