State parks manager outlines reopening conditions for Newtown Park after World War II munitions survey

Ranger Christie Bright, park manager for the state parks in Saint Mary's County, told the Department of Recreation and Parks board on Nov. 7 that Newtown Park will remain closed until state officials complete safety procedures and receive an Army Corps of Engineers report on historic projectiles found on the property.

The parks system in Saint Mary's County includes St. Mary's River, Greenwell, St. Clement's Island, Point Lookout and Newtown. Bright said Newtown — a 770-acre tract acquired in 2009 — was briefly opened then closed after military ordnance was discovered. "There has been about, I want to say, over 70 ordnance identified and detonated," Bright said, describing work by state and military bomb squads.

Bright told the board the Army Corps’ systematic survey and its written report, expected in mid-November, will inform next steps. "Once we get that report, things will start going," she said, but emphasized the process will be slow: staff are developing a standard operating procedure that will involve the State Fire Marshal, bomb squad, Natural Resources Police and State Police before any reopening.

Bright said the projectiles recovered to date are being treated as "inert" by investigators because they contain little or no explosive powder; the devices produced smoke on impact rather than detonation. The munitions date primarily to the 1940s when Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory and later the U.S. Navy used the area for weapons testing, Bright said.

Other state parks updates presented by Bright included: St. Mary's River (two-site park with a 7.5-mile trail, boat ramp and remote monitoring added to dam wells), Greenwell (about 600 acres with 10 miles of trails and a therapeutic riding program run by partner groups), St. Clement's Island (historic site with rebuilt Blackistone Lighthouse and new composting toilet), and Point Lookout (about 1,000 acres, campsites and a civil war fort interpretive area).

Bright said Newtown staff and county partners have conducted underwater and land surveys in known historic-use areas, and that an action plan for opening (six-month and one-year checkpoints) is being prepared but will not begin until the DNR secretary signs off. She also described public-education steps planned if the park reopens, including bulletin-board flyers at parking areas explaining how to "recognize, retreat and report" any suspicious projectiles.

The board asked about communicating safety to families and about what would happen to remaining objects. Bright said the standard operating procedure will clarify how to handle projectiles found in the field and whether any will be removed or left in place.

Bright framed the Newtown history as both a safety and interpretive matter: the weapons testing and the park’s coastal resources tie into the Captain John Smith National Historic Trail and the county’s wider history.

Bright concluded with a brief schedule: the Army Corps report was expected in mid-November and the park’s reopening timeline will depend on that report and the interagency review of safety procedures.