Point Lookout, at the southern tip of Maryland’s western shore where the Chesapeake Bay meets the Potomac River, has long been prized for its strategic position. John Smith landed here in 1608, and by 1747 it was known as Point Lookout, serving as a lookout during the American Revolution and War of 1812. Its most significant chapter came in the Civil War, when it became a Union military complex with a hospital, Fort Lincoln, and Camp Hoffman, a prison camp that held thousands of Confederate captives in harsh conditions. Today it is both a recreation area and a historic preserve shaped by loss, memory, and erosion.