Round Top Heritage Area

Round Top Hill is ecologically sensitive because of its unique geology and topography, which have created distinctive natural habitats that support a variety of unusual plants and animals. Some species found at Round Top are quite rare in the region, and a number are considered threatened or endangered in Maryland. Its special habitats include limestone glades, natural openings similar to small prairies, limestone forest, shale cliffs, and caves. Precipitation there evaporates quickly from the dry soils or percolates deeply into fractured rock, forming caverns as the limestone dissolves. Within the caves, some of which were enlarged by limestone mining, are several distinct animal communities, including various species of bats and eyeless, unpigmented crustaceans and flatworms in dark cave pools.

Maryland · United States