Short answers, pulled from the story.
Maryland was founded in 1634 primarily as a religious haven for Catholics persecuted in England. The charter was secured by George Calvert, 1st Baron Baltimore, and granted to his son Cecilius Calvert, 2nd Baron Baltimore, on the 20th of June, 1632. Despite its founding purpose, Catholics always remained a minority, comprising less than 10 percent of the colonial population.
The Mason-Dixon line is the boundary between Maryland and Pennsylvania, defined after a dispute that lasted nearly a century. The conflict arose in 1681 when both the Maryland and Pennsylvania royal charters claimed the 40th parallel as their border, but it did not fall where either party expected. Armed conflict known as Cresap's War broke out in the 1730s, and King George II compelled a cease-fire in May 1738. A final agreement was signed in 1760, establishing the line that now bears its surveyors' names.
Maryland was a slave state that remained in the Union, in significant part because President Abraham Lincoln arrested pro-secession politicians, suspended habeas corpus, and placed artillery on Federal Hill in Baltimore. The first bloodshed of the Civil War occurred in Baltimore in April 1861, when federal units were attacked by a mob. The Battle of Antietam on the 17th of September, 1862, near Sharpsburg, was the largest engagement in the state and is considered a strategic Union turning point.
Maryland's high household income is driven largely by its proximity to Washington, D.C., and a diversified economy spanning federal government contracting, defense, biotechnology, higher education, and information technology. The U.S. Census Bureau reported a 2013 median household income of $72,483, placing Maryland ahead of New Jersey and Connecticut. Two Maryland counties, Howard and Montgomery, rank among the wealthiest counties in the nation.
Chesapeake Bay nearly bisects Maryland, with sixteen of its twenty-three counties and the city of Baltimore bordering its tidal waters. The combined shoreline of the bay and its tributaries totals more than 4,000 miles. The bay supports major commercial fishing, including blue crab, oysters, striped bass, and menhaden, and it is central enough to Maryland's identity that there has been periodic debate about renaming the state's official nickname the Bay State.
William Dorsey Swann, born enslaved in Hancock, Maryland, is recognized as the first person known to describe himself as a drag queen. He is also the first American on record to have pursued legal and political action to defend the right of LGBTQ people to assemble. Maryland later legalized same-sex marriage on the 1st of January, 2013, after voters upheld the freedom-to-marry law with 52 percent support in the November 2012 referendum.