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Get to know Bethesda

Bethesda has always kept growing. It developed as a crucial rural trade waypoint, transformed into a bona fide Washington, D.C., suburb, and solidified itself as a prosperous city people can’t help but flock to. Most of Bethesda tends serenely residential, with roads upon drives upon lanes of winsome freestanding homes that never fail to capture imaginations. A dynamic, walkable downtown feels more traditionally city-like with its panoply of shopping, dining, and entertainment options. Annual events like the Taste of Bethesda festival bring the people out, as do the theaters, galleries, and public art in the Arts & Entertainment District. Getting in or out of Bethesda is a cinch thanks to two Red Line metro stations, J2 Metrobus service to Silver Spring, and nearby thoroughfares like I-495, Wisconsin Avenue, and Rockville Pike. Meanwhile, the free Bethesda Circulator bus traverses the town with ease.

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Living in Montgomery County

Maryland’s most populous county thrives off of convenience. When Montgomery County spun out of southern Frederick County in 1776, it was due in no insignificant part to a general dislike among citizens for the time and money spent traveling to the county courthouse in Frederick. Today, Montgomery’s people have their more centrally located seat in Rockville and also sit mere minutes outside Washington, D.C. But while the Washington Metro’s U-shaped Red Line and the MARC train network connect Bethesda, Rockville, Germantown, and more to so much of D.C.’s gloriousness, Montgomery County (affectionately called MoCo) is far from about commuting elsewhere. MoCo is a capital of culture in Maryland, its towns and villages calling to all with globe-trotting cuisine, significant historical landmarks, multiple arts and entertainment districts, and can’t-miss shopping destinations. It also provides year-round options for outdoor excursions, whether you want to hike or bike Capital Crescent Trail, go apple or pumpkin picking, sled in C&O Canal National Historical Park, or stop to admire Brookfield Gardens’ cherry blossoms.