The Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development’s (DHCD) Sustainable Communities Program recently designated four new places to the sustainable communities list.

According to DHCD,

Maryland’s last inhabited island in the Chesapeake Bay not connected by bridge to mainland, Smith Island is a historic waterman community that was named one of the five best spots for “dropping off the grid” by CNN. It promotes itself as the hub of the soft-shelled crab industry in America, and is home to Maryland’s official state dessert, the multilayered Smith Island Cake. The island can now claim another title: Sustainable Community. Joining the Towns of Greensboro and Trappe on the Eastern Shore and the Town of Indian Head in southern Maryland.

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The Sustainable Communities designation provides local governments with a framework for planning and promoting growth and redevelopment in existing older communities that is environmentally, economically and socially responsible. Designations are approved by Maryland’s Smart Growth Subcabinet, and there are now 95 approved Sustainable Communities statewide with at least one designated Sustainable Community in each of Maryland’s 23 counties and Baltimore City.

Click here to find out more about Smith Island, Greensboro, Trappe and Indian Head. To learn more about the Sustainable Communities program and the application process, visit dhcd.maryland.gov/Communities/Pages/dn/.