Things To Do on an eBike in St. Mary's County

Where to ride in St. Mary's County

This page covers one documented route, the Three Notch Trail.

A paved rail trail corridor in St. Mary's County, Maryland.

Compared with Charles County across the Patuxent, where the Indian Head Rail Trail is the one long route, St. Mary's has a similar rail trail still being extended.

1. Three Notch Trail

The Three Notch Trail follows a former railroad corridor in St. Mary's County. The county describes it as paved and ten feet wide, with new sections under construction.

Distance: About 11 miles of completed sections, with a planned network of 25 to 28 miles; start: Access points along the corridor; see the county brochure for the current map; surface: Paved, ten feet wide.

eBike access: The county's brochure says the trail is open sunrise to sunset and permits bicycles, including eBikes, with riders yielding to pedestrians and to horses and buggies. Etiquette and planning: Expect horses and buggies near some sections, and yield to them. Managing source: St. Mary's County, Three Notch Trail brochure.

Planning a St. Mary's County ride

Pick a completed section and ride out and back.

Check the county for newly opened sections before you go.

Half-day and full-day eBike plans

What not to ride

After sunset: The county brochure lists the trail as open sunrise to sunset.

When to ride St. Mary's County

Plan a St. Mary's ride for the cooler hours of a summer day, and check trail conditions before you go in spring and fall.

Shop hubs

The directory lists 3 towns in St. Mary's County. Each town page lists addresses, phone numbers, and claim links.

• eBike shops in California (1)
• eBike shops in Lexington Park (1)
• eBike shops in Mechanicsville (2)

Rental and tour operators

We found no rental listing for this county. No rental card exists, but the shops via the St. Mary's County eBike shops page may know of one.

Maryland eBike rules snapshot

Maryland defines an electric bicycle in Transportation Article 11-117.1 as a vehicle designed to be operated by human power with the assistance of an electric motor, with fully operable pedals, two or three wheels, and a motor rated at 750 watts or less. A Class 1 motor assists only while you pedal and ceases to assist at 20 miles an hour. A Class 2 motor assists whether or not you pedal and also ceases at 20. A Class 3 motor assists only while you pedal and ceases at 28. Section 11-104 counts an electric bicycle as a bicycle, and section 11-135 leaves it out of the definition of a motor vehicle.

The operating rules are in 21-1205.2. An electric bicycle may be operated wherever a bicycle is allowed to travel, including bike lanes. A local authority or State agency with jurisdiction over a bicycle path may prohibit a Class 1 or Class 2 on it. A Class 3 may not use a bicycle path unless the path is within or adjacent to a highway right-of-way or the authority allows it, and an authority may regulate any class on a trail designated nonmotorized with a natural surface tread of cleared and graded native soil. A person under 16 may not operate a Class 3 on a public highway, though a child under 16 may ride as a passenger on a Class 3 built for passengers. Section 22-420 adds the permanent label showing class, top assisted speed, and wattage, requires the motor to cut out when the brakes are applied (and, for Class 1 and Class 3, when you stop pedaling), and requires a speedometer in miles per hour on a Class 3.

For helmets, 21-1207.1 requires anyone under 16 to wear an approved helmet when operating or riding as a passenger on a bicycle on a highway, bicycle way, or other property open to the public, and the section is enforced by a warning that comes with educational materials. Because section 11-104 counts an electric bicycle as a bicycle, we read that rule as covering e-bike riders under 16, although 21-1207.1 does not name them. We found no statewide helmet rule for adults, no statewide license or registration requirement, and no statewide e-bike speed limit. Read our Maryland eBike laws guide, then check the posted sign and the local code.

Land managers add rules on top of the statute. For Department of Natural Resources land (state parks, forests, and wildlife management areas), COMAR 08.01.10.03 lets a person use a bicycle or electric bicycle on public roads, parking lots, and off-road vehicle trails, and limits bicycles, adaptive bicycles, and Class 1 electric bicycles to designated trails; Wildlands are closed to both. The Department's e-bike page says the regulation took effect on May 26, 2026, and its July 1, 2026 announcement says Class 2 and Class 3 bikes stay on roads, lots, and off-road vehicle areas. The older DNR statewide park policies page still says e-bikes are prohibited on park trails except Class 1 on the Torrey C. Brown Rail Trail and the Western Maryland Rail Trail, so we follow the regulation and tell you to check the trailhead sign.

The National Park Service lets e-bikes go where bicycles go and prohibits motor-only use, and at the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal park the bicycling page requires pedaling and sets a 15 mph limit. County and city park agencies, the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission, and trail authorities set their own rules, which we name route by route.

Where a trail sign, a county ordinance, a land manager, or a municipal code says no eBikes, that rule controls. We name the managing source for each route below and mark what we could not confirm.

The county brochure is the manager's rule. We found no separate St. Mary's County ordinance for eBikes.

Frequently asked questions

All shops in St. Mary's County

For the complete list (4 listings, 3 cities), open the St. Mary's County eBike shops page.