Waldorf travel guide

Waldorf is an unincorporated community in Charles County, Maryland. It is 23 miles SSE of Washington DC. The population of the census-designated area was 22,311 at the 2000 census, but this does not include St. Charles, MD which is part of the greater Waldorf postal area. Waldorf began before 1900 as a rural crossroads with a train station and was called "Beantown" after a local family. Waldorf is now largely subsumed by the large planned community of St. Charles.
Several ZIP codes 20601 (red on this map), 20602, 20603, and 20604 are associated with Waldorf. Nearly all the population of 20602, and much of 20603, live in St. Charles (see separate article). The 20604 code is relatively new; data for 20601 are available from more than one secondary source. A few farms on the Prince Georges County side also have Waldorf addresses.
Waldorf is either named after the town of Walldorf, Germany, or has a similar derivation: that is, either a German word meaning "forest village," or named after the Waldenses, a 12th Century religious sect. Once a tobacco market village, it came to prominence in the 1950s as a gambling destination after slot machines were legalized in Charles County in 1949. The boom lasted until 1968 when gambling was once again outlawed. Its subsequent substantial growth as a residential community began with a 1970 loan package from the Department of Housing and Urban Development which fueled the giant planned community of St. Charles, south of Waldorf. (...) more....

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