1. Capitol College
City: Laurel, MD
Category: Education
Telephone: (301) 369-2800, (800) 950-1992
Address: 11301 Springfield Road
Description: This college opened in 1927 as a correspondence school called the Capitol Radio Engineering Institute. Today, the private college champions “teaching tomorrow’s technology,” and awards bachelor’s and associate’s degrees in communications and engineering, including programs in telecommunications management, computer engineering, optoelectronics, and engineering technology. The college is among only 2 percent to receive the National Security Agency’s designation as a Center of Excellence in Information Assurance Education. The majority of students are professionals. The school takes pride in the fact that 98 percent of graduates receive job offers in their chosen fields within 90 days after graduation. Capitol is situated on a 52-acre campus in Laurel, a Prince George’s County community between Washington and Baltimore.
2. Laurel Regional Hospital
City: Laurel, MD
Category: Health Care
Telephone: (301) 725-4300
Address: 7300 Van Dusen Road
Description: Laurel Regional Hospital (formerly Greater Laurel Beltsville Hospital) is a private, nonprofit, 146-bed facility located in the heart of the Baltimore-Washington corridor, close to the Washington, D.C. line, the Capital Beltway, and the Baltimore-Washington Parkway. Open since 1978, the hospital offers the full spectrum of medical, surgical, and testing services, a 24-hour emergency room that sees some 34,000 patients annually, intensive care and coronary-care units, substance-abuse treatment programs, a maternal and child-health unit, a mental-health unit, and a comprehensive rehabilitation program. Because it is so conveniently located, the hospital is able to serve residents of Prince George’s, Montgomery, Anne Arundel, and Howard Counties.
3. The Gardens Ice House
City: Laurel, MD
Category: Parks & Recreation
Telephone: (301) 953-0100
Address: 13800 Old Gunpowder Road
Description: The huge indoor facility—the largest of its kind in the region—features three rinks: one Olympic-size (200-by-100-feet) and two NHL-size (200-by-85-feet). The Patrick Rink and Exhibition Center seats 1,500 spectators. The site also houses a Wellness for Life Fitness Center and a cafe. Public skating times vary daily, but Fridays from 8 to 10 p.m. generally feature a light show and disc jockey, and on the third Sunday of each month, visitors can skate with a costumed mascot from 1 to 3 p.m. The rinks host numerous hockey events. Olympic gold medalist Scott Hamilton’s former coach, Donald Laws, directs the figure-skating program, in which Olympic-caliber athletes like Michael Weiss train.
4. Silver Diner
City: Laurel, MD
Category: Restaurants
Telephone: (301) 604-6995
Address: 14550 Baltimore Avenue
Description: This is a Washington-based chain that looks like an old-time diner. The Rockville Silver Diner sits at the edge of a busy shopping center and is almost always crowded. Breakfasts and desserts are tops here, with the rest being pretty standard stuff. In keeping with the diner theme, there’s meatloaf and mashed potatoes, burgers and shakes, and humongous sandwiches. Waffles and French toast are great here and can be had at any time of the day. The 3 a.m. closing time on weekends makes Silver Diner a favorite stop for night owls. There are also seven Silver Diners in Virginia. Silver Diner is open for breakfast, lunch, and dinner daily.
5. Laurel Department Of Parks And Recreation
City: Laurel, MD
Category: Retirement
Telephone: (301) 725-7800
Address: 8103 Sandy Spring Road
Description: Senior programming and meetings of senior-oriented organizations like AARP and the Retired Senior Volunteer Program take place at the Phelps Senior Citizens Center, 701 Montgomery Street, (301) 776-6168. Other sites around the city also host classes, workshops, exercise programs, and day trips for seniors.
6. National Wildlife Visitor Center
City: Laurel, MD
Category: Tours & Attractions
Telephone: (301) 497-5772
Description: There’s a wildlife research facility amid the din of Metro Washington? Indeed. This agency of the U.S. Department of the Interior conducts vital investigations involving a variety of endangered species. It’s open from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. daily, November through mid-March, and until 5:30 p.m. mid-March through October. It is closed December 25. Admission is free, but there’s an overall charge for guided tram tours through the woods. (See Kidstuff for more information.)
7. National Wildlife Visitor Center
City: Laurel, MD
Category: Tours & Attractions
Telephone: (301) 497-5760
Address: 10901 Scarlet Tanager Loop
Description: Budding naturalists will have fun pushing buttons and playing with interactive videos in exhibits that focus on global environmental problems, habitats, endangered species, and life cycles. A guided electric tram tour travels through the woods and around the lake of the surrounding Patuxent Research Refuge (described further in our Attractions chapter), operated by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Tram tickets are $3 for teens and adults, $2 for seniors 55 and older, and $1 for children 12 and younger.