Frederick sits in western Maryland, where a historic downtown of clustered church spires rises above Carroll Creek Park and Baker Park. Carroll Creek, once a flood prone stream, now runs through a linear park with bridges, public art, and gathering spaces that anchor downtown life. Monocacy National Battlefield lies just south of the city, preserving fields where a Civil War battle helped shape the road to Washington, and the National Museum of Civil War Medicine in downtown Frederick tells the human side of that history.