Silver Spring, Maryland

Located in one of the most affluent areas in Maryland, Silver Spring takes its name from the mica-flecked spring first discovered by Francis Preston Blair. Blair fell in love with the area and built a summer home in what is now Silver Spring's downtown. The construction of a rail line linking the city to Washington, DC helped spur broader urban settlement towards the end of the 19th century.

Today's Silver Spring is perhaps best known as the home of Discovery Communications, the parent company of such channels as the Discovery Channel and Animal Planet. If you're inspired to "discover" things for yourself, there's Brookside Gardens – where you can see live butterfly shows – and the Audubon Naturalist Society.

Those who ascribe to retail therapy will be interested to note that Silver Spring was renown during the 50s and 60s as a center for retailing. And here's a fun fact: the Silver Spring Shopping Center, which was built in 1938, was apparently the first retailing center to include a parking lot – a revolutionary innovation at the time. Today, Downtown Silver Spring is undergoing a period of revitalization and historic preservation – $400 million in private, county, and state funds are being invested in the downtown core to help its shops, restaurants, and businesses.

And being a small community of 76,540, Silver Spring offers a number of annual fairs and festivals for its residents, including the annual Montgomery County Agricultural Fair.

For more information, see Washington, DC.

See our 13 Jobs in Silver Spring, Maryland