[5] According to an unconfirmed local story, the town was named by one Colonel Samuel Chapman, whose family owned 6,000 acres (24 km2) of land in Charles County.

[8] In 1904, the historic Christ Episcopal Church in Port Tobacco, which dates to 1683 and was reconstructed in 1884, was dismantled and its stones were then transported by oxen and cart to its current lot in La Plata.

[13] 2002On April 28, 2002, another F4 tornado cut a 24-mile-long (39 km) swath through Charles County, with areas around La Plata damaged most severely.

Local officials credited federal- and state-assisted new construction efforts with helping them to remodel the downtown area following the tornado,[14] as several new public buildings replaced some of those damaged there.

In the days after the tornado, help was provided by twenty-seven different jurisdictions, as well as the nearby Amish community in St. Mary's County.

From there, US 301 joins I-495 and US 50 east past Annapolis and crosses the Chesapeake Bay Bridge to the Eastern Shore of Maryland.

Maryland Route 6 is the main east-west highway serving La Plata, following Port Tobacco Road and Charles Street through town.

From La Plata, MD 6 heads west to Port Tobacco and continues east to Charlotte Hall.

Mount Carmel Monastery (1790), a Catholic convent, is just outside La Plata, near the main campus of the College of Southern Maryland.

[22] La Plata has county offices, the University of Maryland Charles Regional Medical Center, the main campus of the College of Southern Maryland, a community theater (Port Tobacco Players), a large outdoor athletic complex, two nursing homes, and a host of stores, churches, and restaurants, in addition to a twice-weekly farmers' market.

[24] Rosewick Road is connected with St. Charles Parkway to adjacent Waldorf, providing drivers an alternative to using U.S. Route 301.

The portion of town west of Route 301 is zoned for James Craik Elementary and Maurice J. McDonough High School.