Good examples of the Bungalow, Foursquare, Tudor Revival, and Queen Anne styles are present, as well as older traditional vernacular classifications such as the I-house.

Despite the intense development a mile away in Piney Orchard, this quaint community retains its ability to communicate its historic qualities and distinct sense of place.

A station, known as Patuxent, was established in 1872 and three years later, the name of Woodwardville was given to the emerging village when a post office opened in the Abram G. Woodward General Store.

The Maryland Directory of that year lists a machinist, shoemaker, blacksmith, wheelwright, miller, attorney, and physician in the town, in addition to A. G. Woodward as postmaster and seller of general merchandise.

The general store, which unfortunately does not survive, due to arson vandalism, was located on the west side of the road, just south of where 5th Avenue runs under the railroad track.

The empty structure of the A.D. Riden Hardware Store and Office, a molded concrete block building built in the 1920s, still remains at the northern end of town.

From the 1920s to the 1950s, the Salvation Army maintained a fresh air summer camp near Woodwardville for low income women and children who lived in Washington.

Among the many recreational opportunities were a swimming pool, playground, baseball field, volleyball court, and “various drills and games.” In the late 1920s, groups of 75 to 90 girls and boys and their mothers arrived by train and enjoyed a free, 10-day vacation.

The Salvation Army hoped that these measures would “send them back rebuilt in body and spirit and much more able to face the problems which confront them for the balance of the summer.” During the Depression, charitable donations to support the camp were fewer.

The architectural character of Woodwardville's surviving buildings, its setting, and physical arrangement evoke a palpable image of late-19th century rural villages that once were typical on the Anne Arundel County landscape.