It has remained a trading, commercial and governmental hub of a rich agricultural area. A disastrous fire destroyed the original downtown in 1893 but, fortunately, many of the historic homes and public buildings remain. Its appearance of quiet elegance and tree-lined streets contrast with the bustle of county business. Now a living history museum, it recreates daily life during the mid-nineteenth Century. From 1828 to 1850, the Nassawango Iron Furnace was in its heyday.
People are friendly and the pace of life is easy.
The village of Berlin began in the 1790s around the original 300 acre 1677 land grant that became Burley Plantation. The town's Main Street was originally part of the path connecting the Assateague Indians with the neighboring Pocomoke tribe. In colonial times the path became the Philadelphia Post Road, the main travel route up the shore to the centers of commerce to the north and west. In the early 1900s Berlin's bustling commercial and tourist business supported more hotels than neighboring Ocean City. Today the downtown commercial and residential area is a locally-designated historic district.