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is a census-designated place (CDP) in Charles County, Maryland, United States named after Oliver Norris Bryan, a 19th century farmer and scientist who owned and operated Locust Grove Farm near Marshall Hall, Maryland. The area consisted mostly of tobacco farms until the establishment of the Naval Proving Grounds at Indian Head, Maryland in 1890. Some commercial establishments came about by the early 1920s, when the name
first appeared on maps. The construction of Maryland Route 210 (Indian Head Highway) during World War II brought new traffic. By the early 1960s, Bryans Road became an established bedroom community for both Indian Head and Washington, D.C..
The population was 4,912 people at the 2000 census. The Lund family owns much of the land at the main intersection of Bryans Road, and a shopping center at the community's main intersection includes supermarkets, gas stations, a small movie complex and assorted retail stores. Local residents commute to work at the Indian Head Naval Surface Weapons Center, while others commute to employment centers throughout the greater Washington, D.C. metropolitan area. The Marshall Hall Amusement Park operated beside a cruise boat landing on the Potomac River shore for 80 years, and the amusement park later closed during the 1970s. The Marshall Hall colonial manor home, next to the amusement park, burned down in 1981. In 1998, plans for a massive "Chapman's Landing" housing development during the 1990s were thwarted by the Maryland state government, which bought the property to preserve green space under its "smart growth" policy.
According to the United States Census Bureau, the CDP has a total area of 8.3 square miles (21.4 km²), all of which includes land. The central part of the community is now dominated by a large water tower just behind the fire department. At present, a cross-county connector road, linking Maryland Route 5 south of Waldorf with Indian Head Highway in Bryans Road, is undergoing review and construction to address emerging traffic issues along the Indian Head Highway (Maryland Route 210) corridor.