FREE! Annapolis Walking Tour

           

                    FREE! ANNAPOLIS  WALKING TOUR STOPS

Stop #1 – Kunta Kinte-Alex Haley Memorial

This monument documents the name of an African-American slave Kunta Kinte and the place of his arrival in Annapolis in 1767. The memorial was conceived and initiated by Leonard Blackshear, designed by Annapolitans Peter Tasi and Gary Schwertzler, and aided by artist Patricia McHold and writer Wiley Hall, III. This bronze statue of a seated Alex Haley reading to three small children was sculpted by Edward Dwight, a test pilot for the USAF, and the first African-American trained as an astronaut. Ten bronze plaques along Compromise Street and the Harbor offer stories and insights from the book Roots by Alex Haley. Located in the Market House Plaza is a bronze and granite, Compass Rose. Late in life sculptor Dwight received a Fine Arts Degree from the University of Denver. The Colorado figurative artist’s early work portrays the history of Jazz.

Learn about race relations in Annapolis from Colonial times to today.

Stop #2 –  Annapolis Harbor and Ego Alley

Where people show off the size of their boats.  City dock boat slip rentals.  Boat tours and the Water Taxi.  hear about Annapolis’ efforts to deal with Climate Change and Sea Level Rise.

Stop #3 – “Annapolis” Mural @ the Harbormaster Building 

Created by artist Sy Mohr in his signature “folk-naive” style, the mural’s myriad images make up a compendium of the City’s life. The oeuvre of the 91-year-old painter includes over 300 works illustrating everyday American life, including that of thirteen Maryland towns. It was commissioned by the Art in Public Places Commission in May 2007.

Stop #4 – Susan Campbell Park

Learn the forgotten story of  Providence, the first Annapolis.  The Battle of the Severn was a skirmish fought on March 25, 1655, on the Severn River at Horn Point, across Spa Creek from Annapolis, Maryland, in what at that time was referred to as the Puritan settlement of “Providence”, and what is now the neighborhood of Eastport. The capital of Maryland was moved from St. Mary’s to Ann Arundel Town in 1694, and Ann Arundel Town’s name was changed to Annapolis in 1695.  It was an extension of the conflicts that formed the English Civil War, pitting the forces of Puritan settlers against forces aligned with Lord Baltimore, then Lord Proprietor of the colony of Maryland. It has been suggested by Radmila May that this was the “last battle of the English Civil War.”

Stop #5 – Visitor Entrance to the United States Naval Academy

There’s only this one entrance and you will need a photo ID.

Stop # 6 – Commodore John Barry Plaque

Born in Wexford, Ireland, a sister city to Annapolis, Barry was an officer in the Continental Navy during the Revolutionary War and later in the U.S. Navy. He was appointed a Captain in the Continental Navy by George Washington on December 7, 1775, and was the first Captain placed in command of a U.S. warship. He shares the moniker of “Father of the American Navy” with Scotsman John Paul Jones. A plaque honoring him was unveiled by the Mayor of Wexford at the Prince Georges Street End Park in 2008. In 2013 the USNA dedicated the new visitor entrance along Prince George Street to Commodore John Barry.

Stop #7 – Prince George Street

Some of the finest Colonial homes in one of America’s largest Historic Landmark Districts.  And home to the finest B & B’s.

Stop #8 – Brice House

The Brice House is, along with the Hammond-Harwood House and the William Paca House, one of three similar preserved 18th-century Georgian brick houses in Annapolis. Like the Paca and Hammond-Harwood houses, it is a five-part brick mansion with a large central block and flanking pavilions with connecting hyphens. Of the three, the Brice House’s exterior is the most austere, giving its brickwork particular prominence. The Brice house was built by James Brice, who served as Mayor of Annapolis (1782–83 and 1787–88) and as acting Governor of Maryland in 1792. The house remained in the Brice family until 1874. The house was purchased by St. John’s College in the 1920s and was used as a faculty residence. In 1953 the house was acquired by Mr. and Mrs. Stanley S. Wohl, who undertook restorations in 1953 and 1957.

Archaeological excavations at the Brice House in 1998 uncovered hoodoo caches, spiritual offerings placed by African-American slaves who were house servants at the mansion.

The Brice House was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1970.

Stop # 9 – Paca House 

Learn about how the Historic Annapolis Foundation came to be through the preservation efforts to save the home of William Paca.

This five-part Georgian mansion was built in the 1760s by William Paca, one of Maryland’s four Signers of the Declaration of Independence and the state’s third Governor. Carefully restored by Historic Annapolis beginning in 1965, today it is recognized as one of the finest 18th-century homes in the country and a National Historic Landmark.

After marrying the wealthy Mary Chew in 1763, the young lawyer built a five-part brick house and terraced pleasure garden on two acres of land in Annapolis. The couple had three children, but only one of them survived to adulthood.  In addition to Paca family members, the mansion also housed a number of servants and slaves.

After William Paca sold it in 1780, the house continued as a single-family home until 1801, then served mainly as a rental property for much of the 19th century. In 1864, it was purchased by Catherine Steele Ray, a widow whose sons-in-law, both graduates of the nearby U.S. Naval Academy, fought on opposite sides in the Civil War.

National tennis champion William Larned bought the property in 1901 and converted it into a hotel, with a large addition attached to the back of the colonial house and extending over most of the old garden.  One African-American staff member, Marcellus Hall, came to personify the hotel’s famed hospitality for generations of guests. He started working as a bellboy in 1913 and retired as Superintendent of Services when Carvel Hall shut its doors for the last time in 1965.

Concerned that developers might tear down the home of a Signer of the Declaration of Independence, Historic Annapolis and the State of Maryland bought the Paca mansion and the rest of the Carvel Hall site in 1965.

The site was recognized as a National Historic Landmark in 1971.  Guided tours of the house, which feature period furnishings and paintings, reveal the inner workings of an upper-class household in colonial and revolutionary Annapolis.

The Historic Annapolis Foundation offers tours of the house and its spectacular Colonial garden.

Stop #10 – Hammond Harwood House

The Hammond–Harwood House is a historic house museum built in 1774 and is one of the premier colonial houses remaining in America from the British colonial period (1607–1776). It is the only existing work of colonial academic architecture that was principally designed from a plate in Andrea Palladio’s I Quattro Libri dell’Architettura (The Four Books of Architecture) (1570). The house was designed by the architect William Buckland in 1773–74 for wealthy farmer Matthias Hammond of Anne Arundel County, Maryland. Construction on the house began in, or around, April 1774, and a majority of the house was probably completed before the death of the architect in November or December of the same year. Matthias Hammond probably never occupied his elegant house because he abruptly left Annapolis for his family’s country estate in 1776. He died in 1786 after renting the house for many years.

The house passed to his nephews John and then Philip Hammond who eventually sold the house to Ninian Pinkney in 1810. Pinkney, however quickly sold the house to Judge Jeremiah Townley Chase in 1811. Judge Chase bought the house as a home for the family of his daughter Frances Townley Chase Loockerman. He was well acquainted with the house because he rented the northeast wing beginning in the late 1770s.

Judge Chase’s descendants lived in the house until the death of his great-granddaughter Hester Ann Harwood in 1924. Judge Chase’s granddaughter married William Harwood, the great-grandson of William Buckland, the architect of the house.

Hester Ann Harwood died intestate and the house was sold in 1926 to St. John’s College. The College used the house as a teaching tool for one of America’s first courses taught on the decorative arts until financial necessity forced the college to sell to the Hammond–Harwood House Association in 1940. This non-profit corporation continues to own the house and uses it as a museum that is open to the public.  Designated a National Historic Landmark in 1960.

Visit William Buckland’s architectural masterpiece featuring what is considered to be America’s finest Georgian door.

Stop #11 – Chase-Lloyd House

The Chase–Lloyd House is a historic house built in 1769-1774, it is one of the first brick three-story Georgian mansions to be built in the Thirteen Colonies, and is one of the finest examples of the style. Its interiors were designed by William Buckland.  Its construction was started for Samuel Chase, who would later be a signatory to the Declaration of Independence and Associate Justice of the Supreme Court, but Chase sold the building unfinished to Edward Lloyd IV in 1771. Lloyd completed the house in 1774 with assistance from Buckland and another architect, William Noke. The house remained in the Lloyd family until 1847 when it was sold back to descendants of Chase. In 1888 the house was bequeathed for use as a home for elderly women. It continues in this use today. While the upper floors are off-limits to visitors, the main floor and the extensive gardens are open to the public.

A separate structure to the rear called the Chase Annex, is a 19th-century addition.

The house was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1970.

Stop #12 – St. John’s College

St. John’s College is a private liberal arts college known for its distinctive curriculum centered on reading and discussing the Great Books of Western Civilization. It has two U.S. campuses: one in Annapolis, Maryland, and one in Santa Fe, New Mexico, both of which rank in the top 100 Best Liberal Arts Colleges according to the U.S. News & World Report website.

St. John’s College is one of the oldest institutions of higher learning in the United States. It traces its origins to King William’s School, a preparatory school founded in 1696, and received a collegiate charter under its present name in 1784. In 1937, it adopted a Great Books curriculum known as the New Program, based on a discussion of works from the Western canon of philosophical, religious, historical, mathematical, scientific, and literary works; it is probably for this program that the school is best known.

The school grants only one bachelor’s degree, in Liberal Arts. Two master’s degrees are available through the college’s Graduate Institute — one in Liberal Arts, and one in Eastern Classics.

Stop #13 – McDowell Hall

McDowell Hall was designed in 1742 as the Colonial Governor’s Mansion.  Known as “Bladen’s Folly,” the incomplete structure was left to deteriorate.  Thomas Jefferson in 1766 observed that in Annapolis “they have no public building worth mentioning except a Governor’s House, the hull of which after being nearly finished, they have suffered to go to ruin.”  In 1784 St. John’s College acquired the building and completed construction for use as the classroom, dormitory, and administrative college building. McDowell Hall was restored after a fire partially gutted it in 1909.

This 250-year-old, 23,000-square-foot building had received little attention since its 1909 restoration. The multi-use six-story building had only one interior stair and no fire suppression.

Installation of new services was completely concealed throughout the building. This 1989 restoration was completed within one year at a cost of $2,500,000.  This six-story brick building includes 23,000 square feet of space for classrooms, assembly, and student union with a small food service facility.  All interior woodwork and plaster cove moldings were restored.  All necessary “modern” fixtures such as smoke detectors, sprinkler heads, and lighting have been seamlessly integrated into the historic building.

The result was recognized by the 1991 Preservation Award of the Maryland Historical Trust, and the 1990 Award for Excellence in Architecture from the American Institute of Architects.

Stop #14 – St. John’s War Memorial

This monument, sponsored by the Alumni Association and dedicated in 1920, commemorates the 452 alumni who served and 24 who died in World War I. It is a bronze tablet on a limestone stele designed by Baltimore sculptor Hans Schuler and features the 1696 Alma Mater phrase “for civilization, liberty, country.”

Stop #15 – Philadelphia Liberty Bell

Along College Avenue is a replica of the Philadelphia Liberty Bell, one of the 48 reproductions that were cast in copper by the U.S. Treasury Department in 1950 to promote the sale of defense bonds. Its inscription urges citizens to “dedicate ourselves, as our founding fathers did, to the principles of individual freedom for which our nation stands”. The replica sits on a base purchased with the pennies contributed by children of Anne Arundel County.

Stop #16 – Maryland Avenue

Stroll down one of Annapolis’ most well-preserved Colonial streets lined with antique stores and quaint shops and restaurants.

Stop #17 – State House 

The Maryland State House is located in Annapolis and is the oldest state capitol in continuous legislative use, dating to 1772. It houses the Maryland General Assembly and offices of the Governor and Lieutenant Governor. The capitol has the distinction of being topped by the largest wooden dome in the United States constructed without nails. The current building, which was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1960, is the third statehouse on its site. The building is administered by the State House Trust, established in 1969.

Stop #18 – Old Treasury Building

The Old Treasury Building on State Circle was built in 1735 as a treasury for the Commissioners for Emitting Bills of Credit.  It is the oldest public building in Annapolis.

View America’s first treasury, and one of the oldest buildings in America.

Stop #19 – Government House (Governor’s Mansion)

See where Governor Wes Moore, the first African-American to be elected Governor of Maryland, lives with and his family.

Stop #20 –  Lawyer’s Mall 

The place where lobbyists work their magic and the people of Maryland come to protest.

Stop #21 – Statue of Thurgood Marshall

Dedicated in 1996 to the first African-American Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, Baltimore-born Thurgood Marshall, this bronze statue is the work of Maryland-based sculptor Antonio Tobias (“Toby”) Mendez, also known for his depictions of stars of the Baltimore Orioles baseball team. He is the son of retired CIA agent and painter Tony Mendez, whose exploits in gaining the freedom of American hostages in Iran were celebrated in the film “Argo.”  The memorial also commemorates the famous Brown v Board of Education Decision that desegregated schools in America.

Maryland State Capital and Legislative Buildings 

Learn about how Maryland’s government works.

Stop #22 – The Annapolis Fountain

This Victorian-style fountain was dedicated by Governor William Donald Schaefer in 1994 in honor of Hilda Mae Snoops, the Governor’s House Hostess. Designed by the Annapolis firm Graham Landscape Architects, the three-tier fountain depicts images that represent the State…corn, tobacco, crabs, terrapins, and the Baltimore Oriole.

Stop #23 – Church Circle

Southgate Fountain

This memorial to Rector William Scott Southgate, who served St. Anne’s Parish for 30 years until his death in 1899, consists of a limestone cross with a lion’s head through whose mouth water is conveyed to a horse watering trough. Funded by the citizens of Annapolis through a lottery, it was designed by T. Roland Brown, dedicated in 1902, and restored in 2007.

Stop #24 – St. Anne’s Church

Church Courtyard

Many of the leaders of the Maryland colony are buried in the church’s courtyard (circa 1692), their graves marked by simple (and often unusual) stones).  (Look Down Northwest Street)  The elaborate mausoleums in St. Anne’s Cemetery hold the remains of many of the City’s elite from its earliest days to its recent past, including mayors, dignitaries of the Episcopal Church, college presidents, scholars, and veterans of the War of 1812.

Interior

Within the church’s sanctuary (its third built after a fire in 1858 destroyed its predecessor) are a number of works of artistic distinction.  The stone altar and baptismal font were created by William Henry Rinehart.  Bavarian woodcarver William Kirchmayer is responsible for the 1920 reredos ( ornamental screens covering the wall at the back of an altar).

Stained Glass Windows

Two of the church’s windows are from Tiffany Studios. One showing St. Anne Instructing the Young Virgin Mary was initially part of the firm’s exhibit on display at the celebrated 1893 Chicago World’s Columbian Exposition. The other, a demi-lune transom dating from 1914, portrays the Angel of the Resurrection.

 Other windows by named makers are New York firm Heingket and Bowen’s depiction of Christ Quieting the Wind and Waters (c. 1900) and two windows made around 1910 by the German firm of Mayer and Co. showing Christ in the Temple and the Visit of the Virgin Mary to St. Elizabeth.

St. Anne’s Church Cemetery          * Not an official tour stop

Stop #25 – Duke of Gloucester Street

Dog Street is lined with stately homes, lawyers’ offices, and churches.

Stop #26 – City Hall Mural

“Wings & Sails”

This is a permanent mural showcasing the City’s maritime heritage by Maryland artist Stewart White.  It was commissioned by the Art in Public Places Commission in 2000.

• The FREE! Annapolis Walking Tour is about 2 miles long and will take 2.5 hours.

• The art portion of the text in this brochure is taken entirely from the catalog “Art in Public Places”, a commission of the City of Annapolis in November 2000, to enhance the public art environment and to encourage national recognition of Annapolis as a destination center for the arts.  The brochure was written by the former Mayor of Annapolis, Ellen Moyer.

• For more detailed information about these and other artists around the Capital city, please check out:   www.annapolis.gov/ArtTour

  FUN BUT FORGOTTEN ANNAPOLIS HISTORY

• Annapolis was the “next step” city where the French and American troops mustered at St. John’s College in 1781 before heading to Yorktown, Virginia where the final battle of the Revolutionary War was fought and where the British surrendered.
• Annapolis was the first peacetime capital of the United States after the Revolutionary War in 1783.
• George Washington resigned from the military, thus preserving civilian rule, in the old Senate chambers in the Maryland State House.
• The Treaty of Paris, formally ending the Revolutionary War, was ratified in the Maryland Inn in Annapolis.
• James Monroe served in Congress in Annapolis.
• Thomas Jefferson was appointed as minister to France in Annapolis.
• American President, Thomas Mifflin, accepted Washington’s resignation, signed the ratified Treaty of Paris, and issued Jefferson’s French appointment, from the Maryland governor’s mansion that stood where the home of the Superintendent of the United States Naval Academy now stands, making Mifflin the only American president to serve in Annapolis.
• James Madison and Alexander Hamilton called for a new Constitution from Mann’s Tavern in Annapolis.
• Prior to the work in Annapolis between 1783-1787, Congress was only one unicameral body, not two with the House & Senate); the President held a seat in the legislature like a Prime Minister; there were no political parties and were frowned upon by the Founding Fathers; and when the first constitution, known as the Articles of Confederation, prevented Congress from levying taxes or going into debt.  The United States consisted of mini nation-states united by and dependent on a less powerful Congress that arranged internal trade, and external commerce, and facilitated the nation’s mutual defense.  It closely resembled today’s European Union.
• Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and ten other delegates from five states wrote a formal report to Congress on September 14, 1786, from Mann’s Tavern in Annapolis, explaining how the inability of Congress to raise revenue would result in the default of American war debts.  This report precipitated the Constitutional Convention and the ultimate passage of the Constitution in 1789.
• The historic Mann’s Tavern, where much of America’s post-revolutionary War history was crafted, is now a parking lot behind Chick & Ruth’s Deli.                                                                                                                    — Fun Facts is taken from Mark Croatti’s story entitled, “George Washington Slept Here …                          and so did many other future — and past — presidents” which appeared in the                                            February 2018 edition of What’s Up Annapolis