Saint Mary's City and Annapolis MD

This is the top of the Maryland State Capitol building in Annapolis. This building was build in the late 1600's when the capitol was moved here from St. Mary's City in the southern part of the colony. This building served not only as the capitol for Maryland, both colony and state, but was the capitol for the United States for a few months after the War of Independence.















We had a two hour walking tour of Annapolis. This is in the State Capital Building. It is a room with George Washington posed. The only time George was in the State Capital Building in Annapolis is when he resigned from the Continental Army.

A beautiful ship's mural along the entrance wall to The Annapolis Naval Military Academy. We had a two hour walking tour of Annapolis which included an hour on the grounds of the academy.

This is a bust of John Paul Jones which is in the elaborate crypt underneath the Chapel on the Naval Academy grounds where his body is buried after it was found in a graveyard in France and move here early in the 1900's. He is honored for his leadership of our Navy during the War of Independence.

The front of the Chapel on the Academy grounds. The Tiffany Glass Windows are in hues of "blue and yellow" and shimmer throughout the chapel.

In the back of the Chapel on campus is a huge ship's model hanging from the ceiling. The windows are Tiffany stained glass depicting stories of "fishermen" of the sea. The candle in the center of the pews is a memorial for the " sailors" currently serving our country.

Class is out and the midshipmen are walking around the campus grounds. While we were touring one of the buildings a 2008 graduating midshipman (woman) saw me looking at some of the student photos and pointed out to me some of the leadership staff whom she really respected and encouraged her along the way. I wished her well as we continued on the tour.

"Bill" the Billy Goat is the mascot for the Army Navy football games.

This is the original crest for the early Maryland settlement. The current state flag retains the design shown in the shield representing the coats of arms from Lord Baltimore's family and his wife's family.

Visited Saint Mary's City which was an early English settlement. Capt. John Smith arrived in the Chesapeake Bay area 400 years ago. Lord Baltimore was granted land in the "new world" which was called "Maryland", the hope was to find gold or silver but alas they found Indians and the cash crop "tobacco". The Indian Village was soon to be abandoned for territories further up north for "fur trade" so the English settlers were met with a helpful "tribe" who taught the English settlers how to survive on the land and traded "guns" for learning how to live off the land, grow corn and later tobacco.

This docent was explaining how the New English settlers bartered and traded supplies that came in from the ships arriving from England

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Saint Mary's City was settled by "Catholics" and this is a reconstruction of the first Catholic Church on the original foundation. The land grant was built on the philosophy of "tolerance" of religious practices.