Annapolis tourist information

Colonial & early United States (1649-1808) A settlement named Providence was founded on the north shore of the Severn River in 1649 by Puritan exiles from Virginia, led by William Stone. The settlers moved to a better-protected harbor on the south shore and the town bore in succession the names of Town at Proctor's, Town at the Severn, Anne Arundel's Towne after the wife of Lord Baltimore who died soon afterwards.

The city became very wealthy through the slave-trade. It was only in 1694 when Sir Francis Nicholson moved the capital of the royal colony there, soon after the overthrow of the Catholic government of the lord proprietor, that the town received the name which is holds today, Annapolis, named for Princess Anne, soon to be the monarch of Great Britain; but it was not until 1708 that it was incorporated as a city. From the middle of the 18th century until the War of Independence, Annapolis was noted for its wealthy and cultivated society. The Maryland Gazette, which became an important weekly journal, was founded by Jonas Green in 1745; in 1769 a theatre was opened; during this period also the commerce was considerable, but declined rapidly after Baltimore, in 1780, was made a port of entry, and oyster-packing became the city's only important industry. Currently Annapolis is home to a large number of recreational boats that have largely replaced the seafood industry in the city.

Annapolis became the temporary capital of the United States after the signing of the Treaty of Paris in 1783. Congress was in session in the state house here from November 26, 1783 to June 3, 1784, and it was here on December 23, 1783 that General Washington resigned his commission as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army.

In 1786 a convention, to which delegates from all the states of the Union were invited, was called to meet in Annapolis to consider measures for the better regulation of commerce; but delegates came from only five states (New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, New Jersey, and Delaware), and the convention -- known afterward as the "Annapolis Convention" -- without proceeding to the business for which it had met, passed a resolution calling for another convention to meet at Philadelphia in the following year to amend the Articles of Confederation. By this Philadelphia convention, the present Constitution of the United States was framed.In 1808 the importation of slaves was prohibited by the Congress.(The ancestors of Alex Haley were deported from Gambia to Annapolis.)

Civil War era (1849-late 1800s)
During this period, a Parole Camp was set up in Annapolis. As the war continued, the camp expanded to a larger location just outside of the city. The area is still referred to as Parole.

The city was also the location of a major hospital where wounded Union (and captured Confederate) soldiers could be brought by ship to be treated.

Contemporary (1900s to present)
To the north of the state house is a monument to Thurgood Marshall, the first black justice of the US Supreme Court and formerly a Maryland lawyer who won many important civil rights cases.

Close by are the state treasury building, erected late in the 17th century for the House of Delegates; Saint Anne's Protestant Episcopal church, in later colonial days a state church, a statue of Roger B. Taney (by W.H. Rinehart), and a statue of Baron Johann de Kalb.

There are a number of residences of 18th century architecture, and the names of several of the streets--such as King George's, Prince George's, Hanover, and Duke of Gloucester--recall the colonial days. The United States Naval Academy was founded here in 1845. Annapolis is the seat of St. John's College, a non-sectarian institution supported in part by the state; it was opened in 1789 as the successor of King William's School, which was founded by an act of the Maryland legislature in 1696 and was opened in 1701. Its principal building, McDowell Hall, was originally intended for a governor's mansion; although £4000 current money was appropriated for its erection in 1742, it was not completed until after the War of Independence.

On September 26th to 27th, 2003, Hurricane Isabel created the largest storm surge in Annapolis history, cresting at 7.58 feet, which easily surpassed the prior record from the 1933 hurricane of 6.35 and the 5.5 feet recorded during Hurricane Hazel in 1954. As a result, much of downtown Annapolis was flooded and many businesses and homes in outlying areas were damaged.