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At the center of ANNAPOLIS , overlooking
the town's baroque web of streets, the Maryland State
House (daily 9am-5pm, tours at 11am & 3pm; free)
was completed in 1779 and soon after served as an early capitol
of the US. It remains the oldest state house still in use. The
Old Senate Chamber , to the right of the grand
entrance hall, is where the Treaty of Paris was ratified in 1784,
officially ending the Revolutionary War; a statue of George Washington
stands on the spot where he resigned his commission as head of
the Continental Army, and displays document the role Annapolis
played in the life of the young Republic. Free guided tours are
given twice a day, or you can wander around on your own, perhaps
stopping by to listen to the proceedings of Maryland's current
crop of legislators, who hold court from January to April in the
more modern wing to the north of the old building. Also on the
grounds of the State House is the cottage-sized Old Treasury
Building , built in 1735 to hold colonial Maryland's
currency reserves.
Many grand late eighteenth-century brick homes line
the streets of Annapolis, but for substance and grace none surpasses
the Hammond-Harwood House , two blocks west of
the State House at 19 Maryland Ave, off King George Street (Mon-Sat
10am-4pm, Sun noon-4pm; $5 including tour). The warm redbrick
Palladian villa, which consists of two symmetrical wings connected
by a central hall, was built in 1774 to the designs of William
Buckland, and is most notable for its beautifully carved decorative
woodwork, especially evident in the intricate front doorway. Despite
its architectural harmony, the house has had an unfortunate history,
the architect himself becoming so obsessed with its construction
that his fianc?e left him, breaking his heart and causing his
untimely death at the age of 38; the original owner also died
in mysterious circumstances before the house was completed.
Another historic Annapolis mansion, the 1765 William
Paca House , 186 Prince George St (March-Dec Mon-Sat
10am-4pm, Sun noon-4pm; Jan-Feb Fri & Sat 10am-4pm, Sun noon-4pm;
$8 including tour), was a downmarket rooming house until the 1960s;
it was restored to its period appearance in time for the 1976
Bicentennial; the interior is decorated in warm rich colors and
fancy furniture, while the splendid formal garden, which you can
peer into from King George Street, is being constantly landscaped
and boasts an impressive viewing pavilion.
Besides such elite manors, dozens of pastel eighteenth-century
clapboard cottages and commercial structures fill the narrow streets
that run down to the waterfront. Of those that have escaped the
gentrifiers, the Tobacco Prise House , 4 Pinkney
St (by appointment, tel 410/267-7619; $2), is a colonial tobacco
warehouse that now sets out to explain the handling and storage
of the valuable leaves. Further along, the Shiplap House
, 18 Pinkney St (Mon-Fri 2-4pm; free), was built in 1715 as a
tavern; now it's a small museum of Annapolis history, with a herb
garden to the rear containing assorted medicinal plants grown
in colonial times.
