Annapolis, located on the banks of the Severn River in Maryland, has all the charm one would expect from a historic seaport. As America’s Sailing Capital, visitors will discover sailboats of all types line City Dock and breeze across Chesapeake Bay.

If you are new to the city your first stop should be the visitor center - just follow the signs off U.S. Highway 301 and 50. While here pick up attraction and restaurant brochures, along with a city map that identifies public parking lots and garages. A number of tour companies depart from the center, providing visitors a quick lay of the land.

Discover Annapolis Tours with air-conditioned trolley cars highlights the city’s history and key attractions while winding through narrow streets. For a more intimate presentation take one of the walking tours, some given by costumed interpreters from another era. This is a very comfortable city, especially if you’re wearing your favorite pair of sneakers.

While considered narrow by today’s standards, the streets, laid out during the late 1600s in baroque style by Royal Governor Nicholson, were appropriately wide for that time period. This odd layout may seem confusing but consider this: the two circles (streets) enclose two key elements of life. The larger circle atop the highest land surrounds the Maryland State House (their equivalent of a capitol) and the other surrounds St. Anne’s Church just down the hill. One local tour guide suggested these circles symbolize how government and the church revolved around the resident’s lives; another offered that the church circle being smaller and downhill played a lesser role than government. Interestingly more streets in this hub and spoke pattern lead to the church.

A HISTORY LESSON

Before being drawn to the water’s edge, how about a history lesson?

Governor Sir Francis Nicholson moved the capital of the province from the Catholic stronghold of St. Mary’s City in southern Maryland in 1694 to what was then Anne Arundel Town*. A year later the name was changed to Annapolis in honor of Princess Anne, daughter of King James II, who would later become queen.

Annapolis was the first city in the United States to be designated a national historic landmark district. According to the Historic Annapolis Foundation, the city has the largest collection of 18th century architecture in the United States with five-Georgian mansions, plus Victorian, beaux-arts, colonial revival, Tudor revival, craftsman, and American foursquare styles.

Places of interest in order of construction:

The Charles Carroll House, built in Georgian-style, stands next to St. Mary’s Roman Catholic Church off of Duke of Gloucester Street and overlooks Spa Creek and Eastport. It has been occupied by three generations of the Carroll family.

Charles Carroll, The Settler, the first generation of Carrolls to live in Maryland, served as the first attorney general. In 1706, he purchased property in what is now Annapolis where this family house would be built. As a Catholic, "The Settler" was unable to hold public office, however at the time of his death in 1720, he was considered the wealthiest and largest landholder in Maryland.

He was the grandfather of the one of four Marylanders, Charles Carroll of Carrollton (the only Catholic), who signed the Declaration of Independence in 1776. The Charles Carrolls fought for religious freedom.

While under restoration the Charles Carroll House, a national historic landmark, is open for tours on a limited basis - weekends from summer to fall.

At the foot of the Maryland State House within State Circle is the Old Treasury, the oldest public building still standing in the state. Built between 1735 and 1737, paper money was printed at this site to supplement existing forms of currency. The five employees worked only one day a week.

Restored by the Historic Annapolis Foundation, the William Paca House, another Georgian-style structure, was built between 1763 and 1765. Guided tours of the first floor of the five-part home are offered, along with self-guided tours of the gardens. Learn about Paca (a lawyer, signer of the Declaration of Independence, three-term governor of Maryland and later a judge) and his two wives, Mary and Ann Harrison. The two-acre garden showcases formal terraces, as well as a natural setting, and is landscaped with heirloom plants. The home and gardens are located at 186 Prince George Street.