Maryland’s colonial capital, a walkable town of beautiful buildings and venerable traditions, Annapolis is situated right on the Chesapeake Bay, and makes for a memorable day trip from Washington D.C. Come with me, an erstwhile General Assembly page, on a full-day ramble to this beautiful city.

I will pick you up at your D.C. area hotel or an agreed meeting place, and we will head north toward the Chesapeake Bay for this full-day adventure.

We begin with a walking tour of the colonial heart of the city, which was founded in 1694. We will visit the Maryland State House, whose unique wooden dome is visible across the city. Completed in 1772, it is the oldest state capitol building in continuous use. The Continental Congress, our first national government, met here in 1782 and 1783, and special exhibits remember their ratification of the treaty here that ended the American Revolution, and George Washington’s resignation of his commission as the Continental Army’s commander in chief.

We will stop by Saint Anne’s Church on nearby Church Circle. The church was founded in the seventeenth century, and the current Neo Gothic building includes a Tiffany window and a set of communion silver donated by King William III. We will continue to the Banneker-Douglass-Tubman Museum, Maryland’s state museum of African-American history, named for three famous nineteenth century figures, all native Marylanders.

We’ll share lunch together at a unique local spot: either Chick and Ruth’s Delly (where the sandwiches are all named for famous Maryland politicos) or seafood down by the harbor (travelers pay for their own lunches). A stroll along the waterfront, with its array of sailboats and larger vessels, will follow.

We continue to the Naval Academy, our second oldest federal service academy, which has been educating midshipmen for service in the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps since 1845. I’ll point out spots associated with colorful school traditions, and we’ll visit the grand academy chapel, where John Paul Jones, founder of the U.S. Navy, is interred in a tomb built from 19 tons of black and white marble. If time permits, we will also visit the excellent Naval Academy Museum, which contains two floors of exhibits on the history of sea power in the United States.

Next is nearby Saint John’s College, one of our nation’s oldest institutions of higher education, which features a unique Great Books curriculum. We continue to the Hammond-Harwood House, one of North America’s finest examples of late Colonial architecture. The five-part Palladian house, built for a prominent local planter in the early 1770’s, is notable for its elaborate woodcarving and paintings by famous early American artists.

This ramble includes admission to all museums. Some Annapolis museums are not open every day, especially in the winter, and access to the Naval Academy is sometimes restricted by events on campus. I will aim to provide suitable alternatives if all locations cannot be visited on a given ramble.

Please contact me directly to arrange rambles for groups larger than seven.