Jill and I have been trying our hardest to find the time and place for an adventure, and it happened that September 10 in Annapolis was it! Her daughter Kayla was off school that day, so she got to join in the fun, too! Bright and early Monday morning, flowing with DC traffic, off we went! We got there in just over an hour--pretty impressive at rush hour, if I say so myself!--and set out to find the Visitor Center.
We got some information about the lay of the land, and since we had a while before our tour was to start (and for reasons that will remain a secret between me and the Goynes girls) went in search of a t-shirt for me. It's cute and tie-dyed and says "Annapolis, MD" down the side. =) Next stop: coffee! We found ourselves sitting in an adorable, historic-looking coffeehouse across from the Visitor Center, enjoying iced coffee drinks--well, Kayla had water and I had decaf, but Jill was exposed to the full experience!
Ok, now we're into the fun stuff! Did you know that Annapolis has the most remaining Colonial-era buildings in the nation? Who knew? Now we all know! The community was started in 1666 and was called Anne Arundel's Town, after Lord Baltimore's wife. The MD capitol was moved there in 1695 and renamed "Ana-polis," or as we call it now, "Annapolis." It was, of course, right on the water and quickly became a bustling port city, complete with taverns, businesses, and over 100 ships coming in and out of port each and every day.
First major stop: St. Anne's Church. It's one of the oldest parishes in the area (perhaps the oldest in the town), and the road system was literally designed around it. The roads make a figure 8 around the church and the capitol building. Pretty cool design, incredibly irritating for drivers. =) Also at St. Anne's, we looked at the cemetery. Of course lots of people are buried there, but the most interesting of them is Joseph Simmons, an ornery old man who was very influential in Annapolis and lived to be 100. The poor man suffered from narcolepsy, and he was buried alive three different times! The third time, his would-have-been widow heard her husband from inside the coffin and tried to stop the grave digger, but the guy just kept shoveling and told her, "If he's not dead yet, he oughtta be!" He got out, but as you could imagine, I'm sure it made for a rather awkward situation!
Next up, the Maryland State House! This is the oldest state house in the nation that has continually been in legislative use, and it even served as the Nation's capitol building for two years (1783 and 84). The September 1783 Treaty of Paris that ended the American Revolution was signed here, and George Washington resigned his military commission in December of 1783. They actually have a copy of the written resignation speech, and our guide pointed out the writing that had been scratched out instead of erased. She said George did that on purpose because he wanted people to see that he had put great thought and taken great pains in writing his speech. A mixture of lemon juice and milk would have erased the ink back then--which interested me because I'd always wondered how all those hand-written documents back in the day had looked so perfect!
The dome on the building is kind of an architectural marvel because it's made entirely of wood--no nails! It's a hexagon shape, so that's also kind of complicated as far as architecture, I guess. It's also haunted by Thomas Dance, one of the architects who was working on it from the inside and fell to his death. His family was never paid for his work because he didn't finish (ah!), and supposedly he's still around trying to finish the job and causing mischief. But the most interesting thing about this dome is that Thomas Jefferson and James Madison sat up inside the dome one evening, drinking with a local resident and getting the low-down on the people of Annapolis. Ha!
Outside the capitol was an old cannon that had been brought over in 1634 on the first ships to what's now Annapolis. It was fortunately never fired (the Indians were friendly), and recovered from the St. Mary's River in 1822. In 1970, a mischievous midshipman from the Naval Academy decided it would be awesome to give the cannon its first opportunity to be fired. He drilled a hole, loaded it up, lit it, and fired away down the street! Not sure what happened to him, but I could imagine he got in trouble! This is the hole he drilled:
And that makes for a fabulous segway to... the Naval Academy! Our guide made sure to get us there in time for the noon formation, which is their routine before going into lunch. I would definitely recommend a tour of the place. It's very historically significant, as far as meetings that have taken place there, it's got the largest dorm in the world, the place was used as a hospital during the Civil War, and John Paul Jones's remains are kept in a crypt below the church there. A few things I learned about John Paul Jones: he was a Scotsman, stood only 5'2", was a ladies' man, never lost a battle, received 70 medals, was buried under an apartment building in Paris before he was found in 1905 and sent to Annapolis to be buried, and he's the one whose famous quote is, "I have not yet begun to fight!"
I found it interesting that John Barry's name was never mentioned and I didn't see any monuments to him. There's a big statue in Philly that claims Barry was the father of the US Navy, but I've always heard more about Jones. Sounds like I have a mystery to solve for my own knowledge benefit. =)
They have a lot of traditions and rules to follow, along with going about their own studies. It's a very difficult school from an education standpoint, but their requirements there are also incredibly physically taxing. All the stuff you hear about regarding memorizing rule books, swimming 30 laps with your clothes on, jumping from an Olympic-sized high-dive, making your bed perfectly tight, not taking any shortcuts or walking on the grass, etc., etc., etc.... it's all true! The freshmen are "plebes," sophomores are "youngsters," juniors are "juniors," seniors are "firsties," and graduates are official "midshipmen." Terminology is important.
One more interesting thing about the Naval Academy: Did you know the superintendent's house is the second most visited building by foreign dignitaries? Second only to the White House. There's a random and unexpected fact for you. =)
On our way out, we saw Bill the Goat, the Navy mascot--quite ferocious! And then we made our way to the harbor to end our tour. And it's a good thing... we were all hungry and the restaurant where we wanted to eat happened to be at the harbor!
Middleton Tavern happens to be the oldest tavern still functioning in Annapolis, so of course that's where we had to go! I got the seafood crepe (which was pretty amazing!), and Kayla and Jill got a burger and a chicken sandwich. I think we got the major food groups in: cow, chicken, and bottom feeders. =) There's a special flag there that none of the three of us had seen before, but we found out it's call the John Shaw Flag, and it was first used in 1783. There are a couple of different interpretations of it, but this is the one from Middleton Tavern:
Sorry it's not a better view, but there were pesky people in the way from a better angle. ;) Still got 13 stars and stripes, but the stars have eight points instead of five, and there are seven white stripes and six red stripes--opposite of the current US flag.
With our full bellies and renewed energy, we set out in search of more fun sights to see and things to do! There were a couple of museums and giftshops we looked in, which were pretty neat, but we sort of wanted to see a lighthouse. We thought surely this major port city would have a cool, historic lighthouse to see. So we saw a couple of locals sitting on the docks, and I asked them--intentionally, in my best and most natural Southern accent--"Do y'all know if there's a lighthouse around here we can see?" (It may have sounded like, "laaathouse.")
Both ladies looked at us in confusion, "A what?"
I repeated, "A lighthouse?" (I suppose it perhaps sounded like "lothouse.")
Again with the look of confusion, and then, "You mean a lighthouse?"
I smiled as if nothing was amiss and said, "Yes ma'am."
She sort of looked at me funny, but at least now we were on the same page. She said, "Oh, well, not that you can see from here. If you go down the road on your way out you can see one farther out int he water." Or something to that effect.
As we walked away from earshot, I whispered to Jill and Kayla that I'd said it like that on purpose! HA! We all had to giggle at that. I really do get a kick out of my accent in times like these! =)
We walked around a bit more and got back to the car, but on the way out of the parking garage we decided to ask the cashiers if they knew where a lighthouse was located. (OK, it was partly for the giggle factor!) I asked, "Do y'all know where a lighthouse is?" (lothouse, laaathouse)
Again, puzzled looks. "Um, you mean the liquor store?"
HA! Again, we had to laugh and said no. I think they must have thought we were nuts. ;)
And then went on our way back to Virginia! I'd thought we'd be able to stay a bit longer, but I wasn't sure what else there was to do--we'd seen everything on our list, and I was sort of apprehensive about going back in rush hour traffic if we got back to DC at a certain time. I was actually quite surprised that it only took us a little over an hour to get back to their house!
I hope Jill and Kayla enjoyed the trip as much as I did! Thanks for coming with me, girls, and thank you to my readers for coming along in a different capacity! =)
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