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Survey of Historic Sites and Buildings

	COLONIAL ANNAPOLIS HISTORIC DISTRICT Maryland	Hammond-Harwood House
Anne Arundel County; the area bounded by Spa Creek, Duke of Gloucester Street, Church Circle, College Avenue, and King George, Hanover, Randall, and Prince George Streets; Annapolis. Annapolis Historic Annapolis Foundation

Ownership and Administration. Various.

Significance. Although visited by Capt. John Smith in 1608, the Annapolis area was not settled for a few decades. In 1649, the same year that Lord Baltimore's Religious Toleration Act made Maryland a haven for nonconformists, about 300 dissatisfied Puritans emigrated from Virginia to the mouth of the Severn River, near the site of Annapolis. Soon afterward some of them settled at the site—which until 1695 they gave various names, including Proctor's Landing, Arundelton, Severn, and Anne Arundel Town. In that year they renamed it Annapolis in honor of Princess Anne, Protestant daughter of James II.

The year before, the town had been designated the capital of Maryland in place of St. Marys City. A political and mercantile center, the town also had an active social and cultural life. Merchants and planters built elegant homes and entertained legislators. Theaters, horseraces, and taverns provided entertainment. After the turn of the 18th century the affluence of Annapolis increased and during the War for Independence reached its pinnacle. Near the end of the war the Continental Congress met in the Maryland State House, where in 1783 George Washington resigned his commission. Soon after that period, Baltimore began to gain the ascendency as the commercial center of Maryland.

Colonial Annapolis Historic District is a Registered National Historic Landmark relating primarily to architecture and to the development of commerce and industry.

William Paca House & Garden. Courtesy, Historic Annapolis Foundation.

Present Appearance. More brick buildings predating the War for In dependence are preserved in Annapolis than in any other U.S. city, thanks in part to the efforts of Historic Annapolis, Inc., which has long been active in protecting the historic residential and harbor areas. The Historic District incorporates much of the original town, one of the first planned cities in the United States. The dominant State Circle and ancillary circle on the west, Church Circle, lie at the heart of the modified radial plan. The streets radiate roughly north and east from the two circles.

Most of the historic buildings date from the 18th century. Some of the more important are as follows: Maryland State House (in its own right a Registered National Historic Landmark and described separately elsewhere in this volume); Hammond-Harwood House (eligible for the Registry of National Historic Landmarks relating primarily to the development of the English colonies); Chase-Lloyd House; Old Treasury Building; William Reynolds Tavern; William Paca House; Peggy Stewart House; Christopher Hohne-Holland House; and the Brice House. Several buildings, including the Werntz House and the Maryland Inn, are associated from an architectural standpoint with the period of history treated in this volume.

NHL Designation: 06/23/65