Not A Sailor In Sight

In an effort to escape the direct heat of the Washington sun, we decided that it would be a good idea to avoid downtown and headed to Annapolis for the day. We figured being closer to Chesapeake Bay may cool us down. It didn't, but Annapolis was a great place to visit anyway. The photo below is of the Naval Academy's chapel dome from the Eastport area, where we had lunch at the Carrol's Creek Restaurant at the Annapolis City Marina. The chapel was built in 1904 at the highest point on the Academy's grounds. It houses the crypt of John Paul Jones, of "I have not yet begun to fight" fame, and the founder of the newly United States Navy in 1779. An honor guard stands duty at the crypt whenever it is open to the public.

In 1845, the War Department established the United States Naval Academy for the training of midshipmen to become naval officers to command the small and large ships of the fleet. Last Friday was graduation for the Class of 2006 and the place appears to be deserted but the buildings and the grounds were beautiful.

I don't know what I did here, but I seem to have fused two pictures together. This photo is of the Maryland State Building. It is the oldest state house, built in 1779, in continuous legislative use in the country. Even the Continental Congress met here from November 1783 to August 1784, where the Treaty of Paris, formally ending the Revolutionary War, was ratified. Early democracy had many homes.

As is our usual course of action when in a new town, we found a trolley tour so that we could see what was to be seen in Annapolis. Fortunately, the mini-bus was air conditioned which made us and our fellow travelers quite happy. Annapolis is a very walkable town because it is small and compact but the heat was oppressive so we confined ourselves to walking at the City Dock area, venturing up the hill toward the state house. We ended our walk with a stop at a local ice cream shop so we could cool off a bit before we headed home.

The above photo shows St. Mary's Church, a Gothic Revival style church, consecrated in 1860. In the foregroud is the Charles Carroll House. Charles Carroll was the only Roman Catholic signer of the Declaration of Independence and the wealthiest man in the Maryland colony. Because of his wealth, he was accepted by his Protestant neighbors. Carroll was the last surviving signer of the Declaration of Independence, dying at the age of 96 in 1832.

In 1952, the U. S. Treasury Department had 48 replicas of the Liberty Bell cast for each one of the states that had entered the union. Maryland's replica is installed at the St. John's College, the liberal arts college known for its curriculum based on the great books of Western civilization, including Plato, Aristotle, Einstein, Faulkner and our nation's founding documents. The graduates from this unique program generally go on for their Masters and PhD's.