Friday, December 1, 2017

Historic St. Mary's City Blog #4: The First State House and Abandonment

Tom and Rob behind the state house
In this fourth blog about our trip to Maryland's historic first capital city "St. Mary's City" you'll learn about Maryland's first state house. 

A CAPITAL FOR 61 YEARS: St. Mary's City became the capital of the new Maryland colony and remained so for sixty one years until 1694. The first Maryland assembly met there in 1635 or 1635.  Maryland governor Sir Francis Nicholson relocated the capital to Annapolis (then called "Anne Arundel Town") in 1695.

1676: ORIGINAL BRICK MARYLAND STATEHOUSE CONSTRUCTED
In 1676, the original Maryland Statehouse, the home of the Maryland colonial assembly, was finished. The reconstructed Maryland Statehouse stands on this site today
A reconstruction of the 1st State House

A TOWN ABANDONED:  Once the State House was moved to Annapolis in 1695 and the seat of government was gone, the town lost its reason to exist. Remaining inhabitants were mostly farmers. The former town center was converted to agricultural land and archaeological remains from the colonial town were undisturbed in the ground.

NEXT: The City during the Civil War and Making an Historic Landmark




Who I am

I'm a simple guy who enjoys the simple things in life, especially our dogs. I volunteer for dog rescues, enjoy exercising, blogging, politics, helping friends and neighbors, participating in ghost investigations, coffee, weather, superheroes, comic books, mystery novels, traveling, 70s and 80s music, classic country music,writing books on ghosts and spirits, cooking simply and keeping in shape. You'll find tidbits of all of these things on this blog and more. EMAIL me at Rgutro@gmail.com - Rob

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