Qualla: Annapolis

Annapolis: Introduction

Mon, 01 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Rdsmith4, CC BY-SA 2.5. On December 23, 1783, in the Maryland State House on a hill above the Annapolis harbor, George Washington stood before the Confederation Congress and resigned his commission as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army. He had won the war. He could have, by most assessments of the day, taken nearly any office he wanted. Instead he handed his commission back to the elected civilian government and went home to Mount Vernon. The room where Washington stood is preserved in the state house, with markers showing where he and the delegates stood. A month later, on January 14, 1784, the Congress meeting in that same building ratified the Treaty of Paris ending the Revolutionary War. For nine months, between November 1783 and August 1784, Annapolis was the temporary capital of the United States. The Maryland State House, completed in 1772, is still in continuous legislative use - the oldest state capitol building in the country still serving its original purpose.

Read more: Annapolis on Qualla

Image: Rdsmith4 | CC BY-SA 2.5

Annapolis: Providence Becomes Annapolis

Mon, 01 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Joshua Davis from United States of America, CC BY-SA 2.0. Puritan exiles from Virginia, led by William Stone, established a settlement called Providence on the north shore of the Severn River in 1649. They moved to a better-protected harbor on the south shore not long after. In 1655, in what is called the Battle of the Severn, Parliamen...

Read more: Annapolis on Qualla

Image: Joshua Davis from United States of America | CC BY-SA 2.0

Annapolis: Capital of Slave Ships and Senators

Mon, 01 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Andrij Bulba, CC BY 2.0. Annapolis spent the 18th century as a political and administrative capital, a port of entry, and a major center of the Atlantic slave trade. Ships bringing enslaved Africans landed at the City Dock, the same harbor where George Washington's resignation was witnessed by townspeopl...

Read more: Annapolis on Qualla

Image: Andrij Bulba | CC BY 2.0

Annapolis: Anchor's Aweigh

Mon, 01 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Preservation Maryland, CC BY-SA 2.0. The United States Naval Academy was established on the grounds of Fort Severn in 1845. Today the academy occupies 338 acres at the mouth of the Severn River, immediately adjacent to the historic district. Roughly 4,500 midshipmen attend at any given time. The Bancroft Hall dormit...

Read more: Annapolis on Qualla

Image: Preservation Maryland | CC BY-SA 2.0

Annapolis: The Dome and the Conferences

Mon, 01 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit DCwom (talk) (Uploads), Public domain. The Maryland State House is topped by the largest wooden dome built without nails in the United States. The current dome, designed by Joseph Clark and built between 1785 and 1797, replaced an earlier inadequate one. The structure is held together by wooden pegs and iron straps. B...

Read more: Annapolis on Qualla

Image: DCwom (talk) (Uploads) | Public domain

Annapolis: Sunny Day Floods

Mon, 01 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Famartin, CC BY-SA 4.0. Annapolis sits on the Atlantic Coastal Plain at an average elevation of about 50 feet above sea level. The historic downtown - the City Dock area - is barely above the water at all. Hurricane Isabel in September 2003 produced a storm surge of 7.58 feet, flooding much of downtown ...

Read more: Annapolis on Qualla

Image: Famartin | CC BY-SA 4.0