Welcome

Welcome to Historic St. Mary's City, the site of Maryland's first capital. English settlers established the colony in 1634, not long after the founding of Jamestown and Plymouth. It flourished until the capital was removed to Annapolis in 1695. Today, Historic St. Mary's City is a National Historic Landmark and is recognized as one of America's best-preserved archaeological sites.

While the original city no longer stands, historians and archaeologists have succeeded in locating and re-creating many of the 17th-century roads and paths, houses, and public buildings.

We invite you to explore Historic St. Mary's City for yourself and discover a fascinating history rich in struggle and hardship, opportunity and triumph. Many of America's great ideals, including religious toleration and separation of church and state, were first tested in this place.

An extensive archaeology program has allowed Historic St Mary's City to discover much of the early capital's long-buried past.

[Captions, clockwise from top left:]
Godiah Spray Tobacco Plantation
Be sure to visit the Spray Plantation to learn about life in the 1600s.

Smith's Ordinary
Historic St. Mary's City continues to reconstruct many of the buildings that were here in the 17th century based on historical, archaeological,



and scientific research.

Woodland Indian Hamlet
This re-created hamlet represents the year 1634 when the first colonists arrived at a small Yaocomaco Indian settlement located in the St. Mary's River valley.

Cordea's Hope
This storehouse was completed in 1999 and is built on the site where the original 17th-century structure once stood.

Maryland Dove
Come aboard this replica of a trading vessel built much like the ones that brought goods to the colonies more than 300 years ago.

State House of 1676
This faithful reconstruction of the first brick State House was built in 1934 to commemorate the 300th anniversary of the founding of the colony of Maryland and its capital, St. Mary's City.

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Where is the City?
An Opportunity Awaits...
Encountering the Other
"a lande, even as God made it"
The Calvert Family and the Founding of Maryland
Welcome to the Chapel Field
Agricultural Change and Environmental Damage
Dating Changes in a Building
Who Worked Here?
What Kind of Barn Was This?

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