Historic Annapolis Hike

Inspired by AMC's Best Day Hikes Near Washington, D.C., we went for a historic hike in downtown Annapolis. The city was founded in 1649 and a lot of the buildings from the 1700s are still around. The city is Maryland's capital but it is not a skyscraper-stuffed metropolis. It has a small-town feel, with narrow and occasionally twisting roads and a lot of local businesses.

Our first sight was John Callahan's House. He was registrar for land records on the Chesapeake's western shore during the American Revolution. It seemed like it is still a residence (hopefully not for ghosts!).

Callahan House

Across the street is the location of Mann's Tavern, famous for being where delegates met in 1786 to call for a constitutional convention. With the failings of the Articles of Confederation, a new solution would soon be crafted.

Sadly, no longer a tavern

The town has lots of cool and interesting houses that are not necessarily historic. I took photos of places I thought were picture-worthy, like this narrow house with a lot of windows.

Bay-window house?

Some places are being rebuilt. 

Adding a new interior

I liked the bridge between these two houses. 

Upstairs connection between two houses!

We walked up Duke of Gloucester Street to one of the two main traffic circles in Annapolis. In the middle of this circle is Saint Anne's Church, an Episcopalian church. The congregation dates back to 1704 but the current building is from 1859. It replaced a previous church that had burned down. The church was not open for touring.

St. Anne's Church

The church graveyard

On the way to the other traffic circle, we saw the governor's mansion, called the Government House of Maryland. 

Governor's mansion

The gate marker

At the next traffic circle is Maryland's State House. It has been in use since the late 1700s and is the only state house to serve (briefly) as the United States Capitol.

One side of the State Capitol

State House steps

On our way to the campus of St. John's College we saw this fun shingled house.

Lots of character

St. John's College started out in 1696 as King William's School. It was a prep school that changed into the college in 1784.

At the entrance

The seal of the college

The clearly punny motto is roughly translated as "I make free men out of children by means of books and balance."

The first thing we saw on campus was the Greenfield Library, so they definitely have the book part down.

Greenfield Library

The campus was very quiet, a consequence of visiting over Thanksgiving weekend. We walked by the other famous campus in Annapolis--the Naval Academy.

Naval Academy Chapel dome sticking up

The Hammond-Harwood House was originally built for Matthias Hammond who never lived there. He was a tobacco farmer and stayed close by the farm. At one point, the house was home to the fine arts program of St. John's. Now it is a museum available for touring, though it wasn't open the day we visited.

Hammond-Harwood House

Across the street is the Chase-Lloyd House, which was owned by Samuel Chase, one of the Maryland signers of the Declaration of Independence. It was built in 1774 and has tours and was also closed on that day. Our kids really lucked out in not being dragged through historic houses like we usually do.

Chase-Lloyd House

By this point in the hike we were getting chilly. We searched for a place to get hot chocolate. We settled on Galway Bay Irish Restaurant and Pub, which was ready for some Christmas celebrating.

Galway Bay Pub

Fun pub sign

After warming up with some hot beverages and some yummy snacks, we headed back to the car. On the way, we saw the Capitol's dome.

State House again!

One street had "over the street" Christmas lights out. Since it was daytime, it's not as impressive as it could be.

Christmas lights!

My eldest son noticed that the street signs have the dates when the streets were first established, sometimes even the original names. 

How old is your street?

It was a fun visit. Maybe we'll go back to see the historic houses from the inside!

St. John's College Chapel, Cambridge

St. John's College Chapel in Cambridge is a nineteenth century work by architect Sir George Gilbert Scott. He was inspired by the thirteenth century Sainte Chapelle in Paris. Inside the gates of the college, the exterior looks like this:

St. John's College Chapel

From outside the gates, it also makes an impression.

Lucy is impressed

Visitors walk in between two statues of unidentified saints. This statue was the more interesting one to me. Usually, if someone is holding a building, she had a hand in reforming that order. Or built a magnificent church.

She's maybe a nun, but which one?

Inside, the south wall has a fine painting of Christ being taken down from His cross. Anton Raphael Mengs is the painter.

Deposition from the Cross, c. 1777

Also at the back is a life-size statue of William Wilberforce, who was a student at St. John's and a famous abolitionist.

Seems a little casual for being at church

The nave is dark but impressive.

Nave

Like many churches in England, there is a pulpit in the form of an eagle. This symbolism is especially appropriate here, since St. John is often depicted as an eagle (along with the other evangelist--St. Luke as an ox, St. Matthew as a man, St. Mark as lion).

Pulpit

One of the glories of the chapel is its nineteenth century stained glass windows.

West window, depicting the last judgment

Upper right is St. George; the bottom is the Annunciation

Top, Jesus is handed over; bottom, St. John is inspired to write the Book of Revelation

One of the unique thing in the chapel is the tomb of Hugh Ashton, died 1522. He was one of the first fellows of the college and appears twice on his tomb. On the top is a life-sized replica of him in academic robes. Underneath is a statue of an emaciated corpse.

Hugh Ashton, scholar

Two-tiered tomb, the bottom can't be easily photographed

Leaving out the side door brings one onto the Chapel Court, with another fine view of the exterior of the church.

West end of the chapel

Who was Saint John?

This particular Saint John is John the Evangelist, disciple of Jesus and author of one Gospel, three letters, and the Book of Revelation, all found in the New Testament. Read more about him here.

St. John's College, Cambridge

St. John's College has long been part of the University of Cambridge. The university began in the thirteenth century when scholars came from Oxford and Paris to form a school. Students originally lived in private houses; later communal hostels were used. One monastic house was the Hospital of St. John, built in the thirteenth century on the location that would become St. John's College. By the sixteenth century, it was in a piteous state and Bishop John Fisher persuaded Lady Margaret Beaufort (mother of King Henry VII) to refound the hospital as a college. Eventually the Charter of the College of St. John the Evangelist was granted on April 9, 1511.

The front gate was completed in 1516 and makes for a fine entrance into the college.

Entrance to St. John's College

Inside, tourists pay a nominal fee to go in and see the various courts and buildings of the college. The first spot one finds is the First Court, naturally enough. It's an open area with the chapel to the right (which will get its own post) and the Second Gate (leading to the Second Court) straight ahead. The original college was here, including the library and chapel. The current chapel was built in the 1800s.

Second Gate, with a nice window and a statue of Lady Margaret

People with academic robes!

The chapel, as seen from the First Court

The tour proceeds through the chapel and into the Chapel Court. This court has a hodgepodge of architecture from the sixteenth, nineteenth, and twentieth centuries.

Victorian era buildings

Cool eagle symbols on the roof of the covered passage we were in

View of the chapel from the Chapel Court

Next is the Second Court. The most noticeable item here is the Shrewsbury Tower, with the coat of arms and a statue of Bess of Hardwick (of Hardwick Hall fame), Countess of Shrewsbury and major contributor funding the building of the court. The court was completed in 1602.

Second Court

Shrewsbury Tower

Also, this drain dates itself--1599!

The doorway in Shrewsbury Tower leads to (you guessed it) the Third Court. Built during the 1600s, it took a while to complete due to the Civil War, especially since the college was largely Royalist in a Parliamentary town. But it did get finished and looks quite fine.

Third Court

Tower over the old library

Leaving through a door to the south, which was the back exit of the college from 1672 to 1831, the tour leads over the River Cam on the Kitchen Bridge. From here we had a good look at their Bridge of Sighs, an imitation of the more famous one in Venice. Though the imitation is strictly limited to the fact that its a covered bridge and looks quite nice from the outside (the Venice one leads to a prison).

Lucy wants to read

Cambridge's Bridge of Sighs

On the other side of the river is the New Court. The buildings here were finished in 1831 and housed the great influx of students at the time. The style is an imitation of Gothic rather than actual Gothic (as was popular in the Victorian era). The especially ornate bits, especially over the central block, has earned it the nickname "the Wedding Cake" for its fancifulness.

The Wedding Cake

Gothic arch entrance

Gothic Walkway

The twentieth century's contribution unfortunately (at least to my eyes) comes from the 1960s and is called the Cripps Buildings. It is named after the Cripps Foundation, which financed the expansions needed for the large influx of post-war students.

By itself it's not so bad, but it is a bit of transition from Victorian Gothic

Nearby was this awesome wall with four stories of ivy covering it.

Insert "Ivy League" joke here

My one regret is that we were not allowed to go into this dining hall, because it sounds so delicious.

Mmmm...butter

More on the chapel in the next post!