The Top Places to Visit in Annapolis, Maryland

Granted, there are many terrific historical and cultural reasons to enjoy Annapolis, Maryland. There are period historical tours with tour Historical Interpreters dressed in Colonial garb. There are fabulous historical homes and gardens. There are renowned restaurants and hotels. But the three reasons I most enjoy Annapolis, Maryland are St John's College, City Dock and Dawson's Art Gallery.

St John's College is situated in the heart of the Historic District in Annapolis, Maryland. Its old and venerable Georgian buildings are collected on gently rolling terrain under lush canopies of equally old and venerable trees. Even the red squirrels, studied (along with Aristotle) by every St. John's College Freshman, seem quite venerable, if not so old. Its grounds abut College Creek where the men's and women's crew teams row at the crack of dawn. Approximately 400 students keep up a friendly rivalry - well, this decade it is friendly - with the U. S. Naval Academy whose large and imposing campus is "just across the street." Well the back fields are just across the street, the Academy is half a mile farther on.

Until recently, St. John's College protected in its back lawns one of the original Thirteen Liberty Trees. It was around these Liberty Trees that the early pre-revolutionary rebels would congregate to pass on and discuss news of the latest British atrocities. Now, the Liberty Tree has been felled by old-age, after many temporary fix-it jobs including cement in deteriorating branches, and its sappling, Son of Liberty Tree prospers on a lawn nearby the site of the original giving a new generation to an important reason to enjoy Annapolis, Maryland.