Start your exploration of Annapolis: Museum Without Walls™
at Hogshead Trades Museum.
Just a few steps up Pinkney Street from the City Dock area….
This modest wood-frame structure with a gambrel roof is a rare surviving example of a building type that was common in 18th-century Annapolis. It was just this sort of inexpensive rental housing that the new state government pressed into service as barracks for military recruits during the Revolutionary War. Today, visitors learn what life was like for the “lower and middling sort” in early Maryland through an interactive experience with guides dressed in colonial attire and the opportunity to see and handle authentic and reproduction artifacts.
Hogshead Trades Museum – Summer Hours
Open every Friday & Saturday 11 am – 3 pmand some Sundays
Step Back in Time at Hogshead Trades Museum: Visitors of all ages can explore how trades were practiced in colonial Annapolis. Talk with people in historic attire and discover the daily tasks, meals, and family life of a tradesperson. You might meet a shoemaker, a baker, a seamstress, or an apothecary!
Historic Annapolis gratefully acknowledges the recent support of Chesapeake Crossroads Heritage Area, the Maryland Heritage Areas Authority, the Rotary Club of Annapolis, and a private donor to update interpretation at the Hogshead Trades Museum in 2024.
This project has been financed with State Fund from the Maryland Heritage Areas Authority, an instrumentality of the State of Maryland. However, the content and opinions do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of the Maryland Heritage Areas Authority.
Tick Tock Tech: Build a Grandfather Clock with a Clockmaker
Date: Saturday, July 26, 2025
Location: Hogshead Trades Museum 43 Pinkney Street Annapolis, MD 21401
Join us for a hands-on experience as we assemble and bring to life an authentic grandfather clock from the 1700s. Feel the weight of the gears, touch the intricate parts, and discover how early technology kept time
Time: 11:00 am – 3:00 pm
Learn the secrets of timekeeping from the original “techies”.
Admission Cost: $5 suggested donation
Mrs. Howard’s Coffee House
Date: Sunday, July 27, 2025
Location: Hogshead Trades Museum, 43 Pinkney Street
Time:11 am – 3 pm
Pull up a chair at Mrs. Howard’s Coffee House, and hear the conversations and customs around coffee
Money Matters: Budgeting on the Brink of Revolution
Date: Saturday, August 2, 2025
Location: Hogshead Trades Museum 43 Pinkney Street Annapolis, MD 21401
Time: 11:00 am (EDT) – 3:00 pm (EDT)
Step into the lives of everyday people in Annapolis on the eve of the American Revolution! Choose a social role, manage a period-accurate budget, and make essential purchases using historical currency.
Join us for this unique, hands-on experience and explore the realities of social and economic life through the lens of budgeting, survival, and choice.
With your ledger in hand, discover how class and circumstance shaped every decision—from food to furnishings.
Admission Cost: $5 suggested donation
Accessibility: Accessing this program requires ascending a flight of stairs.
Cancellation and Refund Policy: Historic Annapolis reserves the right to cancel or alter any programs. Unless otherwise stated, all tickets are non-refundable.
Photography Policy: Historic Annapolis reserves the right to take photographs and video footage of people of all ages at Historic Annapolis-sponsored events for publicity. If you do not wish to be photographed or filmed, please opt out by notifying Historic Annapolis staff.
Hogshead Trades Museum
43 Pinkney Street
Annapolis, MD 21401
410.267.7619
Hours (April – November):
Open every Saturday 11 am – 3 pm.
(plus Sunday 3/30 and 6/29)
Admission Fees:
Admission to Hogshead is pay-what-you-wish (special events may have an associated admission fee). Your donation supports HA’s mission-driven programs, exhibits, and educational outreach.
Hogshead Trades Museum
43 Pinkney Street
Annapolis, MD 21401
410.267.7619
Hogshead is conveniently located near City Dock in the downtown Colonial Annapolis Historic District. It is just steps away from a variety of restaurants and shops, and other interesting sites and museums.
Parking
Public parking is not available at Hogshead. Annapolis offers an abundance of parking and transportation options. Visit annapolisparking.com for the most up-to-date information on parking in downtown Annapolis.
Street parking surrounding Hogshead is limited to two-hour (or less) paid parking for guests. Please note that street parking may be metered or may require the use of the Parkmobile app.
Directions
Several parking garages are just a short walk from Hogshead. Click here for walking directions from nearby parking garages.
This early 19th-century gambrel-roofed building is similar to the modest wood frame structures that housed many colonial Annapolis families as well as fresh recruits to Revolutionary War service. Beginning in April 1777, the State of Maryland billeted recruits waiting to join Continental Army units in vacant and inexpensive rental houses throughout Annapolis. Most of these men stayed in the capital city only a few days or weeks before shipping out.
43 Pinkney Street had seriously deteriorated by the late 1960s, when it was targeted for preservation in a project jointly undertaken by Historic Annapolis and the State of Maryland and partially funded by a grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Restoration professionals retained much of the original timber framing but replaced the building’s exterior siding and roof covering. The interior is now a mixture of old and new material. The strengthened original stair leads to the second story, which has original flooring, board partition walls, and trim. The cellar had been filled in the 19th century, but it was re-excavated to reveal a brick floor, a simple barrel-lined sump, a large cooking fireplace, and a beehive bake oven.
Group tours and field trips at any Historic Annapolis site can be arranged by appointment with advance notice.
To book, please contact us at grouptours@annapolis.org or call 410.990.4514.