A Broadside’s Tale
An 18th-century broadside was a single sheet of paper printed on one side that was used to communicate news, advertise, and promote political and social causes. Broadsides were created by […]
To Inoculate Or Not To Inoculate?
I’ve written before about the scourge of smallpox and the potential risks and rewards of getting inoculated against it in colonial Maryland. Annapolis’s weekly newspaper, the Maryland Gazette, reported any […]
War And Peace
Through the past three months, we’ve witnessed the war in Ukraine through news reports and social media feeds viewed on our living room TVs, laptop computers, or mobile phones, often […]
A 1772 Road Trip
We often take our modern transportation technology and infrastructure for granted. Our nationwide network of highways, bridges, and tunnels makes it easy to drive a gas-powered, electric, or hybrid car […]
Earthshaking News
Fortunately, we don’t feel many earthquakes in Annapolis. When a magnitude 5.8 quake shook the city shortly before 2pm on August 23, 2011, my wife and I were three hours […]
Lost And Found
Like every old city, Annapolis has suffered its share of devastating fires. In my last blog, I mentioned the 1704 blaze that destroyed Annapolis’s first State House. Today, the Museum […]
Built In The Year 1772
Visitors to Annapolis: An American Story, now open at the Museum of Historic Annapolis, get an up-close view of the original metal-clad wooden acorn which stood atop the Maryland State […]
Luck Of The Draw
According to recent articles in the Capital Gazette newspaper, the City of Annapolis and a group of companies called Annapolis Mobility and Resilience Partners (AMRP) will soon start work on […]
Nothing But A Dream
Across the ages, prim and proper elders have often asked some variation of this question: “What’s the deal with today’s young people?” This is commonly followed by the self-righteous assertion: […]
An Idea Of Equality
I’ve written before about William Eddis (see “Our Little Capital” from January 28, 2021), an Englishman who arrived in Annapolis in September 1769, three months after his patron, Governor Robert […]
The Late Dreary Tempest
We Marylanders are used to the winter storm drill. As soon as forecasters warn of an approaching snowmageddon, we rush out to stock up on all the essentials: toilet paper, […]
The Happiest Nation Under The Sun
Two hundred fifty years ago, on January 30, 1772, Annapolis publisher Anne Catharine Green reprinted a positive piece of political prognostication penned by an “old Correspondent” to a London periodical. […]