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 […]
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 […]
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. […]
Of Singular Advantage to this Country
By January 1772, the nonimportation associations of 1769 and 1770, which organized and enforced colonial boycotts of taxed English goods, were already a distant memory for many Americans. After all, […]
A Vast Loss Of Time
I’ve written before (see especially “A Predictable Pattern”, November 26, 2020) about colonial Maryland’s last proprietary governor, Robert Eden, and his habitual mishandling of disagreements with the General Assembly’s Lower […]
Common Complaints
These days, when public complaints about politics, the media, and rising prices abound, turning back our attention 250 years ago reveals a time…when public complaints about politics, the media, and […]
The Meanest House In Town
A year after actress Nancy Hallam captivated an anonymous Annapolis gentleman (most likely Rev. Jonathan Boucher—see “In Praise of Artistic Genius”) with her dramatic skills and attractive appearance, she and […]