Top Reasons to Go to Annapolis and Southern Maryland

Experience Colonial History: The U.S. Congress met in the Maryland State House from 1783 to 1784, and two significant events occurred during that time: General George Washington resigned as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army and the Treaty of Paris was ratified.

Salute the Navy at Annapolis: The U.S. Naval Academy is the most important site in town. Don't miss its centerpiece, the bright copper-clad dome of the U.S. Naval Academy Chapel, beneath which lies the crypt of the Revolutionary War naval officer John Paul Jones.

Return to the Golden Age of the Railroad: At the Chesapeake Bay Railway Museum, housed in the railroad's 1898 track-side terminus, check out a glass-enclosed model of the town of Chesapeake Beach and a gleaming, black Ford Model T that once carried guests from the station to their hotels.

Visit a 17th-Century British Settlement: At Historic St. Mary's, the fourth permanent settlement in British North America and eventually the first (albeit short-lived) capital of Maryland, you can view ongoing restoration work in this much smaller, and less-refined, version of Williamsburg, Virginia.