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Published: March 27th 2012
Naval Chapel
Beautiful - Tiffany Glass! This is an interdominational Christian Chapel - a Jewish chapel is also a feaure of the Adademy Campus.Duncan’s Family Camp Ground in Lothian, Maryland, proved to be a convenient place to camp while we explored Annapolis. March is still “pre-season” and while Duncan’s is open year round, the campground staff was hustling to get things in shape! Enough said about the campground! We drove through some beautiful farm land, and were at the Anapolis Visitor’s center (free parking in the adjacent garage) in less than 30 minutes. We met up with Squire Harvey, a Bronx transplant of a certain age, who guided us through the interesting narrow streets, chatting smartly about the history and architecture of Annapolis. We ogled the Governor’s Mansion, legislative chambers (each with a Tiffany skylight) in the stately State House, viewed a painting of George Washington resigning his commission, and saw the room where it all happened. Wending our way to the US Naval Military Academy, we passed some interesting galleries, boutiques and book shops on Maryland Ave. – all the better to explore when we make a return visit. We entered Gate 3 of the US Naval Academy campus. We viewed the Midshipmen’s noon time march into lunch from the Gazebo, circled back to the stunning chapel, whose basement holds the elaborate crypt
of John Paul Jones. The campus tour ended off-campus through Gate 1 adjacent to appropriately named Dock Street where we grabbed lunch at Mc Garvey’s Saloon and Oyster Bar. Squire Harvey, dressed in period clothing, had a nice personal style, his spiel wasn’t canned, he liked questions and we felt the two plus hour tour was well worth the $16 each. There were plenty of choices for lunch near Dock Street and on nearby Main Street (saving them for our next visit). We stopped in at a second visitor’s center near the dock and learned that the Trolley tours haven’t yet begun for the season. We nixed the boat tour when we saw the chop, even in the bay. We returned to the academy, found the USNA Visitor’s center under construction. The gift shop was huge. A film took us from Plebe Summer to Graduation in fifteen minutes. One of the highlights of the day was the museum in Preble Hall where we got a good overview of US Naval history, including the War of 1812 which was fought literally in our backyard on Lake Champlain. A nice accounting of Commodore McDonough and the battle of Plattsburgh felt like home.
John Paul Jone's Crypt
Here lies the father of the American Navy. He died in France. The French admired him so much that they returned his body to the US in the amazing carved marble crypt. That's seaweed carved on top and dolphins at four corners "carrying" the casket to a burial at sea.
An absolutely stunning collection of model ships take of the entire 2
nd floor of Preble Hall. It is really a gem, not to be missed. The gift shop in the basement stocks a nice selection of books and quality mementoes. We walked back to the parking garage via College Street passing St. John’s College, a small liberal arts college with a curriculum that includes reading a hundred or more classic pieces of literature in their original languages. We will surely return to Anapolis. There are several historic homes with gardens that lend themselves beautifully to our Fall/Spring itineraries south and north. And, we didn’t save time for any of the boutiques and several interesting restaurants. I am posting blogs in random order reversing from this our last stop on the way back to Ballston Lake in March 2012. This nearly nine week working vacation held so much action that I didn’t find the time to blog.
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jeff
non-member comment
beautiful blog
fantasic pictures and story...you could make a book out of it