Historic Annapolis: A Self-Guided Walking Tour

Annapolis has more intact 18th-century architecture per square mile than any city in America, and the concentration within a ten-minute walk of The Alderton is remarkable. This self-guided tour takes approximately two hours at a comfortable walking pace, longer if you stop at any of the house museums. We recommend beginning it in the morning when the light is best and the streets are quiet.

Start at The Alderton’s front door on Compromise Street and walk north toward the State Circle. The Maryland State House—built between 1772 and 1779—is the oldest state capitol in continuous legislative use in the United States. The Old Senate Chamber, where George Washington resigned his commission and the Continental Congress ratified the Treaty of Paris, is open to visitors. The dome, built by craftsmen using wooden pegs instead of iron nails, is a structural and aesthetic marvel.

From State Circle, walk down Maryland Avenue past its corridor of antique shops and galleries to the William Paca House at 186 Prince George Street. Paca was one of Maryland’s four signatories to the Declaration of Independence, and his five-part Georgian mansion, built in 1765, is among the finest Colonial-era homes still standing in America. The two-acre pleasure garden behind the house was restored using a 1772 portrait of Paca—a remarkable piece of garden archaeology.

Continue down Maryland Avenue to the Naval Academy gate at King George Street. Public tours of the Academy grounds are available most mornings and include Bancroft Hall, the U.S. Naval Academy Chapel (where John Paul Jones is interred), and the formal grounds along the Severn River. The Noon Formation—when the entire Brigade of Midshipmen marches to lunch in synchronized precision—runs weekdays at approximately 12:05 pm during the academic year and is worth the timing.

Return along Compromise Street to the City Dock and spend the final half hour at the water’s edge. Ego Alley, the narrow slip where boats motor in to promenade, is the social center of Annapolis. On any warm morning, you will see sailboats, skipjacks, kayakers, and the occasional naval vessel. The smell of the Bay, the sound of halyards on aluminum masts, and the light off the water are the sounds and smells that Annapolitans call home. Pick up a crab bisque at Chick and Ruth’s Delly on Main Street and walk back to The Alderton feeling, as most of our guests do, that you could stay considerably longer.