Top Comments: A Visit to Annapolis

Last week, as we were visiting the Baltimore/Washington area, my first home and old stomping grounds, we made a trip to Annapolis.  The trip started at the Maryland State Archives, as I wanted to look up records pertinent to both hubby’s and my families.  However, after about a couple hours of work, we went sightseeing.  It had been decades since I had seen Annapolis (I think a cub count outing), and hubby had never seen it.  It’s a perfectly charming little city that comes with a harbor, the center of power in the state, oh, and yes, there’s the US Naval Academy to boot.  Photos and descriptions are over the fold.

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Annapolis harbor

Maryland was one of the original 13 English colonies established along the eastern seaboard of North America.  As all of these colonies were coastal, they developed ports and harbors.  In this respect, Maryland was blessed with the Chesapeake Bay, the largest estuary in North America, as a body of water on which to establish such ports..  (Okay, okay, Maryland shares the bay with Virginia, but given the difference between the geography of the two states, it’s clear that the Chesapeake plays a much larger role in the culture and economy of Maryland than it does for Virginia.)  In any case, Annapolis was established as one of these ports, named after Ann Arundel, the wife of Lord Calvert;  it was Calvert to whom the king granted the original colonial charter for Maryland.  (For some reason, I had mistakenly thought Annapolis had been named for Queen Anne.)

Commanding officers’ residences, US Naval Academy

After eating lunch (at a French restaurant called the Normandie Cafe), we wandered along the various old streets gawking at the beautiful old houses and churches.  We first walked down to the water’s edge, and while there, noticed that we were right next to the US Naval Academy.  It seemed natural to start our tour there.  Once we were through the security check, we headed toward the main quadrangle of the institution.  Along the way, we passed the residences of the commanding officers who run the place.  (Note that none of these are the Commandant’s residence, which is separate from this and quite a bit grander.)  This put me to mind of some old liberal arts colleges who provide houses to some of their faculty, but the environment at the Naval Academy is clearly much more regimented (of course).  These houses were all identical in design, as duplexes, and had the names of the officers on the stairs leading to the porches, as well as the bodies for which they were responsible.

The crypt of John Paul Jones.

One of the things I recalled seeing decades ago as a cub scout was the crypt of Revolutionary War naval commander John Paul Jones, the man famous for saying “I have not yet begun to fight!”  The Ranger, the vessel he commanded in 1778, became the first vessel flying the Stars ad Stripes to be saluted by a foreign navy (the French) as American.  You can read about his exploits at the link.  He died in Paris in 1792 and was buried there, but in 1905, his body was exhumed and returned to the US. The current crypt, in the basement of the Chapel of the Naval Academy, was established in 1913.

The chapel itself was under renovations and hence the exterior would not make for a good photo, but the interior was quite interesting.  It was the size of a full church, and had stained glass windows, some designed by Frederick Wilson.  I include photos of a couple. I was unable to determine what angel was being depicted in the photo on the right, but note the rainbow and the ships on either side of the angel.  Below you’ll see the photo of a window entitled Commission Invisible, and in my photo, it actually is invisible.  Christ is pointing to the flag (reminding the midshipman of his duty), but the image of Christ in the window was so bright, he appears as just a white spot to the upper right of the midshipman.

Commission Invisible

Nearby were the main academic buildings of the USNA.  To me, it was stupefying that an academic institution of any sort would have such buildings.  They are a large interconnected collection four story buildings designed in a style I associate with the era of Napoleon (photo below).  We walked into the main hall.  The size of the atrium was immense (and hence difficult to photograph).

USNA academic buildings

Looking up on entry to the hall, we saw at the top of a flight of stairs a meeting room of some sort.  At the front of the room was a flag framed and hung on the wall that every resident of the City of Erie in Pennsylvania would recognize.  It read “Don’t Give Up the Ship” (photo below).  This is the flag flown by Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry on his ship during his battle with the British in Lake Erie during the War of 1812.  You see it everywhere in Erie, but the uneven hand-stitching on this flag at the USNA clearly shows that it is the original, the one actually flown by Perry!  I never would have expected to find a reminder of Erie here in Annapolis, of all places, but 

Commodore Perry’s flag

then, this was a crucial and historic naval battle won by the US.

Departing from the USNA, we followed signs for the William Paca house and gardens.  We never found them, but what we found instead was that other famous institution of higher learning in Annapolis, St. John’s College (photo below).  The academic model for St. John’s is to use primary literature only.  They don’t use modern textbooks.  If you take physics

Newton’s Principia is your textbook.  (I have always wondered how they handle teaching in my own field of chemistry.  Principia is actually a decent physics textbook because Newton starts with his assumptions, and then he solves all problems in great detail.  Chemistry, however, had no scientist like Newton, who understood all aspects of the science because he discovered them himself.  The original texts are scattered among many different authors who were struggling with basic concepts themselves.  So I have to wonder what sources they use.)  The campus consists mostly of beautiful old red brick buildings, but I’m not including photos of them because this diary has already become too long.

Senate Chamber in the Maryland Statehouse, Annapolis

Finally, we made our way to the Maryland Statehouse, making it into the building just 15 minutes before it closed.  This allowed just a few shots like this one of the State Senate chamber.  It certainly looks like a legislative chamber.  We learned that Maryland’s Statehouse is the oldest original statehouse still used for that purpose in the US.

After our tour of the city, we had a beer at an open-air bar on Main Street and people-watched.  Among the passersby there were many midshipmen in their white uniforms.  One thing that struck us was that, though we didn’t count, there seemed to be just as many women in those uniforms as men.  We are making progress.  Perhaps the USNA is not quite as diverse as West Point, but still, we’re making progress.

Now, on to the comments!

Top Comments (June 6, 2019):

From Sue DeNym:

BeadLady tells a little about what life is like under a narcissist, and compares it to what Trump is doing to the USA.  It's a very poignant and powerful statement.  From HalBrown’s recommended post on the press’ call to impeach Trump on the basis of mental illness.

From an as-yet unidentified kossack:

Treant offers this observation in the post by HalBrown referenced above.

Top Mojo (June 7, 2019):

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