Evening capital. (Annapolis, Md.) 1884-1910, 1907-07-25
A CURIOUS OLD PLACE
WESTEREEK'S IMPRESSION OF
"THE ANCIENT CITY,
Crooked Streets PuzzIe Nisil8r-keeps
Stranger GueSsiag Where Hs's
Al
WHAT OTHERS THINK OF Us.

A few Short weeks ago Annapolis
entertained . stranger. Ehat ~ tAe
old town thought he was = strnng~r.
but he seems to have been q sisttos.
10. these many years. aud evidently
knows more About us than ws kno0
ourselves
when entertaining strangers. tAe
Bible tells - We frequently entertain
angels uuawares This particular
stranger was a newspaper 1ao. there
fore no angel. He has - Fittsn eolumns
and columns about Annapolis IN The
WOman's National Daily. .publishcd
BY the Lewis Publishing Company.
University city. S. I-ouis. NO. The
article appears In the Juiy - number
Of the magazine, and It's aathor Is Ar
thur Wallace Dunn lt IS too long 60
publish in its entirety. hut Will be re-
produced IN sections. as it - Interest
ing and breezy and will permit the
readers Of the capital - see them-
selves as others see them.
(Arthur Wallace Dunn-l
Annapolis. Md. Juy IL The
Ancient city IS the title givsu the
capital Of Maryland BY ITS loving
friends. Is Is an old town. and one
In which history has been made
curious old place with s0ne striking
southern characteristics. bat, being
north Of the Potomac river. possesses
much that reminds one 81 northern
colonial towns. What impresses me
most in this place is that ] gee lost as
soon as I get out of sight Of the dome
Of the state House. I have never been
two hours in Annapolis without being
lost. I have driven furi0usly abouE
80. a
tiOn and for two days past 1 have been
equally troubled in trying to End the
Naval Academy after leaving the state
House and trying to find the stats
House after leaving the Academy.
And all this on account % the
streets which are fearfnlfy and won
derfuIly laid out No one without =
| guide, a map. or who has not lived
here for sevrsal years can tell where
he is and how tO find different obiec-
tive points. Not being . resident and
as Annapolis has neither guides nor
maps. ! spent most Of my time while
here. trying 20 get from one place -
another. The confusion results from
| the method 0f laying cut the streets-
| As near as ! can ascertain there are
a series Of circles with streets radiat-
/ ing from each in every direction-
These streets continue as FAR In one
direction as il suited the early set
tiers and then they break off, To
add 10 the strangers confusion. there
are a series 0f angular streets. fsw
crossing at right angles. but running
Obliquely, creating triaugles and
other geometricai divisions which
ought to delight the heart "a a math-
ematfcian. The largest circle IS
that about the capitol, State House IL
Is called here, then there is a circle
about the governors mansion. anotb-
er about an ancient nearby church.
and still others in and about the city
which keep one constantiy guessing
as 10 where he IS at.
| Modern improvements IN thu matter
| OF paving mark several 0f the more
| important thorOugbfares. but there are
| many streets which still retain the
coarse stone paving whose Irregular
titles indicate that they belong to days
long ago, perhaps dating back % the
| colonial period. ON several Of these
/ old streets may be seen little streams
OF dirty water, very much resembling
disn water, showing that a southern
custom Of having sewers On the top u
the streets Is still n privileges 81 this
| ''ancient city and also confirming
| its title - antiquity. Along these
streets, anu upon several having
modern paving as we'll. may be seen
the old building which proclaim the
1 title Of Annapolis 20 the name which
| is the pride Of its Inhabitants
/ Annapolis was frs occupied Dy
| the Indians, 50 reads tbe histories of
| the place. 7 suppose the same can
be truthhfuIly said 0f every place ~
the United States, FOR II IS % be
| doubted whether there Is any point
| Of land on seacoast, lake OF nvsF
that commended itself 20 The pioneers
| OF America as n good place 60 camp
or to locate n settlements that bad not
l at a-previous time commended itself
to the Indians for similar purposes
/ Captain John Smith seems % have
been in evidence here as be has been
at every place reached from the
waters of Chesapeake Bay. he did
not build . fort here. but according
10 the veraciOus chronicle % the
early times, sailed BY the moutb u
the severn river. on which Annapo-
lis il located. when be visited the
Patapsco river. where Baltim9re nov
stands. That was in 1900. three hun
dred years ago lacking one short
year.
was much surprised 70 find that
| Annapolis was first settled bT the
PuritaDs. There IL little trace % thai
stern race about the place nov and
they seem TO have been swallowed -
in the peoples which subsequently ,
located in this part ~ Mary land. A.
though types Of the men of Cr0mwsli'
time are still seen in different Dartl
Of the surrounding country. For Sons
unknown reason there were Puritan'
who wandered into Virginia and prae
tfced their religion. bot this did no,
suit the Church ~ England colonistl
and under he rigid laws - fhs ofd
Dominion the Puritans were forced =
take their austere religion snd con-
venffcIes elsewhere. This vas -
lG49. and they settled at the moutl
of the severn river and eaiisd tn
place Pr0vldsnce- since then the plaes
has had half dozen different names
bot two hundred years ago t "a
ooIcfafIve deafQuafed AnuacoIiE tn