The Washington times., 1935-09-04
NOW
Romantic Lore
Of Annapolis
A NEW ATHENS
By HELEN ESSARY

some day. With eyes closed
to the ugly modern buildings,
explore the winding streets.
Your Imagination will easily
transport you to the Annapolis
of the gorgeous, extravagant
days just before the Revolution.
De Tocqueville, a traveller
and raconteur of that period,
once described Annapolis as the
only finished city in America.
In enthusiastic letters to France,
he declared that the handsome
dwellings Of the little city on
the Severn, the lively coffee
houses, the race tracks fire.
uuented by statesmen and in
dentured servants alike; the
theater, the first in the New
World: the perfumed ladies and
the gallant beaux; the portrait
painters, artisans, silversmiths
and builders combined in a de-
lightful medley to make Anna
polls 1.-The Athens of America"
! The streets of Annapolis are
still called by the names of half
forgotten royalties. It's houses
and waterfrontS that were once
q stage where Colonial and Rev.
dictionary history was made
are still to be seen, though the
ACTORS in the by-gone play are
but memories.
One may yet wander about the
town and feel transported into
the days when the little city
had a major part in shaping
the course of the nations
history. A schooner in the har-
Dor, laden, perhaps, with early
melons for the Baltimore mar
ket, will remind of an old Chesa.
peake Bay clipper ship. A man.
of-war at anchor off the Naval
Academy will suggest the 60-ton
Peggy Stewart as she famed
with taxable tea, burned in this
same harbor by indignant
patriots in 1774.
From a tablet on the brick
wall of the old Assembly Rooms
you will learn that here, in 1888,
George Washington danced with
Mistress Mary MacKubin. The
Assembly Rooms, built in 1854
from the proceeds of a lottery,
were the scene of lively parties,
attended by warriors and states.
men as well as by the smart
society of Annapolis. When the
Negroes fiddles were scraping
and the big punch bowls were
being emptied and refi''ed, there
were often more sedan chairs
and fine coaches waiting out
side than we're to be found in
all other towns and cities of
the New World combined.
Charles Carroll, who wrote
"of Carrollton" after his name
lest another Charles Carroll
might be held to account for
such rashness if the Revolution
failed, was a leading citizen of
the town. He was the richest
of all the signers, perhaps the
richest man in the Colonies.
His fortune of 100000 pounds
sterling was a thrilling sum a
century and a half ago.
The Signer's house that is
now best known to the public
is least frequently associated
with the name of it's builder
and his role as a patriot. This
is the structure in Prince
George Street that makes the
western half of Carvel Hall Ho-
tel, named from Richard Car
vel" Historically, the house
was the home of William Paca.
| Not far away is the residence
OF the third Annapolis signer,
Samuel Chase, now used as a
home for elderly gentlewomen.
This imposing mansion, some
times referred to as the Lloyd
House, testifieS to the wealth
and the taste of that colonial
! patriot, Col. Edward Lloyd, of
Talbot county, who would have
nothing but the very best. It
is supposed that when he
bought the Annapolis house
from Samuel Chase, he added
many costly and beautiful fea.
lures to the original mansion.
A fine mansion across the
street is the Hammond arwood
house, recently restored by st.
Johns College for use as a mu-
seum. A glance into it's interior
is like a peep through a Colo
NAL doorway into another world.
The house was built in 1740
by Capt. Matthias Hammond, a
flashing young gentleman of the
Maryland colony, wealthy, a
lawyer, a tobacco planter and a
political thinker. He fell in
love, unfortunately, with a spir.
tied creature, when a gentle
Griselda would have suited him
better.
After the day had been set
for the wedding, she began to
object to his absorbing interest
in the house he was having
built for her. She said it was
of no Importance to her that
he had 80 tobacco farms and a
fine legal mind. She would
wed no man already welded to
q house.
! And she did not. Hammond
never married. He lived in the
lonely state in his beautiful
mansion for a few years and