The Washington times., 1937-04-17
GOV. NICE AIDS
RESTORATION
OF ANNAPOLIS
Executive and Wife
Hosts on Tour Of
OIdHonnes
BY HELEN ESSARY

Inc Maryland GdTueu FuSILuI'
age-May 80 to April 8-is direct
ing interest on the plan for the
restoration of Colonial Annapolis.
Today, in honor of the Pilgrimage,
Governor and Mrs. Harry w. Nice
are entertaining a group Of dis
tinguished washington, Baltimore
and Annapolis people at luncheon
and taking them later for a short
tour of the famous old Annapolis
houses, Survivals Of the period
when Annapolis was the gayest,
most elegant city in Colonial
America.
The newly organized Company
for the Restoration of Colonial An
napolis will show the guests from
out of town fragments of the IA
nous Mackubin house recently
torn down to make room for a
filling station. A few handmade
bricks, a nail or two, a window
sash and q piece of hand-carved
cornice will show that the crusade
for the preservation Of the best Of
the old houses n the Maryland
capital is needed. or the other
relics in the finest Georgian city
in America will be destroyed.
Among Guests
Among the washington guests
at Governor and Mrs. Nice'S lunch
con are Mrs. Claude A. Swanson,
wife of the Secretary of the Navy;
Mrs. Henry A. Wallace, wife Of
the Secretary Of Agriculture: Mrs.
Arthur Vandenberg. Mrs. Robert
Lincoln O'Brien, Mrs. Joshua
Evans, jr., and Mrs. Wilson Lee.
De Tocqueville once described
Annapolis as the only finished city
in America. In enthusiastic let
tiers to France, he declared the
handsome dwellings of the little
city on the Severn, the lively COT
fee houses, the race tracks fire.
quented by statesmen and linden
tured servants alike; the theater,
the first in the new world; the
perfumed ladies and the gallant
beaux; the portrait painters, arti-
sans, SilverSmiths and builders
combined in a delightful medley
to make Annapolis "The Athens
Of America"
Royalty Recalled
The streets Of Annapolis are
still called by the names Of half
forgotten royalties. It's houses
and waterfronts that were once
a stage where Colonial and Revo-
lutionary history was made are
still to be seen.
One may yet wander about the
town and feel transported into the
days when the little city had a ma.
jor part in shaping the course Of
the nations history. A schooner
in the harbor, laden, perhaps,
with early melons for the Balti-
more market, will remind OF an old
Chesapeake Bay clipper ship.
A man-of-war at anchor off the
Naval Academy will suggest the go.
ton Peggy Stewart as she famed
with taxable tea, burned in this
same harbor by indignant patriots
in 1774.
Historic Shrine
The pedestrian sees the dome
of the chapel of the Naval Acad-
envy, where John Paul Jones is
buried; or on the broad. green cam
pus Of old st. Johns College. the
third oldest educational instttu-
ton in the United States, an aged
tulip-poplar tree, in the shade OF
which a treaty was signed in 1852
between the Susquehonnock In
dians and the white settlers; the
homes of three signers Of the Dec
laration of independence.
From a tablet on the brick wall
of the old Assembly Rooms the Wis.
itor 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, at
tended by warriors and statesmen
as well as by the smart society Of
Annapolis. When the Negroes fid-
dies were scraping and the big
punch bowls were being emptied
and refilled, there were often more
sedan chairs and fine coaches wait
ing outside than were to be found
in all other towns and cities Of the
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