Annapolis and Baltimore Here We Come!

May 20, 2009, Annapolis, Maryland


Charlie and I and our friends Les and Judy, from the boat Voyager II, toured The U.S.Naval Academy. It was a fabulous day!


When our tour of the Naval Academy ended, we were able to watch a ceremony known as the Noon Meal Formation/Brigade Change of Command Ceremony (above). The building in the center background is Memorial Hall. In this hall, we saw numerous plaques on it's walls honoring all men and women in military services who having died in the line of duty. The wings on either side of Memorial Hall are the dormitory halls of Bancroft Hall; the largest dormitory in the U.S. with over 4,000 midshipmen living there.


There were also many special events and many visitors on campus while we where there because it was graduation week. More of our Naval Academy day further down in this blog.


Before we give an overview of our visits to Annapolis and Baltimore, we'll give you our current location.


Today is Friday, May 29 and the crew of Freedom's Turn just tied her up in a slip for two nights at Utsch's Marina in Cape May New Jersey. To back track, last night she stayed along the main dock at Delaware City Marina, Delaware. The night before that, she spent one night in Chesapeake City, Maryland after leaving Baltimore that morning, May 27.


To get from Baltimore, Maryland to Cape May, New Jersey, Freedom's Turn traveled on the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal. (the C&D Canal is a man made shortcut dating back to the early 1800's that connects the Chesapeake Bay to the Delaware Bay and is about 15 miles long)

When we leave Cape May, we'll cruise on the outside of New Jersey in the Atlantic Ocean for one day to Atlantic City, then cut into the New Jersey ICW to Sandy Hook. From there we will take a loop around Staten Island, New York then head up the Hudson River to Albany!


Freedom's Turn is traveling with two Great Loop boat buddies these days; Queen Ann's Revenge and a new friend, Izzy R, who Linda and Charlie met while in Baltimore.


Annapolis, here we come


We entered the historic port of Annapolis on May 20. We read that Annapolis is known as a museum without walls. It is a modern day city in an antique setting; dating back to the American Colonial period in the early 1700s. One of my pamphlets stated that Annapolis boasts of more 18th century buildings continuously used than in any other city in the U.S. Pictures from the colonial days show the docks and city much like it is today. The roads of the city come down to the waterfront like spokes on a wheel with the state capital in the center of the wheel. There are no skyscrapers or big condo developments here. The highest buildings that we can remember seeing as we entered the harbor were the Naval Academy's Chapel dome, the State House dome, and the steeple of St. Anne's Episcopal Church.


In 1694, Anne Arundel Town was made into a capital city and rechristened Annapolis in honor of the heir to the British Throne, Princess Anne.




Tobacco farming thrived here and farmers began to rely on the work of slaves in the 18th century. Annapolis was a main stop for the slave trade boats from Africa. There is a bronze sculpture near the city docks in Annapolis of Pulitzer prize winner Alex Haley reading to a group of children out his book "Roots." The sculpture commemorates the arrival of Haley's ancestor, Kunta Kinte to Annapolis aboard the slave ship Lord Ligonier.


Below, we are just entering the harbor. There are sailboats everywhere, all eyes looking up at a practice of the the Navy's Blue Angels. You can see the dome of the Naval Academy's Chapel in the distance.

We read that Annapolis is the sailing capital of the world. A beautiful sailing vessel entering the Annapolis harbor.

Below is the Annapolis Yacht Club finishing up their Wednesday evening regatta. They were on the other side of a bridge from our slip.

Above, our slip at the Annapolis Yacht club. It is a private club but we could stay there with a reciprocal agreement between the yacht club and with an organization we belong to called the Marine Trawlers Owners Asocition. (M.T.O.A) We have used this privilege three times so far on the trip, saving money and getting great marinas to stay at. I took this picture of Charlie as I walked back from the bridge. He is partaking in his own personal happy hour complete with a cigar.

Behind us at the dock is the boat Voyager II with our friends Les and Judy.

Annapolis is Maryland's state capital. Here is front side of the State House, our nation's oldest capital building in continuous legislative use.

As stated on the plaque, Annapolis was the Nation's capital city briefly for nine months from 1783 to 1784.

This dome (a side view of the state house here) is a one of three landmarks we saw entering the harbor.

Right after we got settled into our slip, we changed our boat shoes for our walking shoes and took a lovely walk to the nearby historical part of the town.

Above, everywhere we looked, there were navy midshipmen walking; dressed in their whitest of whites. The building in the background is very famous as it is the Maryland Inn where the restaurant "Treaty of Paris" is still in operation since the early 1800's. John Adams, John Jay, and Benjamin Franklin came to eat here just after returning from France where they signed the Treaty of Paris, ending the War of 1812.

We had hoped to eat in the restaurant but it was not open during the week. Luckily, we found a door open and went in to sneak a peak. It was an elegant American Colonial dining room done in mostly golds.

When in the Bahamas with no TV service, Charlie and I watched a DVD set of the HBO miniseries "John Adams" which got us primed for this area of the country. We would heartily recommend watching the miniseries.

Speaking of the midshipmen walking around, here is a photo of me and the guys......

It was a spur of the moment and I took the opportunity to pose with these first year midshipmen.

This gentleman is a retired Navy man and he was our wonderful tour guide. Here he shows us with great pride, the footballs depicting all the Navy over Army victorieson a display in Ricketts Hall, the NCAA Athletic Building on campus here. The football stadium is nearby and seats 40,000. Their mascot is a goat!

By the way, this great two hour tour costs us only $8.00 apiece. We had to show a photo ID.

In 1845, the War Department acquired Fort Severn and adjoining land to house the newly established Naval College, now the U.S. Naval Academy. The campus has 338 acres and borders the city of Annapolis and the Severn River.

Getting accepted into the Naval Academy is very tough but once accepted, it means getting a four year scholarship paying for room and board and tuition plus a monthly allowance of $900 to use for books and other things like uniforms. There is an additional monthly allowance for their funny money of $100 for the 1st years,$200 for the second years, $300 for the third years and $400 for the fourth years. Our tour guide informed us that the enrollment each year averages between 4,000 and 4,500 with about 20% females to 80 % males in the first year and by graduation, 10% of the females and 20 % of the males that began, have dropped out. The females have a better sucess rate!

The Academy offers twenty-two academic majors, mostly technological degrees.

It was great fun to learn about the rituals and rules of the academy. For instance, a first year midshipmen is never supposed to be seen on campus sitting down; they always have to stand or be walking!

Beautiful Memorial Hall. We could not go up these steps because there was a ceremony pertaining to graduation going on but we could look at the top of the stairs and just make out the words of a famous Navy slogan: "Don't give up the ship."

Above, the inside of the Interdenominational U.S. Naval Academy Chapel with an original Tiffany window. It was a magnificent building. The chapel houses the crypt and sarcophagus of Revolutionary hero, John Paul Jones. He is credited with being the leader of the first Continental Navy for the American Colonies even though he was born in Scotland.

The outside of the chapel.

After our tour the four of us decided to stay on campus and join the several other folks to get a first rate view of the Navy's premier Blue Angels pilots demonstration; a special event for graduation week.

We were awed by their performance which lasted a little over an hour. There were six jets in all doing unbelievable swoops and dives and even upside down. (see below)

And the sound they make is a show in itself.

We hit it just right to be on campus this day! We could have spent more time in this wonderful city but the next day we had reservations in Baltimore so we said good-bye to Annapolis; hoping to come back here again someday in our future.

Welcome to Baltimore, founded in 1729

Here is our spot on the city dock finger pier in Baltimore's Inner Harbor. We had a delightful six day stay. As mentioned in the previous blog, the price was one half of a normal per ft. charge of other marinas in the area and we were right in the middle of the action! In a panoramic view, we were surrounded by sights and lights.

Then there were the sounds of this big city which engulfed us and somehow made us feel like we were a part of it all; like the welcoming sounds of numerous church bells and the chimes coming from an obscure city clock, with chimes heard every hour.

And what really made us stop and listen was the city playing patriotic songs in the Inner Harbor during the mornings.

We took this photo above from our boat. Pictured above is the U.S.S. Constellation, the only remaining ship from the Civil War still floating in the water. She is also the last all sail ship the U.S navy built before steam replaced wind as the standard source of power. The ship was used to help fight the transatlantic slave trade.

There are three other ships as part of the Baltimore Maritime Museum in the harbor as well: a WW II submarine, the USS Torsk, that sank the last two Japanese warships in the war of the Pacific, a Coast Guard ship named Taney,the last suriving vessel from the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, and a lighthouse ship, the "Chesapeake" used to provide a safe passage to incoming ships into Baltimore. All four boats are open to the public. We heard the live cannon firings of the USS Constellation in the Inner Harbor.

Charlie and I have gotten so much information when visiting several cities on our trip by taking a tour. The Visitors Center was located right next to our dock so we signed up for a Baltimore trolley tour with them. Our tour guide was excellent. For entertainment, he put on a special hat depicting different periods of history as we went along.

We learned that Baltimore is a city of "firsts" for the U.S. First factories for the following: umbrellas, tin cans, straw hats, gas lights, and the making of chrome. It is also the city of the first regularily published newspaper, the first senior citizen apartments, first Catholic Basilica, first Unitarian church, first Evangelical Lutheran church, the first YMCA, first Church of England in the U.S. which is dated from 1692.

While on the trolley tour, we saw several neighborhoods within walking distance so later in the week we explored more by foot. Among the many attractions on the tour were Federal Hill; quaint streets with open markets and little street cafes, Fell's point nautical heritage, Little Italy restaurants, Edgar Allen Poe's home and burial place, and the historical Fort McHenry.

Later Charlie and I went to the Cross St. Market in Federal Hill and strolled down the open booths filled with fresh produce, flowers and seafood. Charlie went on his own to buy an ice cream cone and on a later trip, he purchased cigars in a cigar shop, and lingered there to join other smokers in their smoking room.

I went to a fantastic used book store and stocked up on more reading material and toured the Visionary Art Museum which is a museum of self taught, contemporary artists.

On another day, Charlie walked to the Sports Legends Museum at Camden Yards and the Babe Ruth Museum.

Fort McHenry was a highlight for us to see. The flag flying at the fort shown below is a replica of what was later known as the Star Spangled Banner flag. It flew here during the War of 1812. Americans turned back the attack of the great and powerful Britian here. Fort McHenry and on the land side, east of Fells Point, is where our Nation was saved.

Our tour guide informed us that this flag is only flown on special days of the year. Because we were here on Memorial Day weekend, we were lucky to see it, our guide said. The flag is flying in the exact location where Francis Scott Key saw it on the night he wrote our national anthem.

We first saw the flag and the fort as we entered the harbor. It was a thrill for us to see the spectacular view from our own boat; first the red and white blue bouy marking the location of the British ship holding Francis ScottKey prisoner, and then following the direct line across the harbor to the Fort to see flying the exact replica of our county's Star Spangled Banner. You can see the bouy in the top photo.

This experience was probably in the top ten of all sights we have seen on the trip to date. Both the flag and the buoy are only put out by the city on very special days and weekends and we were there to see them both!

Above, Fort McHenry and an exact replica of the Star Spangled Banner flag.

The Star Spangled banner, a giant 30' by 42' flag, was sewn in this house by Mary Young Pickersgill. The orginal flag is in the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C. You can see a sign in the background of the flag in it's actual size.

Baltimore and Fellspoint served as a hotpoint of underground railroad activity. Charlie and I visited the Civil War Museum which was known orginally as the President Street Railroad Station; one of three railroad stations in Baltimore during the period just before and during the Civil War. This train station was a hub for providing a means to freedom for escaping slaves.

Through a series of photos inside the museum, we also learned that outside the doors of the President Street Station, the first death of the Civil War occurred. On April 19, 1861, a volunteer militia from Massachusetts arrived here on a train on their way to Washington D.C. and was attacked by a mob of angry southern sympathizers. One man was mortaly wounded and his picture is up above. He is the first death of the Civil War. As I write this, I cannot find his name in my notes. I remember he was only 17 when he died. History tells us his picture was put in the northern papers after the attack and ignited a rage among the northerners.

Fort Sumter near Charleston was the first battle of the Civil War but there were no deaths there.
From our boat, we took this photo of the Chesapeake lightship and the submarine USS Torsk in the background. We spent an afternoon touring the National Aquarium which is the modern looking cube you can see in the background. There were water taxis taking people to and from places on the harbor and for the children, these fun dinosour paddleboats came out everyday.

Once a shipping harbor, Baltimore's Inner Harbor is a now definitly a recreational harbor welcoming visitors of all ages. This 'pirate" ship was a frequent sight from our spot on the dock.

On our last day here, we visited the National Aquarium. It was very well done with special exhibits including an awesome jellyfish exhibit.

Above, this is my friend Ann from the boat Queen Ann's Revenge, which is another Great Loop boat staying here at the city docks the same time we were. In the background is the hill that gave the neighborhood of Federal Hill it's name. Before the Emancipation Proclamation of 1863, Federal Hill once hid escaping slaves in tunnels made inside the hill. Before that time, in 1788, 4,000 patriots celebrating Maryland's ratification of the U.S. Constitution, climbed to the top of the hill for a picnic and fireworks. Charlie walked over there and said it was beautiful and peaceful up there.

Seeing some of our country's early history from the water has been so wonderful. But we'd have to say that it is making friends like Ann and her husband Hank and many other friends we have made since we left home nearly ten months ago, that puts this trip over the top.

To all our friends out there on the Loop and our friends back home;

we appreciate your friendship very much.

Sincerely,

Linda and Charlie