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Reconstructed (1934) State House in St. Mary's City, Maryland, the first capital of Maryland, 2009 photo by Acroterion, licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.

Archaeologists uncover Maryland’s first capital

Catherine Saunders-Watson
Catherine Saunders-Watson
Reconstructed (1934) State House in St. Mary's City, Maryland, the first capital of Maryland, 2009 photo by Acroterion, licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.
Reconstructed (1934) State House in St. Mary’s City, Maryland, the first capital of Maryland, 2009 photo by Acroterion, licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.

ST. MARY’S CITY, Md. (AP) – Archaeologists have uncovered the stone and brick foundation of a St. Mary’s City structure that served as Maryland’s first state house.

The Calvert House site was identified in the 1980s. On Thursday, the Historic St. Mary’s City museum announced its excavations uncovered the structure’s foundation and cellars.

The museum says it’s the first time in 30 years that new portions of the Calvert House foundations have been exposed in excavations.

Calvert House was built soon after the settlement of Maryland was established. It was the home for the settlement’s founder and first governor, Leonard Calvert. It later served as an inn and a courthouse.

In 1662, the Province of Maryland purchased it to serve as the first state house. It served as the capital for most of the 17th century.

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ADDITIONAL IMAGE OF NOTE

Reconstructed (1934) State House in St. Mary's City, Maryland, the first capital of Maryland, 2009 photo by Acroterion, licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.
Reconstructed (1934) State House in St. Mary’s City, Maryland, the first capital of Maryland, 2009 photo by Acroterion, licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.