Take a Low-Key Trip Back in Time
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Let's say you want to travel back in time this weekend, but Williamsburg and Gettysburg seem just a bit too far for an easy day trip.
No worries. There's a fascinating destination two hours south of Washington that will let you stay closer to home and venture back through history.
Historic St. Mary's City was Maryland's first capital, founded in 1634 by a group of English settlers led by the high-ranking Calvert family.
Although the city largely disappeared in the early 1700s, historians and archaeologists have collaborated to re-create much of the early settlement: homes, a tobacco plantation, the State House and an inn/coffeehouse.
Costumed guides offer lessons on the life and history of the city, but it's largely an unhurried, peaceful tour. It's easy to see why the Calverts chose such a lovely locale, situated on the banks of the wide, rolling St. Mary's River, for their new place of residence. And the museum's curators have worked to keep that quiet spirit even as they encourage visitor foot traffic. (Don't expect to encounter ice cream vendors every 10 feet, but there are some picnic benches and tranquil spots for sitting along the river.)
The visitor center will set you up with the basic history of the settlement, and then it's just a mile-long round-trip stroll though the reconstructed enclave. Highlights include two Yaocomaco Indian longhouses and a re-created 17th-century ship called the Maryland Dove.
A few hours here might leave you wishing long-ago history could always be viewed so close up.
· Historic St. Mary's City, off Route 5, 800-762-1634. http:/
Historic London Town and Gardens
This 23-acre park in Anne Arundel County is the site of an ongoing archaeological dig for remnants of a largely lost 17th- and 18th-century town. Tour a Georgian-style house dating to the mid-1700s, and learn how archaeologists are excavating the area.
· Historic London Town, 839 Londontown Rd., Edgewater. 410-222-1919.http:/
