Celebrate Maryland’s 379th anniversary with pomp, pageantry, and free admission to Historic St. Mary’s City (HSMC)! Festivities will take place on Saturday, March 23, 2013 from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
Begin your visit in Town Center, where visitors are invited to enjoy March winds, wide open spaces, and a very old sport – kite flying. Bring your own kite and join HSMC’s colonists in Chapel Field as we play March winds from 10 a.m. – 12 noon. Enjoy living history at Smith’s Ordinary, the Indian Hamlet, the Spray Plantation, and onboard the Maryland Dove from 10:00 a.m. until 4:00 p.m.
At 1 p.m., plan to gather at the Visitor Center for the official program. Join dignitaries, the militia, and citizens for speeches, awards, and the Ceremony of the Flags, where children representing each Maryland jurisdiction present their county colors to the crowd. Keynote speaker Cheryl LaRoche, Ph.D. lecturer, consultant, researcher, and professor will consider reasons to look beyond the “big stories” in history. HSMC’s highest award, the Cross Bottony, will be presented to Lawrence Leak, Ph.D., a HSMC Commissioner and long-time supporter and advocate for the museum. At noon and 2:30 p.m., relax in the Brick Chapel as PING, the a cappella chorus from St. Mary’s College of Maryland, weaves intricate tapestries of sound beneath the barrel-vault ceiling. Expressions of St. Mary’s will offer a variety of regional and child-friendly meals and snacks for sale.
Historic St. Mary’s City is a museum of living history and archaeology on the site of Maryland’s first capital in beautiful, tidewater Southern Maryland. For more information about this program or the museum, contact the Visitor Center at 240-895-4990, 800-SMC-1634, or info@stmaryscity.org.
