I cannot believe it took me nearly a decade of living in Maryland to finally visit the State House…read morewhich is the oldest legislative building in North America. It easy and free to tour almost any day and it is nice to see all the history here. They have the more modern (but still historic) current chambers as well as the original historic ones open to tour. Looking forward to coming back, hopefully with friends and family.

I definitely enjoy visiting state houses / state capitals, and the one in Annapolis MD was a nice…read moreone to check out. Easy access off the first floor. Quick security check and scan, then you get a badge and are on your way. There are numerous rooms to check out, some even have interactive touch screen features, that was kind of neat to see what it was like hundreds of years ago. The architecture is neat. The staircase is long but manageable, but there is a tiny elevator that you can take as well. The grounds outside are nicely manicured and there are some things to see as well including cannons and a little building that is quite old but packed with history. Annapolis was a fun place to visit and if you do, check out the state house.

Amazing museum. It is quite affordable and has so much history to learn about the history of…read moreAnnapolis such as how it was a temporary US Capital as well as all the diverse groups here such as African Americans, Women, and Jewish Americans. Came here in 4th of July along with other historic sites as part of a Historic Annapolis package and they had a small guitar exhibit too.

I was expecting a Maryland State museum in Annapolis, but instead I found this museum of historic…read moreAnnapolis. When I arrived the staff at the front desk was very welcoming and friendly. I ended up chatting with them for a while before I left. This is a fairly new museum, so I don't know why Yelp has it attached to some reviews from 2018 that must reference a different museum. The visit starts off with an introductory video. From there you can head up the stairs to see 2 more floors of exhibits. It's a small building so it's not a lot of space. But the space is filled with lots of cool artifacts and information chronicling the history of Annapolis. I didn't even know it was once the capital of the country. I like that the museum doesn't gloss over the part slavery played in Maryland history. Definitely worth a visit if you are in Annapolis.

Since I was little , historic downtown Annapolis was a place where we would come for seafood and a…read morewalks along the brick streets. There is so much history here from the kunta kinte - Alex Haley memorial to the U.S. Naval Academy to the state house and tons of little hidden gems , it's definitely worth a day outing. Parking is pay to park and starts at $4.50 for an hour but you can add as you like using your phone. Plenty of restaurants, ice cream shops and retail stores but if you have little ones in strollers, the sidewalks are brick lined and narrow fyi. If you are looking to book a boat ride , there are tons of options as well. If you've never been, what are you waiting for and don't forget to try Maryland crab cakes !!!!

I love Historic Annapolis! From the brick road, to the Kunta Kinte statue, to the water, cool ocean…read morebreeze, restaurants and festive vibes. Annapolis does it for me every-time!

When I walked up to the museum I was greeted by a museum worker (I forget his name). He was very…read moreknowledgeable and asked me if I wanted to do a guided tour or self-guided tour. I like to take my time and look at things, so I opted for the self-guided tour. Before I started on my self-guided tour, the museum worker gave me a brief history on everything that I would be seeing. This helped tremendously when I reached certain areas of the museum. The museum consists on the main house, flanked by two stables. The stables on the right contain the Stable Master's quarters. I will warn you that when you walk in the stable on the left side of the museum to be ready for the motion detector that sounds off loud horse noises. I thought I was going to shoot up to the ceiling when that naying came on. This was in the beginning of the tour, which had me tip toeing through the museum because I did not know what would be lurking around each corner. Thankfully the naying in the beginning was all for the surprises. The museum is free, however they do have a donation box. I definitely recommend taking this tour to learn about the history of horse racing not only in Maryland, but in the United States. If you are unable to tour the museum, I uploaded several pictures and you can also check out my blog in regards to the Belair Stable and Mansion at www.SomewhereInDC.com (put belair in the search box for my four-part blog).

A continuation of the Belair Mansion tour…read more... Belair Stable Museum is cool for a few reasons. - It's small and therefore a short visit. - The docent is wonderful. - You can actually go in one stable. - You get to hear an old radio. As you walk around, there is quite a bit of reading, so the tour can be anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour and a half depending on how much you like to read. Like the mansion, it is self guided. I highly recommend touring the mansion first so you understand more before going in. The one thing I like about both of these tours is the reminder that Bowie once had it's hayday too! (See what I did there? Lol).

Amazing little gem of a museum. Well designed and constructed, and our hosts that day were the…read morewonderful Karen and Tilly. So much information shared in such an interesting way! Now we know what the sticks in the water of the bay are! (I won't tell) And along with the nautical ephemera, there were prehistoric animal bones on display! Nice little gift shop, too.

Bottom Line: A delightful museum about Tilghman Island and life in the Chesapeake Bay region that…read moreis a must-visit site for first time visitors to the area. I am fascinated with the unique and rich subculture of the Chesapeake Bay region. Like the Calvert Marine Museum in Solomons, The Chesapeake Beach Railway Museum in Chesapeake Beach and the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum in St. Michaels, the Tilghman Watermen's Museum tells the history of life on and around the bay. As the name implies, the museum also recounts history specific to Tilghman Island. What I like most about the museum is that it is located inside the beautifully restored historic Lee house. The historic home is built in the "W" architecture style which is an offshoot of Victorian architecture. This style is unique to Tilghman Island. In fact, there were only 13 of them built and only seven survive. I enjoyed learning about this specific architectural style so much that I was very pleased to be able to purchase a Christmas ornament that features the Lee House. Also, we enjoyed driving around the island and identifying other W style homes. There are various exhibits in the museum including a rotating exhibit that changes annually in addition to the permanent exhibits. Currently, the rotating exhibit is about waterfowling in the area as Tilghman Island is located along the Atlantic Flyway - the north-south migratory route for birds. My father has hunted ducks and geese on the Eastern Shore his entire life and I have studied the Atlantic Flyway a bit but I still learned something new, albeit a bit horrifying about big gun boats. The permanent exhibits cover fishing, crabbing, oystering, canning and boat building. I really appreciated the pound net model because I'd only seen them from the water and never could quite grasp how they worked. The exhibit that I spent the most time marveling at was about the Tilghman Packing Company. I can almost imagine being there - I can hear the boats arriving with their bounty, I can see the workers hustling and I can smell the bizarrely delightful and familiar salty, musty smell of aging, empty oyster shells piling up. The exhibit that was most surprising was about beloved Tilghman Island resident Bill Cummings. He was a commercial waterman by trade but had a natural talent for painting. He was self-taught and his work documents a time lost on the island. I assumed the museum was self-guided but that wasn't the case. We were accompanied for most of our visit. At times it was hard to immerse myself in the exhibits for that reason. My husband's take was that the docents were really excited to have us there and wanted to make sure we had a good time and got all of our questions answered. Hopefully that was the case and not that they thought we'd be disrespectful if not closely supervised. I really appreciate all of the hardwork that has gone into restoring the Lee House and creating the museum's collections and exhibits. Tilghman Island has a proud history that they graciously share. Admission is donation based and it is certainly worthy of a donation. You can drop cash in their box or donate via your credit card. I really hope people will support this neat, quaint, local museum!

What a great little spot to check out. I was expecting this to be more of an art gallery than a…read morehistory museum. An interesting and different history of the local families who founded Copperville and Unionville just north of here. Great printing making exhibit with more religious based undertones mixed with African themes. There are some cool biblical stories mixed with folklore you wouldn't find elsewhere. They have the place pretty well organized and have completed prints as well as the different etchings to each work. The walls are covered in prints. They have books showing other original works as well. Though still in it's infancy, there is a lot of potential for the museum. Even though the building is fairly small, they have managed to pack the place full of art and are able to tell some great history of the families to go along with the works. One of the guys who helps with the place traces his ancestors back to these founding families. It's a place unlike what I've ever been to before. The museum is on the side street and there are a few parking places right in front of the building. There is also an underground railroad marker out front showing where the trail passes by.

This small museum was informative about local artist Ruth Starr Rose who was inspired by Negro…read morespirituals to make an array of art pieces from oils to pencil drawings. The staff was extremely knowledgable.

Bottom Line: A very small museum that takes visitors back in time when beach goers arrived at…read moreChesapeake Beach via rail and gives insight to the resorts and attractions that used to be here. Imagine wearing a wool suit or Victorian dress in the middle of the summer in Washington DC when it was 90 degrees with 100% humidity and air conditioning was very rare. For the middle to upper middle class Washingtonians in the early 1900s a way to beat the heat was by taking a thirty mile train ride to the western shore of the Chesapeake Bay where the water was clear (yes, back then you could be in chest deep water and see your toes) and the breezes were cool. This museum pays tribute to the Chesapeake Beach Railroad that transported beach goers to the Chesapeake Beach resort town from the early 1900s to the 1930s. The museum building itself is the original train station of the Chesapeake Beach Railroad. Before there were cars there was railroads and this station was and is located just a few hundred yards from where the Chesapeake Bay meets the shore. The train station has been restored and consists of a few rooms and the outdoor platform. The museum has lots of old vintage pictures of the train and resort as well as various artifacts, some of which I've captured in my photos: I really enjoyed the roughly 15 minute video about the railway. The video covers the route of the railway including the various stops between DC and the beach. The video also talks about the various locomotives and train cars that served the line. I also enjoyed learning about the building of the track and brides and opposition from the behemoth Pennsylvania Railroad.

The Museum is housed at The Chesapeake Resort and Spa and great for children and adults. The images…read moreand information here is well worth taking a look

If you are visiting or passing through this is well worth a visit, even if not a train/railroad…read morehistory enthusiast. The docent (James) was super friendly and eager to show you everything that this small, but well maintained piece of rail history has to see. He walked us through the three main exhibits which are made up of the main building, the tower & best maintained Caboose that I have ever seen. James provided knowledge that I was lacking and I have visited a few train museums. What this one lacks in size it definitely makes up in the presentation, preserved history and friendly enthusiasm. We left knowing more than we did before visiting, and definitely enjoyed the stop. So glad they did all that they did to ensure this was done & maintained. Definitely visit !!!

The Huntington Railroad Museum (also known as the Bowie Railroad Station Museum ) presents a look…read moreat Bowie, Maryland, through its railway heritage. The museum consists of three buildings, an interlocking tower, a combination passenger and freight station, and a waiting shelter. All three buildings were once functionally located nearby, but have been moved off of the railway right-of-way and restored. The station contains displays on the operation of the tower and the history of the Baltimore & Potomac Railroad and how, allying with the Pennsylvania Railroad, it came to be the competitor with the Baltimore & Ohio for rail traffic from Washington, DC to the Northeast. Displays also describe life in the town of Huntington, later the city of Bowie. There is a small O-gage train layout. The docent was eager to show visitors around the property. I really enjoyed going up in the tower (signal box). It still provides a vantage point up and down the Amtrak Northeast Corridor line. Much of the equipment used to control and switch trains passing throuhg the junction is in place. (Bowie Junction is now remotely controlled from Philadelphia.) The vintage wooden waiting shelter was in use by commuters until 1989 when a new station opened nearby. There is a wooden Norfolk & Western caboose, too. Not a railroad that came here, but what is railroad museum without a caboose? It's used for events and birthday parties. There is no admission, but donations are accepted.