Preservation Maryland

The old joke, oft repeated, about the mercurial climate of Maryland is that if you don’t like the weather, just wait five minutes. While the official start to the summer of 2023 has been unseasonably cool, it doesn’t come close to the below-normal temperatures of 1816, or what was then called, “The Year Without a Summer.”

On June 14, 1777, the Second Continental Congress passed a resolution stating that “the flag of the United States be 13 stripes, alternate red and white,” and that “the union be 13 stars, white in a blue field, representing a new constellation.” More than 100 years later, in 1916, President Wilson officially established June 14 as National Flag Day.

Entrance Hall, Government House, Annapolis in 2009

Located in Annapolis next to the State House, the Government House is the official residence of the Governor of Maryland. The Government House has been the home of Maryland Governors since 1870, when Governor Oden Bowie and his family became its first residents. Now home to Maryland’s 63rd Governor Wes Moore and his family, the Victorian-style residence was built at the end of the nineteenth century. However, in 1935, renovations on the house began and over the course of the twentieth century the home’s appearance was altered, leading it to its current Georgian-style appearance.

Maryland Day is the anniversary of when the first European settlers landed in Maryland. They disembarked from ships called the Ark and the Dove and landed on St. Clement’s Island in St. Mary’s County on March 25th, 1634. Marylanders began celebrating the anniversary in 1903 when the State Board of Education declared the day an important one in Maryland’s history. In 1916, Maryland Day became a legal state holiday. Today Preservation Maryland is celebrating Maryland Day by featuring our state’s 23 counties and one independent city. Read below for a unique historic place to visit in each county.