Visitors have been flocking to Annapolis for decades to experience the architecture lining its colonial streets, the artwork found in its numerous art galleries and historic buildings, and the monuments that enrich the city. You’ll find everything from 17th-century cannons and important historic American figures cast in bronze memorials, to contemporary art in galleries, to murals painted on buildings and walls.
In addition to long-standing works by noted artists such as Charles Willson Peale, Francis Blackwell Mayer, Louis Comfort Tiffany, and William H. Rinehart, contemporary local and regional artists showcase their work in Annapolis’ many galleries or across the city as muralists and sculptors spurred on by the Art in Public Places Commission. Works of art in some of the city’s most prominent landmarks, like the Maryland State House, the USNA Museum, St. John’s College, and the homes of Annapolis’ noted colonial-era inhabitants, are sure to please any art lover. Once you’ve visited, it’s easy to see why Annapolis was named one of the nation’s Top 25 Arts Destinations in magazine’s 12th annual Arts Destination Poll.
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Monuments
Annapolis is home to a wide array of monuments scattered throughout the city. Monuments in the Yard (grounds) at the United States Naval Academy include the Tripoli Monument honoring those killed in 1804 during the first Barbary War (1801-1805); the Macedonian Monument honoring the victory of the USS United States over the HMS Macedonian in the War of 1812; the Midshipmen’s Monument that honors Naval Academy alumni who lost their lives during the Mexican War in 1846 and 1847; the figurehead of Tecumseh (chief of the Delaware Indians from 1628-1698) cast from the wooden figurehead of the USS Delaware; and the Herndon Monument, a memorial to Captain William Lewis Herndon of the SS Central America who chose to go down with his ship and his men in 1857 when the vessel foundered in a severe storm. The Naval Academy is open to the public all year; visitors can join a guided tour or stroll the Yard at their own pace. A valid government-issued ID is required for admittance for anyone 21 years and older; anyone younger than 21, without a valid ID, must be accompanied by an adult with a valid ID.
Chartered in 1784, St. John’s College is as historic as it is architecturally beautiful, with a number of notable monuments dotting its campus. The French Monument, secluded at the back of the campus near the College Creek boathouse, marks the graves of French soldiers and sailors who died in the Revolutionary War. It was dedicated in 1911 by President Taft and French Ambassador Jean J. Jusserand and is among the first monuments in this country to honor unknown war dead. The Alumni Memorial Tablet, just inside the grounds on College Avenue in front of McDowell Hall, pays tribute to St. John’s students who served in World War I. The figure on the Art Deco-style tablet depicts the alma mater mourning the 24 alumni, whose names are inscribed on the shield, who gave their lives in that conflict. Nearby, the Liberty Bell replica is one of 48 cast in 1950 to promote the nationwide sale of defense bonds. These and many other monuments can be found spread throughout the city.
Sculptures
With over 350 years of history, it’s easy to understand why Annapolis has so many statues dedicated to important historic figures and events that shaped the history of America. Again, the United States Naval Academy has a number of sculptures honoring influential members of this elite institution, such Lt. General John A. Lejeune, the 13th Commandant of the Marine Corps; Vice Admiral William P. Lawrence and James B. Stockdale, prisoners of war during the Vietnam conflict; and the Submarine Service Centennial monument dedicated to those lost at sea. The doors of the USNA Chapel are another example of the Academy’s grandeur. Standing twenty-two feet tall and ten feet wide, the bronze doors are an allegorical sculpture symbolizing war and peace, the work of Evelyn Longman, winner of an open design competition. And definitely not least, a bronze sculpture near Gate 1 honors “Bill the Goat,” USNA’s mascot since 1890.
The Maryland State House offers more sculptures for art lovers visiting Annapolis. The Thurgood Marshall statue out front on Lawyers’ Mall is dedicated to the first African American Justice of the Supreme Court, with related sculptures commemorating his most notable civil rights victories. Other subjects include the Rear Admiral Winfield Scott Schley statue dedicated to the Spanish-American War hero, and statues of John Hanson and Charles Carroll of Carrollton, smaller replicas of the bronze statues in the U.S. Capitol Building. Another statue on the State House grounds, outside the west wall, honors Johann de Kalb. A major general in the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War, De Kalb, wounded at the Battle of Camden, was the only Continental Army general to die on the battlefield. The Kunta Kinte-Alex Haley Memorial at City Dock overlooks the Annapolis harbor. The statue illustrates Haley (author of Roots) reading his novel aloud, relating the arrival of his ancestor Kunta Kinte on the Lord Ligonier in 1767, to a group of children.
Murals
Murals comprise a distinctive part of Annapolis’s art and culture experience. Ranging from large, historic paintings to modern art masterpieces decorating entire buildings, Annapolis has a bit of everything. The United States Naval Academy wall on King George Street features a painting of John Paul Jones’s ship, Ranger, during battle, while a wall in the Council Chamber in City Hall displays a massive painting commemorating the 300th anniversary of the move of the capital from St. Mary’s City. The scene is intended to depict a public reading of the city’s 1708 charter. “Street Art” murals are also noticeable throughout the city; whether they adorn the front entrance of a restaurant or decorate a neighborhood street corner, you’ll be surrounded by murals in Annapolis. There’s the 1960s era photo of Annapolis’ Farmers Market at City Dock Park, the Wings and Sails mural next to the walkway behind City Hall, award-winning photographer Marion Warren’s blown-up images of Annapolis’ early days on the walls of a West Street parking lot, and many others all across the city. Recent additions to Annapolis’s mural scene are Annapolis becoming more colorful with the addition of new murals and public art. Several new projects have helped to bring our community closer together, and even into the national spotlight.
The first is by Annapolis local artist Comacell Brown, who designed a mural dedicated to Carlester Smith, Annapolis’s legendary “Walking Man,” known for his fast-walking and trash-collecting activities along local streets for decades, stretching back some 40 years. Located on the side wall of Pinkey’s Liquors in outer West Street, this work is the first of two planned murals to be painted along West Street that will honor Smith, a community icon of sorts.
The second is the mural of Breonna Taylor painted in a former basketball court in Annapolis’s Chambers Park. Taylor was killed in March2020 by three Louisville KY, Metropolitan Police Department officers during the execution of a no-knock warrant; her death has become a flashpoint in national demonstrations over police brutality. This 7,000 square-foot mural was planned to be of a scale that it could be viewed by a satellite from space. The project was led by Annapolis-based Future History Now, a non-profit art collective that creates murals with youth facing adversity in underserved communities. It was painted over the July 4 weekend, 2020, by more than 40 volunteers and 10 teaching artists following a gridded plan, with social distancing measures in place.
In May of 2022, the Annapolis Maritime Museum & Park (AMM) unveiled a one-of-a-kind new, permanent, Chesapeake Bay-inspired mural on the exterior wall of the Museum. The mural was painted by famed local artist Cindy Fletcher-Holden and funded by the Maryland State Arts Council and the Art in Public Places Commission (AIPPC), which is part of the Annapolis City Council.
In September 0f 2022, an interactive mural by artists Cindy Fletcher-Holden and Comacell Brown Jr. completed “The Best Place — For All” mural on the east wall of the Arundel Center on West Street. Not only does the mural feature familiar figures, sites and creatures, but it “comes to life” when the viewer scans a QR code and then holds their phone to the mural. The art begins to move, with planes flying, fish jumping, and boats moving along the wall. Passersby can become part of the mural when they hold the fishing rod, try it and see for yourself!
There are also recently-added murals in Downtown’s Historic District, at the Annapolis Towne Center at Parole, and in the Greater Annapolis Design District. The mural initiative of the Design District started with a partnership with Urban Walls Brazil; twelve murals are now located in an industrial area bounded by West Street, Chinquapin Round Road, Legion Avenue, and Forest Drive. See an interactive map of murals in this district.
Museums Featuring the Arts
There are a number of Annapolis museums in town offering history lessons ranging from watermen’s culture and the Chesapeake Bay to colonial architecture and 18th-century life. At the world-class United States Naval Academy Museum, two floors devoted to the Navy’s past give visitors an extensive history lesson. Bringing in over 100,000 people a year, the museum offers exhibits about the history of sea power, the U.S. Navy’s development and accomplishments, and the role the USNA has played in making the Navy what it is today. Located on the 2nd deck (second floor) of the museum, the Class of 1951 Gallery of Ships houses one of the world’s finest collections of warship models from the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries.
The Elizabeth Myers Mitchell Art Museum is a hidden treasure in historic Annapolis. Accredited by the American Alliance of Museums in 2012 and dedicated since it opened in 1989 to bringing world-renowned art to Annapolis, the Mitchell Art Museum’s modern design won a Citation of Merit from the American Institute of Architects. It attracts over 10,000 visitors a year to its exhibits which are of an unusual range and diversity for a gallery of its size. Exhibitions have included works of celebrated artists such as Bruegel, Calder, Rembrandt, Rodin, Motherwell, and Johns; exhibitions of unique historical and regional interest, such as photography by A. Aubrey Bodine and Marion Warren; and the National Craft Show. Interpretive programs include lectures, gallery talks, docent tours, and children’s programs.
The Chase-Lloyd House (1769), Hammond-Harwood House (1774), William Paca House and Garden (1765), and Charles Carroll House (mid-18thth century) are all superlative examples of the city’s colonial architecture as well as museums open to the public. All but the Carroll House display collections of period furniture and decorative arts, including paintings by Charles Willson Peale (1741-1827) and furniture by John Shaw (1745-1829).
Named after Marylanders Benjamin Banneker and Frederick Douglass, the Banneker-Douglass-Tubman Museum highlights the innovations, resilience, and achievements of African American Marylanders, including Matthew Henson, the first African American to explore the Arctic, who accompanied Robert Peary and was the first man to reach the North Pole; and Herbert Milton Frisby, a Maryland-born soldier stationed in the Aleutian Islands of Alaska during WWII, who made two Arctic excursions in the summers of 1943 and 1944, one to Hudson Bay and the other beyond the Arctic Circle to Kotzebue, Alaska. Once an African Methodist Episcopal Church, the museum now showcases Maryland history in rotating exhibits, offering visitors a different lesson each time they enter.
The Annapolis Maritime Museum includes two campuses. The original campus includes a small museum at the mouth of Back Creek in Eastport, overlooking the Chesapeake Bay and housed in what was the last oyster-packing plant in Annapolis. The Museum engages visitors in an interactive experience that highlights the oyster and its role in shaping both the history and the maritime culture of Annapolis and the Chesapeake Bay as a whole. The Museum’s Bay Room is an ideal setting for programs and events, and frequently is the setting for art exhibits highlighting local artists who focus their work on the Chesapeake Bay and those that work its waters. The Museum’s other location, called the Park campus, is located on Edgewood Drive and includes trails, docks, and an Education Center.
Arts Centers
Both of our multi-disciplinary Arts Centers are also homes for the Performing Arts, Galleries, Classrooms, and Studios.
The Maryland Hall for Creative Arts brings together people of all ages and backgrounds to strengthen community and experience the power of the arts. Discover an energy where the arts serve to connect, empower, inspire and heal through arts education, visual arts, performing arts and entertainment. Established in 1979 as a groundbreaking public/private partnership with Anne Arundel County Public Schools (AACPS) that transformed the vacated and beautiful Annapolis High School building into a vibrant home for the arts to be shared by all, MD Hall now serves more than 100,000 people a year. Today, over a dozen arts organizations and professional artists have studio, office and performing space within one building. This includes Four Resident Companies: Annapolis Opera, Annapolis Symphony Orchestra, Ballet Theatre of Maryland and Live Arts Maryland. The diverse mix of arts activities on the campus makes Maryland Hall unique among arts and cultural centers nationally and positions Annapolis as an arts destination for our region’s residents.
The Chesapeake Arts Center (CAC) is a 58,000 square-foot multi-disciplinary arts center located in Northern Anne Arundel County, just inside the Baltimore beltway. CAC serves 50,000 visitors annually through diverse arts experiences in two theaters — a 752-seat Main Stage theater and a 120-seat Black Box — 2 exhibit galleries, 2 ceramics studios, 2 dance studios, the Michael Stanley MakerSpace, a STEAM classroom, and other multi-purpose arts classrooms and spaces. CAC’s year-round arts experiences include hundreds of classes and workshops each year for all ages and backgrounds in disciplines ranging from dance, drama, and STEAM to ceramics, visual arts and cosplay.
Performing Arts
From musical comedies to classic dramas, performing arts venues in Annapolis offer a wide variety of options for visitors and residents to discover.
An outdoor community theatre, Annapolis Summer Garden Theatre produces musicals (featuring live music) every summer at a historic property. Housed in a building that dates to the early 1800s, it is an intimate setting in historic Annapolis to enjoy live productions presented in a unique outdoor space during the summer months only. Annapolis Summer Garden Theatre recently celebrated 50 years of performances in 2016.
Colonial Players offers a wide variety of dramatic productions in the heart of downtown Annapolis. Founded in 1949 by a group of Annapolitans dedicated to bringing high quality theater to what was then a very small town on the Chesapeake Bay, the theater continues to thrive with a dedicated corps of volunteers and a loyal subscriber base.
Founded in the spring of 2011, Compass Rose Theater is a small non-profit professional theater, which produces productions of the highest caliber. Compass Rose Theater also offers classes and workshops to students of all ages, with two productions every season offering roles to student actors.
Maryland Hall for the Creative Arts also houses the Ballet Theater of Maryland, the Annapolis Symphony Orchestra, and the Annapolis Opera.
Experience The Area
With the support of our local partners and associations, Chesapeake Crossroads is dedicated to preserving the attractions, locations, and stories that showcase art and culture in the area. If you are interested in experiencing the area’s rich art and culture for yourself, you can plan a visit to one of our partner sites, attend a local seminar or lecture series, or join us for one of many monthly events in the region.