Exhibits

The Woodland Indian Hamlet tells the story of the Yaocomoco people and other neighboring tribes. Join the staff in learning and experimenting with the skills necessary to build and run a small village like that of Indigenous people of the region.

Some of potential experiences you might have at the Woodland Indian Hamlet include:

• Fire Starting
• Food Preparation
• Pottery
• Witchott Construction
• Canoe Shaping

For your consideration and visitor discretion, The Woodland Indian Hamlet uses real animal parts, skins, bone, sinew, etc. in its day to day operations. Be aware there might be ongoing processing of animals on
site.

Step aboard Maryland Dove, experience what life was like for a sailor during the 17th century. A visit to the Waterfront at Historic St. Mary’s City reveals how waterways, and those who navigated them, linked Maryland’s colonists to the rest of the world.

A few times each year Maryland Dove does travel away from its home port at Historic St. Mary’s City for outreach voyages to other ports. Please check the Calendar for the Maryland Dove’s seasonal schedule.

A new Maryland Dove is currently being built in partnership with Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum in St. Michael’s, Maryland, and set to complete in 2021. To see updates on the build, visit www.MarylandDove.org

Some of potential experiences you might have at the Waterfront include:

• General Watercraft Maintenance
• Knot Work
• Navigation
• Woodworking

For your consideration and visitor discretion, the Maryland Dove is a functioning ship and as such is floating on the water and beholden to Coast Guard regulations. Your safety is our concern.

Begin your visit to Historic St. Mary’s City at our Visitor Center.

The Visitor Center is a complex of blue barns where one can buy tickets, grab a visitor guide/map, learn a little history, and find out what activities are happening at the museum. A ten-minute introductory video provides background on the significance of Maryland’s first capital as well as all there is to see and do at our museum. Once you purchase your tickets you can either go directly out onto the historic landscape or you can choose to begin inside and tour the “Once the Metropolis” exhibit housed in the Visitor Center structure. At this exhibit you can learn about some of Maryland’s first colonists as well as get a quick and easy
overview of how St. Mary’s City came to be.

The Struggle for Freedom exhibit is located in a building originally built to house the men and women owned by the Brome Plantation. This exhibit aims to show what the lives of African Americans were like from before the Civil War to the early 20th century, through their struggle for freedom and ultimately, the ability to live their lives as they chose.

A Witness to 17th – century Maryland.

St. John’s Site Museum is an archaeological treasure trove of artifacts and information located on the original site of St. John’s built in 1638 by John Lewger, a close friend of Lord Baltimore. Guests get a rare look into a fully open excavated site, and learn not only about the people who made their mark here, but how archaeologists uncovered the mystery.

What Happened to “the City”? The Mackall Barn, the oldest standing agricultural structure in Maryland, is a testament to what happened in St. Mary’s after the colony moved to Annapolis, having served as a granary and a tobacco barn. Learn the evolution of its use and information about the lives of the enslaved and later freed people that worked and lived on the land.

Welcome to Town Center, the heart of St. Mary’s City. Here you will walk in the footsteps of those who built this colony, following its evolution from colonial fort to bustling trade center and, eventually, to ghost town.

Some potential experiences you might have at the Town Center site include:

• Printing
• Lawn Bowling
• Dying Cloth
• Colonial Medicine

The State House of 1676 was built in honor of Maryland’s 300th anniversary in 1934. The (reconstructed) State House of 1676 is free and open to the public during the museums operating hours.

Be aware that on occasion special programs and events are held inside the State House such as mock trials, receptions, and special demonstrations that may limit your access to the exhibit.

The Brick Chapel (ca. 1667) stands on HSMC’s landscape as a monument to religious freedom. While inside, please take the opportunity to visit the Lead Coffin Exhibit in the north transom where, through a clear glass floor, you can see the original lead coffin coverings of three 17th century colonists.