Celebrate Maryland where the state began! Historic St. Mary’s City (HSMC), a museum on the site of the Maryland’s first capital, will commemorate the 376th anniversary of the founding on Sunday, March 28.
Living history sites will be open free from 10:00 a.m. until 5:00 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. Marco Polo is credited with recording accounts of kite construction and use after his visit to China in 1295, thus introducing his native Italy and eventually all Europe to this invention. Originally used for military purposes and for hoisting fireworks into the sky in Asia, kites took on the more recreational aspect that we know today. An illustration of Holland from 1618 shows children flying the diamond shape kite that is so familiar. Everyone can fly beginning at 10:00 a.m. B.Y.O.K. (Bring Your Own Kite)! Be sure to leave time to tour the Godiah Spray Tobacco Plantation, the Indian Hamlet, the Maryland Dove, and the St. John’s Site Museum and grab lunch. Bear Creek Bar-B-Q will be serving on site.
The Maryland Day ceremony will take place at 1 p.m. Keynote speaker Dr. Edward C. Papenfuse, Jr., Maryland Archivist and Commissioner of Land Patents, will share The Spirit of 1634, a look at lessons to be learned and the stories yet to be told of that first year of settlement, linking them to the living history, archaeology, and reconstruction for which St. Mary's City is world renowned.
Mike Marlay will receive HSMC’s highest honor, the Cross Bottony and all will enjoy music from the First Missionary Baptist Church Youth Choir. The program will close with the Ceremony of the Flags, a perennial crowd-pleaser, when children representing each Maryland jurisdiction present their county colors.
Following the program, after the Official ceremony is over the guests will be asked to gather at the Mackall Barn for the opening of the exhibit. A Ribbon Cutting and light refreshments (cookies and lemonade) will be served.
The St. Mary’s College of Maryland Orchestra and senior soloists will perform under the direction of Jeffrey Silberschlag, conductor. The concert will take place in St. Mary’s Hall at 3:30 p.m.
The celebration of Maryland Day began in 1903, when the State Board of Education decided to dedicate a day to the study of state history. They chose March 25, the day in 1634 when Maryland's first colonists came ashore at St. Clements’s Island to give thanks for a safe passage across the Atlantic Ocean. In 1916, the General Assembly made Maryland Day a legal holiday. At HSMC, events take place on the Sunday closest to March 25.
For more information about Maryland Day or the museum, visit
http://www.stmaryscity.org/ or call 240-895-4990.
Digital and print photos are available. Please contact Susan Wilkinson at 240-895-4967 or
sgwilkinson@smcm.edu.
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