AROUND THE PARK AGAIN by Sharon Lee Tegler
Brought to you by Jing Ying Institute of Kung Fu & Tai Chi
Even as we write this at 6 pm on Wednesday, July 8th, patriotic citizens throughout Anne Arundel County have gathered to Share the Spirit of America by reading the Declaration of Independence aloud at more than a dozen historic sites organized and supported by the Chesapeake Crossroads Heritage Area.
The organization noted that, on July 8, 1776, Colonel John Nixon delivered the first public reading of the Declaration in the State House Yard—now Independence Square—in Philadelphia. For many colonists, it was the first time they heard the revolutionary promises of equality, unalienable rights, and self-governance that would become the foundation of a new nation.
This evening, 250 years later, the Chesapeake Crossroads Heritage Area joined the nationwide program initiated by the Hawai’i America 250 Commission in commemorating this historic moment through a collective public reading. Among other sites, readings were being conducted in Annapolis at Jonas & Anne Catharine Green Park, at Annapolis City Hall, on the front steps of the Chase Lloyd House, at the Eastport Yacht Club, the Chesapeake Children’s Museum, Lawyers Mall, Fleet Street Pocket Park, and with Historic Annapolis onboard the Catherine Marie. Readings were further held at Historic Londontown in Edgewater, Woodlawn History Center at the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center in Edgewater, at Galesville Heritage House in Galesville, at the Captain Avery Museum in Shadyside, at Ft. Smallwood Park in Pasadena, and at the Benson Hammond House on Aviation Boulevard near BWI.
Local celebrations for America’s 250th Anniversary actually began on June 3 with Maryland State DAR chapters’ planting of a Liberty Tree at Historic Rising Sun Inn in Crownsville – a perfect sight for the tree as the home’s owner Henry Baldwin served in the Revolutionary War. The bright green sapling is a direct genetic descendant of the 400-year-old Liberty Tree at St. John’s College that was lost in a storm.
The State of Maryland also celebrated the 250th birthday of our country at the end of June with Sail 250 Maryland & Airshow with tall ships from around the world traversing the Baltimore Harbor and an airshow featuring flyovers by the U.S. Navy Blue Angels, the British Royal Air Force Red Arrows and the French Air & Space Force Patrouille de France. The Patrouille de France which flew from Andrews Air Force Base. However, it was a rare treat to see the Blue Angels and Red Arrows operating from the ramp at historic Martin State Airport. For decades, Martin housed the Maryland Air National Guard‘s 175th Wing which had locally based A-10C aircraft until losing them in September of 2025, leaving the 175th Wing as the nation’s only Air National Guard unit without planes.
and, if that wasn’t special enough…
It was fitting that Historic Annapolis celebrated the birth of our nation in great style beginning on July 3 with a naturalization ceremony held on the rear terrace of the William Paca House and Garden. On July 4th, 250th anniversary festivities kicked off at the William Paca House and Garden, Hogshead Trades Museum, and the Museum of Historic Annapolis where, among other historic reenactors, Elizabeth Bersche portrayed Mary Clare MacCubbin Brice (wife of John Brice III), Elizabeth Figler portrayed Mary Darnell Carroll (wife of Charles Carroll of Carrollton) and Gema Gonzalez portrayed Margret Brown Stone (wife of Thomas Stone).
At the Hogshead Trades Museum, historical reenactor Pat Turlington portrayed one of the townspeople of Annapolis showing off the red, white and blue in her own special way.
Putting together information and images for this column reminded me that, regardless of Maryland’s changing political climate, Annapolis has always been a patriotic town. I recently came across black & white images in the John H. Tegler photo collection that were taken during the Annapolis Bicentennial recreation of General George Washington and French Major General Comte Jean de Rochambeau’s march down General’s Highway (passing the Rising Sun Inn) to Annapolis from where the troops sailed to Jamestown to defeat the British at Yorktown during the American Revolution. The reenactment troops were headquartered on the grounds of St. John’s College where a long-standing monument to French Soldiers and Sailors of the American Revolution stands in a grove of trees above College Creek.
The reenactment was quite ambitious involving troops, camp followers, and horses.
As far as further 250th Anniversary (or Semiquincentennial) celebrations are concerned, the most notable – the Greater Severna Park & Arnold Chamber‘s rescheduled Severna Park Independence Day Parade – will now take place this Saturday, July 11th. According to Chamber CEO Liz League, everything remains the same as before with the parade stepping off from the parking lots at St. Martin’s-in-the-Field Church and Our Shepherd Lutheran Church and proceeding down Benfield Road to the judges’ stand in the middle of Olde Severna Park, then heading down B&A Boulevard and making a left onto Cypress Creek Road where it concludes. The parade begins at 10 am and ends at noon.
We noted from Paul Spadaro’s Facebook page that the Magothy River Association has been hard at work on a very special 250th Anniversary paddlewheel riverboat they’re calling the Magothy Queen for the Severna Park Independence Day Parade. We can’t wait to see the finished product.
And there are still more celebrations to come….
Friends of Rising Sun Inn host America 250 Colonial Dinner Celebration on July 24th
The Friends of the Rising Sun Inn invite you to Be Revolutionary! You’ll Dine like a Patriot with a curated three-course colonial dinner while taking in the atmosphere of the Revolution- era Crownsville Inn.
The America 250 Colonial Dinner Celebration will be held at the Rising Sun Inn on July 24th at 7 pm. We’re told the Inn will be looking its best, and the evening will be highlighted by a visit from young Anne Catharine Green, the trailblazing first female printer of the Maryland Gazette and printer to the Province of Maryland. Tickets will be $45 per person or $76 per couple. For tickets, visit Be Revolutionary, Dine Like A Patriot (Colonial Dinner).
The Around The Park Again column is brought to you this week by Jing Ying Institute of Kung Fu and Tai Chi at 1195 Baltimore Annapolis Blvd. – For over two decades providing martial arts training that improves cardio-vascular health, strength and flexibility while reducing stress. Jing Ying is again bringing Tai Chi to the Severna Park Community Center. The school will be holding a fun-filled summer camp this August. From health-defense to self-defense, Jing Ying provides fitness with a purpose for the whole family!
and by Lean On Dee Senior Home Care Services at 815 Ritchie Hwy., Suite 206 – When you need someone to lean on, Lean On Dee. Their experienced team of personal care management specialists and friendly companions provide high quality consistent care.
