ST. ANNE’S EPISCOPAL CHURCH

The site of St. Anne’s on Church Circle was a significant component of Governor Francis Nicholson’s 1702 plan for Annapolis, countering a corresponding circle designated for the State House. The original church built on this site c. 1704 was the physical manifestation of a 1692 act calling for the establishment of the Church of England in Maryland. The act was a blow to the colony’s Catholic proprietor who made freedom of religion a cornerstone of his provincial charter. The change influenced the 1694 decision to move the capital to Annapolis from the Catholic stronghold at St. Mary’s City. The current church, a good example of architecture inspired by the Romanesque of northern Italy, is actually the third on-site, erected after a fire destroyed the second church, built in 1785–1792. Its Gothic Revival spire was added in 1865–1866. The basilica-plan interior, with a long nave and side aisles, incorporates an impressive display of exposed ceiling beams supported by large-scale ornamental brackets. Sculptor William H. Rinehart carved the stone altar and baptismal font. Tiffany stained glass windows were added in 1893 and German walnut reredos behind the altar in 1920. Its picturesque surrounding includes old-growth trees and a cemetery that dates to the mid-eighteenth century.