Printmaking will be one the colonial crafts demonstrated at the William Paca House. Photo courtesy Historic Annapolis.
Unfurl the flags and light up the sparklers: the long-awaited celebration of the USA’s 250th birthday kicks off this month, and Annapolis is all in. The city is throwing a party that will show off the best-preserved colonial capital in the nation and highlight its revolutionary spirit across centuries, and everyone’s invited.
Local planning for the 250th, a.k.a. the semi-quincentennial, began back in 2023, when Alderwoman Karma O’Neill presented a resolution to establish an Annapolis 250 Commission. With City Council approval, O’Neill and other interested residents formed the commission and began to ponder what shape the celebration might take. “The National Park Service had published suggestions on possible themes that communities might want to highlight,” O’Neill recalled. “We chose to work with three: Power of Place, We the People, and Unfinished Revolutions.”
O’Neill noted that actual events in 18th-century Annapolis tie directly to those themes. “Annapolis had four signers of the Declaration of Independence, and George Washington and Thomas Jefferson walked these very streets. It certainly was a place that was central to the revolution, and diverse peoples of many backgrounds contributed. The burning of the ship Peggy Stewart, the story of Kunte Kinte—there are so many stories to tell, but we wanted to focus on Annapolis and the people of Maryland.”
The commission highlighted 16 local sites where history was made in an exceptionally beautiful pocket publication, the Annapolis 250 Passport, which offers a fold-out map, photos, and descriptions of each location. It’s not only a useful guide, but a handsome souvenir of the 250th, and it’s available free at downtown businesses and the Visit Annapolis office on West Street.
Reenactor Nathan Richardson will deliver Frederick Douglass’s famous speech, “For What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?” Photo courtesy Historic Annapolis.
Another commission project has been encouraging personal reflections on the celebration through Voices 250, which invites residents of Annapolis and Anne Arundel County to share their answers to the question, “What does the pursuit of happiness mean to me?” Each reflection will be gathered to create a mosaic of ideas that showcase the community’s experiences, perspectives, and hopes.
Finally, Annapolis 250 has assembled a bang-up, two-day schedule of festivities for all, kicking off with an outdoor screening of Hamilton on the lawn at St. John’s College on Friday, July 3rd and continuing with a full day of fun on the Fourth, including costumed reenactors, music, storytelling, parades, and fireworks across town. (See inset for the complete schedule.)
“It will be an old-fashioned, back-to-basics celebration, full of things like bike parades, food trucks, dancers, and the USNA band at the State House,” O’Neill said. “Not fancy or glamorous, but fun.”
Historic Annapolis will celebrate the 250th with live events at its leading properties: the Museum of Historic Annapolis, the William Paca House and Gardens, and the Hogshead Trades Museum. A single ticket will cover admission to all sites. Highlights include guided tours by Annapolis Living Historians, a Colonial Beer Garden and music at the Paca House, fiddlers at the Hogshead Trades Museum, live demonstrations of silhouette making, and more.
“A big part of this for us is the context—how Annapolis shaped the birth of a new nation and the ideals of the revolution,” said Corey Ruth, Vice President of Communications for Historic Annapolis. He added that Historic Annapolis’ 250 events will continue throughout 2026. “Later this summer, we’ll be shining a light on individuals who were significant to the revolution, including Annapolis’ Tilghman family, Asian and African participants in the war, and Maryland’s First Regiment—both the soldiers and the camp followers who accompanied them.”
Visit Annapolis’s “Be Revolutionary: America 250 Exploration Trail” spans more than 50 locations, offering chances to earn points and win prizes. Photo courtesy Visit Annapolis and Anne Arundel County.
Visit Annapolis and Anne Arundel County is promoting the region’s biggest tourism event of 2026 with a new initiative, the Be Revolutionary: America 250 Exploration Trail. The trail includes more than 50 historic, cultural, and community sites across Anne Arundel County, with each location sharing its own revolutionary story through interpretive panels. Sites range from museums and archives to farms, breweries, libraries, and waterfront landmarks. To participate, visitors download a mobile passport to their phones and scan the QR code posted at each Be Revolutionary venue. At each location, they’ll earn points that they can collect and redeem for prizes.
Heather Ersts, Director of Tourism Development at Visit Annapolis, said that while the Exploration Trail gives out-of-towners plenty to discover, it’s equally valuable for residents who want to experience the breadth of local history. “We’ve gotten lots of feedback on the Trail from people who live here, saying ‘We had no idea about this!’”
This Fourth of July, join Annapolis’s 250th celebration and savor the extraordinary historic legacy that surrounds us. And happy birthday, America!
