Historic St. Mary's City, the site of the fourth permanent settlement in British North America, Maryland's first capital, and the birthplace of religious toleration, invites you to explore the lifeways of Maryland's first citizens.
Historic St. Mary's City is an exciting mix of colorful living history and fascinating archaeology, all set in a beautiful tidewater landscape. Lord Baltimore's 17th-century capital stands ready to be rediscovered.
In the late 16th and early 17th centuries, England began efforts to develop a New World empire in North America. The beginnings were financed by allowing entrepreneurs, some of them joint stock companies, some of them individual proprietors, to establish colonies along the Atlantic seacoast. In 1632, Cecil Calvert, the second Baron of Baltimore, was granted a charter to what is now the state of Maryland.
