Welcome to the Chapel Field

In 1634, approximately 140 colonists arrived to establish the colony of Maryland. Lord Baltimore intended to base its government on principles that included freedom of conscience and separation of church from state, and his policy of religious toleration was designed to enable Catholics and Protestants to live together peacefully. From its beginning, Maryland practiced a very liberal policy with respect to religious activities: taxes did not support an established church, and all Trinitarian Christians were allowed to practice their faiths. Nearly 35 years after the founding, Cecil Calvert granted a charter incorporating St. Mary's City to encourage the growth of Maryland's capital, designating it as one mile square with residential lots, inns, lodgings, and offices for clerks and lawyers, as well as a brick Roman Catholic chapel within the city's perimeter. St. Mary's City was designed on a plan based on Italian baroque ideas, with two symmetrical triangles formed by the principal streets meeting at the town center. At the far corner of one triangle stood the brick State House, built in 1676, and at the corresponding corner of the other stood the brick chapel, built circa 1667; both were 1,400 feet from the center point and may have been located as symbols of the separation of church and state envisioned by Lord Baltimore.

Maryland · United States