Witness to History

Leonard Calvert, Maryland's first governor, had a large wooden house built around 1636 in St. Mary's City. Measuring 40 feet wide by 68 feet long, it was one of the city's largest buildings, and because of its size the colony's Assembly often gathered there. In 1649, the "Act concerning Religion," affirming toleration of diverse Christian beliefs, was adopted there. Brick facing and chimneys were added in the 1670s. In 1662, the Maryland government bought the building as an official seat of the legislature and renamed it the "Country's House." After a brick State House was erected in 1676, the building became a public inn run by John Baker and his wife Elizabeth during the 1670s and 1680s. It stood until the early 1700s and was occupied for nearly the entire period when St. Mary's City served as Maryland's capital.

Maryland · United States