Founded in 1634, St. Mary's City is the fourth oldest permanent English colony in North America and served as Maryland's capital until 1695. Because its remains were largely undisturbed by later development, it offers an unparalleled look at early America. Archaeological excavations began there in the 1930s and continue today, while neighboring Historic St. Mary's City serves as a living history museum and archaeological treasure where exhibits, reconstructed buildings, and staff interpreters connect seventeenth-century life with the present on both the city grounds and the college campus. Established in 1840 by Maryland's General Assembly as the state's monument school of the people to commemorate the colony's founding principles, St. Mary's College of Maryland remains a public liberal arts institution. In 1992 it was designated the state's Honors College, and it continues as a coeducational residential school committed to affordability, accessibility, and diversity, consistently ranked among the country's top liberal arts colleges. Teddy Turner R.E. "Teddy" Turner IV first met the college sailing team in 1989 at the Soviet Offshore Championship Black Sea Cup in Odessa, Ukraine, where his team won the event and began a lasting friendship between the college and the Turner family. That relationship was strengthened by his donation of the offshore sailing yacht Challenge America and by his service as a college trustee. In 2000 he started Charleston Boatworks, a full-service yacht repair and brokerage company, and he promotes junior and high school sailing, leadership training, Special Olympics, and recreational sailing through the South Carolina Maritime Foundation and the Charleston Community Sailing Foundation.