State House Inn (18AP42)

The State House Inn is a 19th- to 20th-century standing hotel/inn, with possible 18th-century structures. The site is located between Main Street and State Circle in Annapolis, with the surrounding topography gently sloping toward the Annapolis harbor. About a third of the property on the end towards State Circle consists of a yard with up to 3 feet of archaeological deposits. Excavation of basement appears to have destroyed any earlier remains under the existing structure, which covers the remaining two thirds of the property.

In March of 1985, archaeological excavations were undertaken in the yard of the State House Inn, by Joseph Hopkins III, Don Creveling, and Paul Shackel, as part of a larger investigation of the Baroque town plan of Annapolis and prior to planned landscaping work on the property.

Archaeologists excavated six 5x5-foot excavation units and four 2.5x5-foot units, placed between the porch of the Inn and the pavement of State Circle, including two of the half-units being located under the sidewalk. The goal of excavations in the yard was to detect archaeological evidence of curbs, fence lines, and postholes which would allow the researchers to measure and date alterations to State Circle. Also needed was a profile of the original topography of State House Hill and its subsequent stratigraphy.

A principal discovery was the steep slope in the natural topography of the site. In Unit 39, adjacent to the present sidewalk, sterile soil was found at an average depth of 1.0 ft. below the present ground surface. In Unit 42, 15 feet further away from the circle, sterile soil was encountered at an average depth of 4.0 ft. below the present ground surface. One of the west wall profiles for the State House Inn yard shows not only the natural slope of the topography, but also a distinct cut just outside a line of postholes marking an outer boundary of an earlier, wider circle (Feature 7 in Unit 39).

Although the State Circle was in use by 1695, and a structure may have been on the State House Inn property by 1723 (definitely by the late 18th century), analysis of the archaeological record indicates that there was little deposition of artifacts during the early 18th century.

The uppermost layers on the site, I and II, were disturbed by the recent renovations to the State House Inn and contained modern gravel and construction debris. Beneath these mixed layers, layers III through VII each had a terminus post quern of 1795. The archaeologists concluded that there was a major deposition of rubble and soil in the yard of the State House Inn during and just after the American Revolution, presumably in order to level the steep natural slope of State House Hill.

Evidence for earlier boundary markers for State Circle takes the form of a line of seven features found toward the northern end of the site, five of which were likely post holes and the other two features unidentified. The line they form runs about 12 ft. south of and parallel to the present curb of State Circle and about 3 ft. south of the edge of the present sidewalk.

Feature 7.3, which was probably a pit, had a ceramic date of 1733 (n=5) and a T.P.Q. of 1715. Only one posthole, Feature 7, contained and datable material, two pieces of ceramic from the 1770s, a sample too small to be reliable. The remaining postholes appear to have been dug into layers VI and VII and may therefore be assumed to be more recent than those layers, intruding into them after their deposition.

There are at least two conclusions to be drawn from this project. The excavations at the State House Inn demonstrate that at least in the case of the two circles, which are the foci of the Nicholson plan, there is evidence that may be recovered concerning both Nicholson's original design, and the three centuries of alterations to it. The identification of postholes, cutting, and filling demonstrate the kinds of evidence needed to search out at other points along the edges of both circles to understand the complex series of alterations that have cumulatively diminished each circle by a considerable amount.

More importantly, demonstrated is the ability of a site like the State House Inn to comment on a tension that has existed within Annapolis ever since Nicholson laid out his Baroque plan. The tension is between the commercial needs of the city and the function of the town plan as an active guide to the sources of power within the city and colony. Alterations to the town plan were not made in the form of cutting a grid through the existing plan. Rather, there are examples like the State House Inn (18AP42) where there was the archaeological record of alterations to the property like filling and fencing, that made it more usable commercially, but which did not conflict with the symbolic function of the plan. This re-adaption to a commercial use occurred during the late 18th century. By this time, Annapolis was no longer the social and political center of the Chesapeake and its Golden Age had faced.

The use of the State House Inn property is just one of the many cases in Annapolis where land use decisions have served the interests of commerce while preserving the Baroque character of the city. The archeological version accommodation is important because it characterizes not only Annapolis since Nicholson, but also Nicholson's work itself. Nicholson accommodated his Baroque vision to the pre-existing town, platted by Richard Beard. The result of this work has added to the understanding of Nicholson's plan as dynamic and not simply as a static, aesthetic achievement, of value principally as a work of art.

(Written by Patricia Samford, from archeological site survey form, Maryland Historical Trust)