St. Mary's City, Maryland

St. Mary's City was Maryland's first capital. It turned 375 years old this year.

For a long time, the remnants of the city lay buried under farm fields and a more modern house (the Brome Howard Inn). In the 1970s they decided to excavate the site.

Today, the site contains "faithfully" rebuilt structures and a lot of old timey people who show you how things were done in the 1600s. I believe many of the people are associated with the university and actually know what they are talking about.

There is a print shop (my personal favorite), an ordinary (like an inn), a church, a store, an old house, and even a recreated Indian hamlet. One of the most impressive sites is an old sailing ship. It isn't a reproduction of the actual ships that landed on St. Mary's shore, but it is from the time period. There's just something about old sailboats.

There's also a museum on site where you can watch a film about St. Mary's history and (of course) a gift shop. There are demonstrations throughout the day. It's complete nerd entertainment.