Historic Maps
Historic Figures
Francis Nicholson (1655–1728)
- Encyclopedia Virginia
- Wikipedia
National Historic Landmark District (NHLD)
- Maryland’s National Register Properties: Colonial Annapolis Historic District
- Colonial Annapolis Historic District: Wikipedia
Further Readings
- The Mathematics of an Eighteenth Century Wilderness Garden by Barbara Paca-Steele and St. Clair Wright in the Journal of Garden History (London) Vol 6 number 4, pages 299-320
- The Archeolology Of Liberty In An American Capital: Excavations in Annapolis by Dr. Mark Leone, published by the University of California Press 2005
- Annapolis Pasts edited by Paul Shackel, Paul R. Mullins and Mark S. Warner, published by The University of Tennessee Press/ Knoxville 1998.
- Earth Patterns: Essays in Landscape Archeology edited by William M. Kelso and Rachel Most published by University Press of Virginia, 1990. The article by Mark Leone and Paul Shackel, Plane and Solid Geometry in Colonial Gardens in Annapolis Maryland, discusses the original city plan of 1695 and the geometry of both William Paca and Charles Carroll of Carrolton gardens.
Preservation Lectures
The City of Annapolis and the Mayor’s Office sponsor an annual lecture in honor of Anne St.Clair Wright, the St.Clair Wright Preservation Lectures. These lectures deal with preservation issues in Annapolis and in the world beyond. They are held once a year, in the Presbyterian Church on Duke of Gloucester Street and are free and open to the public. A reception follows the lecture.
In 2007 Mr. John L. Nau III gave the St.Clair Wright Preservation Lecture on Thursday March 15. Mr. Nau lives in Houston, Texas and since 1990 has been the president and CEO of Silver Eagle Distributors, the nation’s second largest distributor of Anheuser-Busch products.
Mr. Nau took a degree in history from the University of Virginia in Charlottesville in 1968. He maintains his serious interest in history and his connections with the University of Virginia and has endowed a Jefferson Scholars Graduate Fellowship in American Civil War Studies and the John L. Nau III Professorship in History of the American Civil War. He and his wife Barbara (Bobbi) have recently donated $8.5 million toward the construction of a new building for the University of Virginia History Department.
Nau has been a member of the Texas Historical Commission since 1993 and its chair since 1995. He has served on the board of the Civil War Trust since 1998. He and his wife make a practice of buying a piece of property near a Civil War site each year and then donating the property to the site. He has served on the Greater Houston Preservation Alliance and in 2003 received their Good Brick Award for preservation efforts in Houston. His work towards the rehabilitation of the classic Rice Hotel has led the revitalization of the traditional downtown of Houston. He is also a member of the advisory committee of the Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum in Austin.
In 2001 he was appointed by President George W. Bush as Chair of the President’s Advisory Council on Historic Preservation and in that role has testified before Congress on the National Historic Preservation rules advocating that funding not be cut and that appropriations be made permanent rather than subject to an annual renewal. He has also been serving with several Cabinet members since 2000 on the Federal Jamestown 400th Anniversary Commission and that anniversary is this year 2007.
Mr. Nau’s talk focused on his work with the President’s Advisory Council on Historic Preservation. Preserve America, a grant giving part of the ACHP, was created in 2003 and gives grants to help with historic properties and economic development. Annapolis 300, the committee formed to plan events for the 300th Anniversary of the founding of Annapolis, received one of the 68 grants given nation wide. The grant is to display historical archeological artifacts at the sites were they were found rather than in a central museum. The idea of this is to get people to venture off Main Street and see other parts of the historic district. In February 2007 Mr. Nau and the ACHP met with Mrs. Laura Bush to review the 1966 goals and update them if necessary. They found that most 1966 approaches are still sound. There is a renewed emphasis on involving young people in the historic past and on linking preservation with economic development so the historic neighborhoods are economically viable active places not just museums. They plan to do outreach to learn how other countries have accomplished these goals.
Previous speakers in this St.Clair Wright Preservation Lectures series have included Henry T. Wright, St. Clair’s youngest son, who is a professor of Archeology at the University of Michigan and Richard Moe, president of the National Trust for Historic Preservation.
Dr. Henry Wright spoke in 2004 on his May 2003 visit to Iraq to view the damage to archeological sites, two months after the American invasion of Iraq. He went under the auspices of the National Geographic Society with three other archeologists who have worked in Iraq in the past and visited Baghdad and archeological sites in the south and in the north of the country. Dr. Wright had previously worked at sites in the south, so he went to revisit those places. He found that the Iraqi government had stopped paying the guards at archeological sites and there was looting going on. The Americans were occupying the site of Babylon, where Saddam Hussein had built a splendid palace for himself, but they were not focused on guarding the archeological remains. The museum looting in Baghdad that happened immediately after the invasion did much damage but the museum director had secreted many objects before the war started and many locals who looted items returned them later. The objects that were not returned were those that have great value on the antiquities market in Europe.
Dr. Wright was raised in Annapolis and got his archeological start on Colonial archeology there. He continued to help with excavations in and around Annapolis, surveying the Native American occupation of the Severn River area and helped with the excavation in buildings such as Reynolds Tavern on Church Circle. His PhD is from the University of Chicago and he has taught at the University of Michigan since 1966.
Richard Moe was the first speaker in this series and also the 2010 speaker, in his retirement year from the National Trust.
Richard Moe has been president of the National Trust for Historic Preservation since 1993. He graduated from Williams College in 1959 and received his law degree from the University of Minnesota in 1966. He practiced law in Washington D.C. before becoming President of the NTHP. He is also on the Board of the Ford Foundation, was awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Maryland in 1998 and made an honorary member of the American Institute of Architects in 2003. He has written two books: Changing Places: Rebuilding Community in the Age of Sprawl and The Last Full Measure, a book about the Minnesota Volunteers in the Civil War.
Moe said that he did not know St.Clair Wright but that he certainly is aware of the preservation projects of Historic Annapolis. The papers of St.Clair Wright and also the library of the National Trust are both at the University of Maryland.
As Moe is retiring from the Trust, he is reflecting back on his tenure with The Trust and with preservation and also thinking about where the preservation movement should go from here.
When he took over NT, the organization was federally funded. Now, they are independently funded but have federally funded programs under their jurisdiction. Unfortunately in these times two of the important Main Street and Preserve America programs are having their federal funding cut. He is working to get that funding restored by the Obama Administration. He feels that eliminating these programs that contribute to the quality of life in communities is shortsighted.
Preservation is not yet in the mainstream but it is getting there. What preservations need to do today is to advocate for programs that help sustain communities by refreshing and reusing existing buildings especially if this action can revive or revitalize existing communities in the cities. Reutilizing existing buildings is “green”, an important consideration for today. Retrofitting older buildings to make them more energy efficient for modern living can also provide jobs for skilled craftsmen. Preservationists should also broaden their horizons by celebrating diversity of immigrants’ countries and incorporating the immigrants’ heritage into their community activities. They should look beyond the traditional historic districts and look to the suburbs as what happens in the suburbs has an effect on the city core. Buildings that are less than 50 years old should be listed There are many mid century modern buildings that are certainly worth preserving. The typical house museum might be changed to be a residence of a family, with an historic easement attached to the property. Neighborhoods could have a “conservation overlay” where old buildings are perhaps built taller and integrated with new infill subject to “very hard” design review. The important outcome is to create a vibrant active community.
The National Trust needs to show the relevance of preservation for the rest of the world. They partner, and will continue to partner, with local associations in designing and problem solving and helping with funding.
After the talk, there were some questions from the audience. One person asked how to stop developers. Moe’s answer was to “go to all those boring city planning and council meetings” and make certain the city officials know what you are for and what you do not want to have happen in your town. He recommends all green technologies many of which can be adapted to historic properties without loss of integrity.
And, as to the way of energizing the public, his suggestion is to get schoolchildren to visit the properties and explain to them the history and the significance of places. Be able to discuss with business people the economic value of historic tourism.
IN 2012 the St. Clair Wright Lecture is being sponsored by Historic Annapolis Foundation, successor to Historic Annapolis Incorporated, which is celebrating its 60th anniversary this year. The lecture is scheduled for May 20, 2012 and the speaker will be Andrea Wulf, an historian and author of thge 2010 book Founding Gardeners. The book speaks of the passion for gardening of the Revolutionary Generation of George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, and James Madison.