The Banneker-Douglass Museum has expanded its popular cell phone tour of artifacts and places associated with their 'Seeking Liberty: Annapolis, An Imagined Community' exhibit. The first cell phone tour was launched in March 2008. The new audio tour features twenty recorded stops highlighting significant places and events in African American and women's history in Annapolis. The cell phone tour guide is available at the Banneker-Douglass Museum and is free - the only cost is the use of your cell phone minutes as determined by your carrier. Tour participants will be guided to, among others, Reynolds Tavern, the Brice House, and the Jonas Green House where the touch of a button will reveal the fascinating history the people who onced lived or worked in these places. In addition to listening to the recorded tour, users are even able to record their own impressions or thoughts directly into their cell phones or sign up to receive email updates. For more information, contact the Banneker-Douglass Museum at 410-216-6180.

The $10,000 raffle conducted by the Shady Side Rural Heritage Society is now underway.  The winning ticket will be drawn at the Society's West River Heritage Oyster Festival at the Capt. Salem Avery House Museum, 1418 EW Shady Side Road, Sunday, October 19 at 5 p.m.  Only 2,000 tickets will be sold at $10 each in this major fund raiser, and the winner need not be present.  Chairing the event is Melanie Turner.  Society Chairman June Hall thanked friends in the local community who have always so generously supported the raffle which the Society has conducted annually for the past 19 years.   Tickets may be purchased from various merchants, including Trim's Barber Shop, Joanne's Touch, Wheeler's Hardware, Shady Side Market, Java Stop, and Renno's Market. Anyone desiring to purchase tickets by mail may send a check payable to the Society to P.O. Box 89, Shady Side, MD 20764.  To order by phone, call (410) 867-4486.

The Banneker-Douglass museum announces a new exhibit: Seaworthy: The Story of the United States Navy's Black Admirals and Their Contributions to the Nation. Prior to World War II, laws prohibited African-Americans from serving as officers in the United States Navy. It was the combined pressures of World War II, with its growing requirement for talented manpower, and the efforts of many civil rights organizations, that finally convinced President Franklin D. Roosevelt to establish a new policy to enable African Americans to earn a commission in the armed forces. In the spring of 1944, thirteen African Americans were commissioned as naval officers and soon became known as the "Golden 13" because of the gold Ensign stripe they wore so proudly on their uniforms. Within a few months, the "Golden 13" were joined by Francis Wills and Harriet Pickens, the Navy's first African-American women officers.

In the years to follow many more African-American college graduates would gain their commissions through the Navy V-12 Cadet Program, Officer Candidate School, the NROTC Program, and the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland. In 1971, after twenty-seven years of dedicated service to the nation and exceptional performance as a leader on ships at sea and in many high visibility assignments abroad, Samuel L. Gravely, a native of Richmond, Virginia, was selected for promotion to the rank of Rear Admiral. Since then, a small but distinguished group of African-American officers have followed in his footsteps.

The exhibit will run through November 2008. The Banneker-Douglass Museum is located in the old Mount Moriah A.M.E. Church at 84 Franklin Street in Annapolis (off Church Circle in the Annapolis historic district). The museum is open Tuesday through Saturday from 10:00 a.m. to 4 p.m. Admission is free.

Parking is available by shuttle from the Naval Academy Stadium parking lot, and there are nearby commercial parking garages and limited on-street parking. For more information, contact the museum by telephone at (410) 216-6180, fax at (410) 974-2553, or email at BDMPrograms@mdp.state.md.us.

On Sunday, May 18, 2008, the City of Annapolis rededicated the newly restored Southgate Memorial Fountain with a celebration that included flowers, music, speakers, a dedication ceremony and a reception. Musical groups included the Church Circle Consort and members of the Annapolis Chorale, Annapolis Youth Chorus, and St. Anne s Episcopal Church, St. Philip s Episcopal Church, Asbury Methodist Church and First Baptist Church Choirs, conducted by Ernie Green. Welcoming remarks by Annapolis Mayor Ellen Moyer were followed by comments from Alderman Richard Israel and Reverend Robert Wickizer, St. Anne s Episcopal Church.

According to city sources, Dr. William Scott Southgate first came to Annapolis in 1869 to serve as rector to St. Anne s Episcopal Church. During his 30 years in Annapolis, Reverend Southgate opened a mission school on the corner of Prince George and East Streets, which subsequently served as the Jewish synagogue. He was also instrumental in founding St. Philip s Episcopal Church on Northwest Street, which served the African-American community and fostered new teachers and leaders. One of Dr. Southgate s dreams was to fund and build a fountain in the City 'to refresh horses as well as humans.' Upon his death in 1899, the City Council quickly appointed a commission to erect a fountain in Southgate s memory and to 'keep in remembrance a noble life.'

The original Southgate Memorial Fountain was designed as an 'English market cross rising out of a molded pedestal placed in an octagonal basin filled with water pouring from the mouths of two lions' and built out of limestone and marble. In its 100-year life, the fountain was enjoyed by many residents and visitors to Annapolis. In 2007, at the direction of the Mayor and with the endorsement of the City Council and approval of the Historic Preservation Commission, it was decided to restore the fountain, which had fallen into disrepair. Led by City Public Works Engineer, Lily Openshaw, monument restoration experts and trained technicians performed careful rinsing and re-pointing, repairing and resealing of the stonework and refinishing of the fountain s basin. A water-conserving circulation system was installed in the newly refurbished fountain.

Funding for the project was provided by the City of Annapolis, supplemented by grant funding from the Four Rivers Heritage Area and Maryland Heritage Areas Authority. In keeping with the original spirit of private support from the community, the Southgate Memorial Fountain Restoration Committee conducted a broad-based effort garnering $25,000 toward the project. Led by Alderman Richard E. Israel and supported by Historic Annapolis Foundation, a select group of major benefactors and generous community members provided additional funding.

For the 16th year, the City of Annapolis was named a Tree City USA Community by the Arbor Day Foundation in association with the National Association of State Foresters and the USDA Forest Service. To receive the award, the City met four standards including maintaining a tree board or department, a tree protection ordinance, a comprehensive community forestry program, and an Arbor Day observance. Annapolis also received the Tree City USA Growth Award for its efforts to fund tree-planting on private property. The City of Annapolis strives to cover at least 50% of its surfaces with trees.

'For Fishing, Family and Fun: Seven Decades of Communal Living by the Chesapeake Bay,' a new exhibit featuring extensive research conducted by the Shady Side Rural Heritage Society into the occupancy of the Captain Salem Avery House Museum building from 1924 to 1989 by the National Masonic Fishing and Country Club, opened on Sunday, April 27. The Museum is located at 1418 EW Shady Side Road, and there is no admission charge.

The professionally mounted exhibit features 15 panels - or Story Boards - with photographs and quotes depicting various aspects of the Club's activities. In addition to the panels, there are displays and artifacts. A catalog is available with complete exhibit text and three essays, including a memoir by Paul Foer and scholarly essays by Jeffrey T. Coster and Ilana Abramovitch. Former Shady Side Rural Heritage Society Director Janet Surrett took the lead in securing four grants to research and tell this little known but nationally significant story. For more information, call (410) 867 4486, or visit the Museum's web site, www.averyhouse.org.

The Banneker-Douglass Museum has opened its new exhibit, 'Seeking Liberty: Annapolis, an Imagined Community,' an archaeology exhibit featuring artifacts excavated in some of Annapolis' most historic sites, never before displayed in a single, comprehensive presentation. Celebrating three centuries of African American and European heritage, the Banneker-Douglass Museum is hosting this exhibition as its way of commemorating the 300th Anniversary of the signing of Annapolis Royal Charter. The exhibit investigates and celebrates the 'quest for liberty' in Annapolis. There is also a comprehensive website devoted to the exhibit, complete with an exhibit 'blog,' at http://www.bsos.umd.edu/anth/aia/seeking_liberty/.

One of the most interesting pieces in the exhibition is a piece of printer's type depicting a 'Death's Head,' which was excavated at the Jonas Green House in Annapolis and is on loan from HistoryQuest. The image was used to protest the Stamp Act in 1765.

The exhibit will run through November 29. The Banneker-Douglass Museum is located in the old Mount Moriah A.M.E. Church at 84 Franklin Street in Annapolis (off Church Circle in the Annapolis historic district). The museum is open Tuesday through Saturday from 10:00 a.m. to 4 p.m. Admission is free.

Parking is available by shuttle from the Naval Academy Stadium parking lot, and there are nearby commercial parking garages and limited on-street parking. For more information, contact the museum by telephone at (410) 216-6180, fax at (410) 974-2553, or email at BDMPrograms@mdp.state.md.us.

Maryland has designated 19 byways that encompass 2,487 miles of beautiful roads, which offer a taste of Maryland s scenic beauty, history and culture. Take the roads less traveled including four entirely new byways featuring nationally significant themes: the Star-Spangled Banner, Antietam Campaign, Booth s Escape and the Mason and Dixon byways. Anne Arundel and Calvert Counties are home to the newly-expanded 'Roots and Tides' Byway, that runs 47 miles from Annapolis to Plum Point and features the scenic historic South County landmarks of the Four Rivers Heritage Area.

A 176-page guidebook featuring Maryland's Byways, developed by the Maryland SHA in partnership with Maryland's office of Tourism development and the National Scenic Byways program, has just been published, and will be available free of charge to the public at Welcome Centers and other centers for visitor information.

To link to the State Highway Administration's Maryland Byways map, click here.