Maryland Day Tours and Annapolis250 Activities

Dear Friends,
St. Anne’s Church and Cemetery will be celebrating our nation’s 250th birthday by joining the Annapolis250 events taking place throughout the city. Maryland Day will be observed this year from March 19 through March 25, culminating on the official Founding Day.
As part of the celebration, St. Anne’s will offer two special tours that highlight both the church and the cemetery:

Saturday, March 21
1:00 p.m. – Church Tour
2:00 p.m. – Cemetery Tour

Sunday, March 22
1:00 p.m. – Church Tour
2:00 p.m. – Cemetery Tour

These tours will connect the donated gifts that make St. Anne’s what it is today with the stories of the people who gave them, many of whom now rest in our cemetery.
Beginning March 22, look for weekly features in our announcements that will explore the history of St. Anne’s Church and highlight individuals buried in our cemetery who lived during the Revolutionary War era. We will also host additional special events throughout the year as we commemorate our country’s 250th anniversary.

Meet the Ancestors

As we celebrate our country’s 250th birthday, the cemetery team will be sharing articles titled “Meet the Ancestors”. These will feature short biographies of the people who lived in Annapolis during our Revolutionary War years and are buried in our cemetery.

Elizabeth Bordley was born in 1717 to Thomas, a wealthy landowner, who acquired the town pastureland after the original statehouse burned along with the city land records. After her father died, her brother Steven built the first five- part house in Annapolis, where he and his sister lived out their lives. After Steven’s death, Elizabeth continued to live in the house as a single woman for another 25 years. Just before her death in 1789, she donated the pastureland to “the people of St. Anne’s parish” to be used as a burying ground. Elizabeth must have been one of the first to be buried in the new cemetery, although there is no memorial marking her grave. Her home was sold in 1804 to John Randall and is known today as the Bordley-Randall house.

Photo credit: St. Anne’s Flag by Lauren Sullivan