{"id":14,"date":"2020-03-24T08:28:05","date_gmt":"2020-03-24T08:28:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ded3712.inmotionhosting.com\/~hsmcdigshistory\/?page_id=14"},"modified":"2025-07-08T11:11:38","modified_gmt":"2025-07-08T11:11:38","slug":"about-hsmc","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/ded3712.inmotionhosting.com\/~hsmcdigshistory\/about-hsmc\/","title":{"rendered":"About Us"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2 class=\"mission_statement\">The mission of the<br \/>\nHistoric St. Mary&#8217;s City Commission<br \/>\nis to preserve and protect the<br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.hsmcdigshistory.org\/about-hsmc\/mission-and-history\/\">archaeological and historical record<\/a><br \/>\nof Maryland\u2019s first colonial capital and to<br \/>\nappropriately develop and use this<br \/>\nhistoric and scenic site<br \/>\nfor the education, enjoyment, and general<br \/>\nbenefit of the public.<\/h2>\n<p class=\"miss_bot\">Adopted 1997<br \/>\nSenate Bill 393<br \/>\nMaryland Legislature<\/p>\n<div class=\"corresponding_image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-498\" src=\"https:\/\/hsmcdigshistory.imgix.net\/~hsmcdigshistory\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/about-us-01-1.jpg?auto=format%2Cenhance%2Ccompress\" alt=\"Historic St. Mary's City is an outdoor living history museum, offering education and enjoyment for all ages\" width=\"1500\" height=\"1125\" srcset=\"https:\/\/hsmcdigshistory.imgix.net\/~hsmcdigshistory\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/about-us-01-1.jpg?w=1500 1500w, https:\/\/hsmcdigshistory.imgix.net\/~hsmcdigshistory\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/about-us-01-1.jpg?w=300 300w, https:\/\/hsmcdigshistory.imgix.net\/~hsmcdigshistory\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/about-us-01-1.jpg?w=1024 1024w, https:\/\/hsmcdigshistory.imgix.net\/~hsmcdigshistory\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/about-us-01-1.jpg?w=768 768w, https:\/\/hsmcdigshistory.imgix.net\/~hsmcdigshistory\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/about-us-01-1.jpg?w=100 100w, https:\/\/hsmcdigshistory.imgix.net\/~hsmcdigshistory\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/about-us-01-1.jpg?w=150 150w, https:\/\/hsmcdigshistory.imgix.net\/~hsmcdigshistory\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/about-us-01-1.jpg?w=200 200w, https:\/\/hsmcdigshistory.imgix.net\/~hsmcdigshistory\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/about-us-01-1.jpg?w=450 450w, https:\/\/hsmcdigshistory.imgix.net\/~hsmcdigshistory\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/about-us-01-1.jpg?w=600 600w, https:\/\/hsmcdigshistory.imgix.net\/~hsmcdigshistory\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/about-us-01-1.jpg?w=900 900w, https:\/\/hsmcdigshistory.imgix.net\/~hsmcdigshistory\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/about-us-01-1.jpg?w=24 24w, https:\/\/hsmcdigshistory.imgix.net\/~hsmcdigshistory\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/about-us-01-1.jpg?w=36 36w, https:\/\/hsmcdigshistory.imgix.net\/~hsmcdigshistory\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/about-us-01-1.jpg?w=48 48w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1500px) 100vw, 1500px\" \/><\/div>\n<p>Historic St. Mary\u2019s City (HSMC) has been recognized as a National Historic Landmark since 1969 and is one of Southern Maryland\u2019s leading tourism attractions.<br \/>\nThe outdoor living history museum commemorates the fourth permanent English settlement in North America, Maryland\u2019s first city and for sixty-one years, its colonial capital.St. Mary\u2019s was the scene of many notable firsts in America\u2019s early history including:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>First effort to free religion from government in America<\/li>\n<li>First legislator of African descent in North America (Mathias de Sousa, 1642)<\/li>\n<li>First woman to petition for the right to vote in English America (Margaret Brent, 1648)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Once the capital moved to Annapolis, the colonial city became hidden beneath farms that dotted the area. Around the time of Maryland&#8217;s three hundredth birthday in 1934, archaeologists and researchers became interested in discovering where the lost city was and to learn more about colonial life. In 1966, a state agency, the St. Mary\u2019s City Commission, was formed to preserve, interpret, and develop this important landmark site. Recognizing this, in 1969 the U.S. Secretary of the Interior designated the area, including part of the St. Mary\u2019s College of Maryland, a national landmark. Over the years, researchers have discovered a multitude of artifacts. The HSMC research department was established in 1967 and the archaeology program began in 1971. They continue to study the history of St. Mary\u2019s City, preserve its archaeological evidence, and interpret that history for the public. Decades of research are the foundation of exhibits assembled across the landscape: re-created structures in the town center, the Brick Chapel (ca. 1667), the (reconstructed) State House of 1676, a Woodland Indian hamlet, a tall ship, and a tobacco plantation complete with heritage livestock. The St. John\u2019s Site Museum preserves the foundation of one of the nation\u2019s most important historic places and examines how researchers know what they know about the past.The museum\u2019s collections are a resource for professional archaeologists and scholars.College students study at the museum\u2019s colonial archaeology field school, the longest running in the nation.<\/p>\n<div class=\"corresponding_image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-6095 size-large\" src=\"https:\/\/hsmcdigshistory.imgix.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/HSMC_DoveSail-1-scaled.jpg?auto=format%2Cenhance%2Ccompress&amp;w=1024&amp;h=1024\" alt=\"\" width=\"1024\" height=\"1024\" srcset=\"https:\/\/hsmcdigshistory.imgix.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/HSMC_DoveSail-1-scaled.jpg?w=150 150w, https:\/\/hsmcdigshistory.imgix.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/HSMC_DoveSail-1-scaled.jpg?w=50 50w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The mission of the Historic St. Mary&#8217;s City Commission is to preserve and protect the archaeological and historical record of Maryland\u2019s first colonial capital and to appropriately develop and use this historic and scenic site for the education, enjoyment, and &hellip;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"> <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/ded3712.inmotionhosting.com\/~hsmcdigshistory\/about-hsmc\/\"> <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">About Us<\/span> Read More &raquo;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"statictemplate.php","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-14","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>About Us &#8211; 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