Close to both Baltimore and Washington, DC, yet worlds apart, Annapolis & Anne Arundel County offer something for the entire family. Annapolis’s brick-paved streets and picturesque harbor beckon families for a getaway.

Layers of rich history are at every turn in Maryland’s capital city. Take a walking tour of the city with colonial clad guides as they fill you in on the gossip of the centuries while winding along the back alleys of the Historic District. Or experience the museum without walls from a horse carriage or a trolley. Stop off at the Annapolis Ice Cream Company for handmade ice cream produced on site and the opportunity to purchase a souvenir penguin for the road.

Miles of Chesapeake Bay shoreline provide great opportunities for family excursions. The young and the young at heart can hoist the sails and pull the lines during a sailing lesson or quietly paddle the backwaters of the bay via kayak or canoe. Or simply enjoy the bay’s vistas from the decks of a schooner, a riverboat or a water taxi.

Here’s just a sampling of all that awaits families heading to Annapolis and Anne Arundel County:
 

Annapolis Maritime Museum

Get to know the maritime heritage of the Annapolis area from a waterside campus on the shores of Back Creek. Learn about the life of watermen and the seafood industry of yesteryear in the Bay Experience Center that is housed within the area’s last remaining oyster packing plant, McNasby’s. Board a boat and take a 1.5 mile trip out to the Thomas Point Shoal Lighthouse. Tour the last remaining screw-pile lighthouse in its original location on the Chesapeake Bay. 723 Second Street, Eastport, Annapolis, MD 21403; 410-295-0104.

Back Creek Nature Park 

Learn about natural science through hands-on activities at the City of Annapolis’s urban ecology park for recreation and education on Back Creek, a tributary of the Chesapeake Bay. Exhibits include: storm water management, shoreline protection, habitat recovery and protection, native plant application, “Green” practices in an urban environment, stewardship, and community service. 1314 Edgewood Road, Annapolis, MD 21401; 410-263-7958.

Banneker-Douglass Museum

Immerse yourself in the rich history of Maryland’s African American community at this interactive museum; inspire your innovative side as you see famous Maryland astronomer and inventor Benjamin Banneker’s telescope; create a story quilt and learn to investigate historic objects using your five senses. 84 Franklin Street, Annapolis, MD; 410-216-6180.

Benson-Hammond House

Visit an 1830s farmhouse and learn what it was like to live on a truck farm in the days when refrigerated trucks carried fruits and vegetables from farm to market. See the picker’s checks that workers used like cash to buy what they needed. The headquarters of the Ann Arrundell County Historical Society is home to an international doll collection featuring dozens of dolls from around the world. Aviation Boulevard and Andover Road, Linthicum, MD 21090; 410-768-9518.

Captain Salem Avery House Museum

Explore the history and aquatic life of the Chesapeake Bay at a restored 1860s waterman’s home. Our family-friendly house tours take you on a journey back in time to experience how a rural fishing family would have lived 150 years ago. Costumed interpreters are often accompanied by elementary school-age junior docents who give our young guests the opportunity to experience history through the enthusiasm of their peers. Following the house tour, kids head to the pier where they can hoist up an oyster cage and learn about the live shrimp, shellfish, worms, fish, and crabs they find inside. Free. 1814 East West Shady Side Road, Shady Side, MD 20764; 410-867-4486.

Chesapeake Children’s Museum

Touch live animals at a hands-on museum that features a ten-foot aquarium with native sea life, a "touchable" turtle tub, an earthen habitat for box turtles, and sundry other native and exotic species. Put on costumes, create visual works of art, pretend to be in a dentist's office, and visit a marketplace in Colombia. Weather permitting, take a nature hike in the woodlands along the headwaters of Spa Creek. 25 Silopanna Road, Annapolis, MD 21403; 410-990-1993.

Charles Carroll House

Learn about the life and times of the only Catholic signer of the Declaration of Independence as you tour his partially restored 18th-century home and terraced gardens overlooking Spa Creek. 107 Duke of Gloucester Street, Annapolis, MD 21401; 410-269-1737.

Discover Annapolis Tours

Annapolis’s rich history comes to life during a one-hour narrated tour aboard an air conditioned trolley. Travel past 18th-century National Historic Landmark homes, City Dock, the U.S. Naval Academy, waterfront neighborhoods, and more. 410-626-6000.

Hammond-Harwood House

The circa 1774 Anglo-Palladian masterpiece features the most beautiful doorway in America. Built by English architect William Buckland, the house boasts one of America’s finest collections of 18th-century decorative and fine arts. Children enjoy the colonial kitchen and herb garden as well as learning about the lives of the men, women, and children who lived in Maryland during the Golden Age of Annapolis. 19 Maryland Avenue, Annapolis, MD 21401; 410-263-4683.

Historic London Town and Gardens

Learn about tavern life in a major 18th-century seaport town with a visit to the National Historic Landmark William Brown House. Discover native and imported medicinal plants in the Richard Hill Garden, and give your legs a workout by strolling London Town’s eight-acre woodland garden.

Talk to archaeologists at work rediscovering the lost Town of London in the largest ongoing archaeological dig in Maryland. Watch as workmen recreate a town using materials and tools that would have been used in the late 17th-and early 18th-centuries.

During special events at London Town, you can hearth cook your own meal over the fire in the circa 1710 Lord Mayor’s Tenement using period recipes and ingredients; play colonial games and learn about 18th-century medicine; try your hand at colonial carpentry, and help fire a cannon; live, work, and play as a colonial child; dip your own candles; and throw tomahawks. 839 Londontown Road, Edgewater, MD 21037; 410-222-1919.

Historical Electronics Museum

Find out what kinds of electronic devices kids used in the days before Play Station Three, high definition televisions, and I-Pods. Learn about televisions, radios, and cell phones. Find out what a record player looks like when you rest your eyes on a working original Edison cylinder phonograph. See the first American radar system ever built, a lunar camera like the one used to photograph Neil Armstrong’s moon landing, and the SCR-584 – a giant radar unit that you can enter and explore. 1745 West Nursery Road, Linthicum, MD 21090; 410-765-0230.

History Quest

Looking for a quick overview of Annapolis’s four centuries of history before you go out and explore the Museum without Walls that is Annapolis? Located across from City Dock, History Quest's films and exhibits highlight Annapolis’s rich history -- from the Revolutionary War, to the signing of the Declaration of Independence, to archaeology and the birth of the city’s preservation movement, to life in America’s Sailing Capital today. Free. 99 Main Street, Annapolis, MD 21401; 410-267-6656.

Maryland State House

Stand in the room where George Washington resigned his commission as commander-in-chief of the Continental army and the Continental Congress ratified the Treaty of Paris that ended the Revolutionary War. See an original copy of the resignation speech that George Washington carried in his pocket the day he resigned as head of the continental forces. Explore the oldest State House in Continuous legislative use in the country. The Continental Congress met in the Old Senate Chamber from November 26, 1783 to August 13, 1784, making the Maryland State House the only state house in the country that has ever served as the nation’s capitol. Free tours daily. 100 State Circle, Annapolis, MD 21401; 410-974-3400.

Medieval Times Dinner & Tournament

Travel through the mists of time to a forgotten age and tale of devotion, courage, and love. The show features heroic knights on spirited horsed, astounding athletic feats and thrilling sword play -- all against an exhilarating backdrop of brilliant lights and a sweeping new musical score. 7000 Arundel Mills Circle, Hanover, MD; 443-755-0011.

National Cryptologic Museum

Take a peek at the world of secret codes. Learn of some of our country’s World War II cryptological triumphs as you peek behind the curtain and trace the development of cryptology – or speaking in codes – from the 1500s to the present day. Colony 7 road off of Route 32, Ft. George G. Meade, MD 20755-6272; 301-688-5849.

Patuxent National Wildlife Refuge

Get to know the nation’s first and only National Wildlife Refuge devoted to wildlife research. Take a half-hour electric powered tram tour through the forest, meadows, and wetlands around the National Wildlife Visitor Center. The open-air ride gives you a front row seat for observing wildlife in action on this 12,841 acre site. 10901 Scarlet Tanager Loop, Laurel, MD 20708; 301-497-5761.

Pirate Adventures on the Chesapeake

Climb aboard the Sea Gypsy pirate ship and sail away in search of sunken treasures. Kids dressed up like pirates learn the rules of the sea and how to read a treasure map. When they retrieve a message from a bottle floating by, they discover that a rotten, smelly pirate lurks nearby. Then, it’s off to battle with the water cannons. 311 Third Street, Annapolis, MD; 410-263-0002.

Quiet Waters Park

Enjoy 355 acres of nature’s splendor at a park that’s nestled between the South River and Harness Creek. Stay fit by walking, jogging, or biking along more than six miles of paved trails that wind through hardwood forests and past grassy fields. Bring your camera and capture the views from the South River Promenade and Scenic Overlook. Brush up on your ice skating at our outdoor ice skating rink. Discover the types of artwork you like best at our rotating gallery exhibits. Let your dog hang out with his or her buddies at our dog park. Enjoy outdoor summer concerts. Learn the fine art of paddle boating or canoeing. 600 Quiet Waters Park Road, Annapolis, MD 21403; 410-222-1777.

Sandy Point State Park

Bask on some of the Chesapeake Bay’s finest beaches, complete with picnic areas, lifeguards, and a snack shop; work for your dinner on the crabbing and fishing pier; catch the air while windsurfing the Chesapeake. 1100 E. College Parkway, Annapolis, MD; 410 974 2149. Fee.

Smithsonian Environmental Research Center

Pick up your map at the Reed Education Center and explore two self-guided nature trails: the Discovery Trail and the Java History Trail, which leads to a tobacco plantation exhibit. Paddle along Muddy Creek and learn about the ecology of Chesapeake Bay wetlands. Experience the natural wonders of the world’s leading coastal zone ecological research center. 647 Contees Wharf Road, Edgewater, MD; 443-482-2200.

Terrapin Adventures

For some no sweat adrenaline, scale one of the 12 routes of our 43-foot-high Terrapin Tower. Conquer all 25 elements of our Challenge Course. Experience two G’s of force on our Giant Swing, and enjoy the thrill of gliding through the forest canopy on our Zip Line. Learn new skills while you explore local parks, rivers, and the Chesapeake Bay on guided kayak tours and nature hikes, mountain bike rentals and tours, sailing and windsurfing, fly and reel fishing, geo-caching, horseback trail riding, rock climbing, rappelling, and river tubing. Opens April 2009. Savage Mill, 8600 Foundry Street, Savage, MD 20763; 410-925-9574.

United States Naval Academy

March through campus on a guided tour; enjoy the pageantry of midshipmen assembled for noon formation; peek inside a typical midshipman’s dorm room; examine the intricate detail of more than 108 ship and boat models from 1650 to 1850 at the U.S. Naval Academy Museum and Ship Model Gallery slated to reopen in September 2009. 121 Blake Road, Annapolis, MD; 410-293-8687. Fee for guided tour.

Watermark Tours. Charters. Cruises.

Get out on the water for an up close and personal look at the four-mile-long Chesapeake Bay Bridge, the U.S. Naval Academy, and the waterfront homes of Annapolitans. Learn what life was like when pirates ruled the seas – right from the mouth of a pirate himself! Crack open a crab Maryland style as you enjoy front row seats for the Wednesday Night Sailing races aboard the Harbor Queen. Back on land, learn of Annapolis’s four centuries of history as you follow a colonial-clad guide through the Historic District, or learn of spirits past and present on a haunted ghost tour. P.O. Box 3350, Annapolis, MD 21403; 410-268-7601, ext. 100.

William Paca House and Garden

Stroll the two-acre 18th-century pleasure garden of Declaration of Independence signer William Paca. Learn about the family members and slaves who once inhabited the National Historic Landmark home. Daily tours and year-round events bring our nation’s heritage to life for children of all ages year-round. 186 Prince George Street, Annapolis, MD 21401; 410-990-4538.