Maryland
Where its significance outweighs its size.
Annapolis · Baltimore · Ocean City
The Journey
Maryland is one of those states we have visited many times. I had even been there a few times as a child myself.
In Annapolis, we visited the State House, continuing our journey through every capital in America. It is the oldest state capitol still in continuous legislative use, and walking through it puts you inside some extraordinary American history. George Washington resigned his military commission there, and the Treaty of Paris ending the Revolutionary War was ratified in that very building.
The building itself is beautiful, but so are the streets around it. Cobblestones, little shops, bookstores, antique stores, and cafés gave us a wonderful glimpse of old Annapolis.
We also visited the United States Naval Academy, where we got to introduce the girls to another branch of the American military. They watched the midshipmen, young men and women walking around in their distinctive white uniforms, and got to see academy life up close. Rachel immediately fell in love with it.
Baltimore gave us a completely different energy. We walked around the Inner Harbor, enjoyed the shopping and local art, and spent time at the National Aquarium. The girls were mesmerized by the sharks, rays, jellyfish, colorful fish, and the enormous exhibits that seemed to surround us with ocean life.
Then there was Ocean City. We enjoyed the beach, walked along the coast, took in the ocean air, and simply had a blast together.
That became part of Maryland for us. Historic Annapolis, energetic Baltimore, the beaches of Ocean City, all packed into one relatively small state.
Jewish Maryland
We visited several synagogues in Baltimore, but the most memorable was the Lloyd Street Synagogue.
Standing outside the beautiful white building, it almost looked like a little White House of Jewish Baltimore. Built in 1845, it is the oldest standing synagogue in Maryland and one of the oldest synagogue buildings still standing in America.
The building itself tells several generations of Baltimore Jewish history. It was built by Baltimore Hebrew Congregation and later became home to Orthodox Jewish immigrants as the neighborhood around it changed. Being there, you could almost see the different waves of Jewish families who prayed inside those walls.
Baltimore Hebrew Congregation was founded in 1830, and from those early beginnings Baltimore grew into one of the great Jewish centers in America.
Today, Jewish life stretches through Baltimore and its suburbs with synagogues, yeshivos, kollelim, kosher stores, schools, and communities representing almost every corner of Jewish life.
In Baltimore, Jewish history does not feel like something that disappeared. It is still being lived.
What Stayed With Me
What stayed with me about Maryland was how much history and character seemed packed into such a small state.
You can stand in Annapolis inside a building where George Washington helped define what American leadership would look like, then walk outside onto cobblestone streets filled with bookstores, antique shops, cafés, and sailboats moving quietly through the harbor.
Drive a little farther and you are in Baltimore, surrounded by an entirely different, and sometimes overwhelming, energy. Keep going and eventually you are on the beach in Ocean City.
Maryland reminded me that you do not need enormous distances to find completely different versions of America. Sometimes they are only an hour apart.
Have a story, an idea, or a reason to connect?
For editorial inquiries, media, speaking, collaborations, historical research, or simply a story you think I should know I'd be glad to hear from you.
Contact Dov