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Our tours begin and end at the Visitor Center, open
9 to 5 daily except New Years, Thanksgiving, and Christmas.
DIRECTIONS TO THE VISITORS CENTER, 26 West
Street:
- From Route 50, take Exit 24A for Rowe Boulevard
- Cross over two bridges
- Follow signs for “Visitor Center Parking”
which will lead you into the Gotts Court parking
garage behind the Visitor Center.
Click
here for a map from Route 50 to the Northwest Street
entrance.
If you’re coming from West Street, use the Calvert
Street entrance to the garage.
Using GPS? The garage address is 25 Northwest
Street.
A WORD ABOUT VISITOR CENTER PARKING
The Visitor Center is served by the 600-space
Gotts Court Parking Facility nearby, which has both
an open lot and covered garage. It’s a five-level
garage, and you’ll be entering at Level 3 with
two levels above you and two below ground. Many folks
drive up looking for an empty space; you’ll
find more empty spaces if you go down.
We won’t rip you off. It’s only $1.25 an
hour.
The garage is open 24 hours.
When entering the alley leading to the garage entrance,
if the red electronic light is on that says “FULL,”
then it really is full and the gate won’t go up.
What to do? Return out Rowe Boulevard to the Naval Academy
stadium. Park there, and take the free
shuttle to the Visitor Center.
You can try looking for on-street parking, but
- open spaces are scarce,
- our baroque street plan of circles and radiating
arteries is challenging,
- trying to parallel park on the left side
of a one-way street may not be the personal challenge
you wanted,
- on-street parking is all limited to two hours,
and then you must move your car anyway to another
parking district, and
- no one knows where the parking districts are except
for the parking enforcement officers who mark your
tires and keep track!
The most convenient thing is to leave your car in
a garage or at the stadium. (We’re a little defensive
about this: Annapolis only has a “parking problem”
if you’re trying to park on the street.)
If you have folks who can’t walk far, make a
hard left just inside the garage entrance and drop your
party at the Visitor Center, and then go look for a
parking space. If you have handicapped tags, there are
two spaces reserved for Visitor Center use close to
the Visitor Center, and there’s a long line of
handicapped spaces straight ahead and on your left when
you first enter the garage.
A sign at the entrance says the garage is limited to
vehicles over 6'2". But if you have a full-size
pickup truck or 15-passenger van, you can still fit
in.
BUT WHAT IF you’re traveling with bikes
on the roof, or a car top cargo carrier, or have a conversion
van, and really can’t fit in a garage? It
depends on the day of the week:
WEEKDAYS, from Rt. 50/Exit 24A and cross the
creek. At the 2nd light, turn right onto Taylor Avenue.
Go to Gate 5 and turn in to the Naval Academy's stadium
parking lot. Take the free "Navy
Blue" shuttle to the Visitor Center.
It leaves every 30 minutes--on the hour and the half-hour--and
one of the first stops is at the Visitor Center. (It
then proceeds to the Naval Academy Main Gate.) For
a map of the stadium parking lot, click
here.
WEEKENDS, there is an open surface parking
lot for State employees that is free and open to the
public on weekends one-half block from the Visitor
Center. From Rt. 50/exit 24A, take Rowe Boulevard
across two bridges. At the traffic light, turn right,
then a quick right again into the lot. Walk
up Northwest Street toward the church steeple visible
at the end of the street. At the alley on your right,
turn right and follow signs across the parking lot
to the Visitor Center. Here’s
a map to that surface lot for oversized vehicles.
You can also park at the stadium and come downtown
on the
Navy Blue route shuttle.
RETURNING TO ROUTE 50
If you entered the garage following signs from
Route 50, you’ll leave by a different exit.
Leaving the garage, turn RIGHT onto Calvert Street.
Go to the second traffic light and turn LEFT onto Rowe
Boulevard. In one-half mile, you’ll see signs
for Route 50.
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Reynolds Tavern, c 1747 and still serving good food
CUSTOMER COMMENTS – Unsolicited
customer’s views on their tour experience:
“Such a wonderful tour!
Our driver/guide was very knowledgeable, witty,
and personable, and helped make the city come
alive.” - A Tour De Force, Washington DC
“ I never dreamed there was that much history
in Annapolis! You made it come alive for me.”
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The Alex Haley - Kunte Kinte Memorial
“Marvelous tour! You learn
a lot”
“Excellent tour – very entertaining!
Thank you very much!”
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St. Anne's Church and the Maryland State House
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