Historic St. Mary's City is located on the St. Mary’s River, in a beautiful tidewater landscape of water, farmland, and forest. The 835-acre living history and archaeology museum is on the site of Maryland’s first capital (1634-1695). Our team is fortunate to build upon decades of cutting-edge research, with recreated structures in the historic town center, a Woodland Indian Hamlet, a tall ship, and a tobacco plantation staffed by costumed or uniformed interpreters who help visitors understand the stories of Maryland’s history. Ongoing archaeological excavations continue to reveal new information about life in the past. Since its inception, the archaeology department has identified more than 300 archaeological sites within the St. Mary’s City National Historic Landmark (NHL) and curates more than 6.5 million artifacts representing millennia of human history.