Happy birthday, America! This year, we’re collectively marking the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. The observance might feel especially poignant for Annapolis residents: Founded in 1649, the city witnessed key events in the making of our nation’s freedom from Great Britain, including the 1774 burning of the brig Peggy Stewart, the encampment of the Marquis de Lafayette and his troops on their way to the 1781 Battle of Yorktown, and the ratification of the Treaty of Paris.

By extension, St. John’s College, then known as King William’s School, served as a backdrop to the revolution thanks to its location in Annapolis’ historic downtown. This legacy is visibly woven throughout campus by way of its original Georgian and Colonial-style buildings, its small-scale war monuments, and, of course, the tall tulip poplar in front of our campus library, a scion of the campus’s famous Liberty Tree landmark that once served as a meeting spot for Patriots.

But as many an alum, tutor, and student might tell you, St. John’s College spans centuries while containing multitudes. We not only have eighteenth-century classrooms, but a rare modernist science building designed by architect Richard Neutra. Several of our residence halls are named after Founding Fathers, but one functioned as a Civil War hospital (and has the ghost stories to prove it). And our distinctive Program of Study stretches across epochs and millennia: sights on campus such as our Ptolemy stone—an ancient astronomical device that measures the sun’s angle and elevation—serve as a reminder that while history occurred in Annapolis during the Revolutionary War, it continues to be studied, and made, by scholars of the liberal arts, conversing with each other throughout successive generations via the written word.

Take our self-guided tour, a stop on Visit Annapolis’ “Be Revolutionary” campaign, and travel through time. Feeling extra festive? Check out the other commemorative events we have planned at St. John’s College this summer celebrating the big 250 including a themed summer lecture series from the St. John’s College Graduate Institute, a St. John’s College history exhibit in the Greenfield Library, a special July 4 community seminar on the Declaration of Independence, an outdoor film screening of the hit musical Hamilton, visual and performance art inspired by our Liberty Tree, and lifelong learning programs tied to the theme of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.