Maryland Day is a legal holiday in the U.S. state of Maryland. It is observed on the anniversary of the March 25, 1634, landing of the first European settlers in the Province of Maryland, the third English colony to be settled in British North America. On this day settlers from The Ark and The Dove first stepped foot onto Maryland soil, at St. Clement's Island in the Potomac River. The settlers were about 150 in number, departed from Gravesend on the Thames River downstream from London. Three Jesuit priests were collected from Cowes on the Isle of Wight in England where they avoided having to give the oath of allegiance and supremacy to the King. The colony's grant was renewed to Cecil Calvert, 2nd Baron Baltimore,, two years prior by Charles I of England, after first being given to his father Sir George Calvert, 1st Baron Baltimore,, along with the title of "Lord Baltimore", and a first grant in Acadia, in Newfoundland,, who had served the King in many official and personal capacities as Secretary of State, 1619-1625. In thanksgiving for the safe landing, JesuitFather Andrew White celebrated the Mass for the colonists led by the younger brother of Lord Baltimore, Leonard Calvert, and erected a large cross. The landing coincided with the Feast of the Annunciation, a holy day honoring Mary, and the start of the new year in England's legal calendar. Maryland Day on 25 March celebrates the 1634 landing at St Clements. Later the colonists and their two ships sailed further back down river to the southeast to settle a capital at St. Mary's City near the point where the Potomac flows into the Chesapeake Bay. The holiday began its official observance in 1903, the date chosen by the State's Board of Education to honor Maryland history and to increase the teaching of state and local histories in the public schools. In 1916, the General Assembly authorized "Maryland Day" as a legal holiday. Ceremonies, activities, historical pageants and other commemorative events are held annually in Historic St. Mary's City in St. Mary's County, the first colonial capital of the province and the site of several reconstructed provincial and colonial structures including the first State House with a tourism/historical agency which runs operations and provides interpretative information. This was where the first sessions of the General Assembly of Maryland were held, over 375 years ago. An annual ceremony is held at the base of the 1908 statue of Cecilius Calvert, 2nd Baron Baltimore,, on the steps of the west front of the Baltimore City Circuit Courthouse facing St. Paul Street with the ceremony continuing further inside in a ceremonial courtroom. The annual weekend celebration is held in the of Maryland. This Maryland Day celebration highlights Maryland's history, heritage, culture and environment at approximately 20 sites with over 40 events during Maryland's Birthday weekend. The 2020 Maryland Day celebration was cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic.
