St. Mary’s and the Carroll House, Annapolis

Photograph Print by Aubrey Bodine

1949

Charles Carroll of Carrollton (1737-1832), the only Catholic signer of the Declaration of Independence, was born and raised in the house on the right. The original, smaller structure was built by his father, Charles Carroll of Annapolis, in the 1720s. The house was substantially enlarged in the 1790s and a wing added in 1856 to give it the appearance shown in this photograph. An earlier house on the site had a small chapel used for Roman Catholic worship. The Victorian Gothic structure is St. Mary’s Catholic Church on Duke of Gloucester Street; it was dedicated in 1860. The Carroll House for many years was used as a novitiate and a house of studies by the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer, a Catholic religious order whose members are known as Redemptorists.