Annapolis is the capital of Maryland and the seat of Anne Arundel County. Despite being a center of government, Annapolis has a relatively small population (just over thirty-six thousand) and presents itself more as a quaint seaport village than a bustling metropolis. Annapolis has been tagged as the "Sailing Capital of the World," and the City Dock (established in 1695) has garnered the nickname "Ego Alley" because of the endless parade of expensive yachts. Annapolis is also well known as the home of the U.S. Naval Academy, established in 1845 at the former army base of Fort Severn.

In 1648, William Stone and his fellow Puritans found themselves at odds with Virginia's Episcopal Church. Lord Baltimore in England had established his Maryland colony as a refuge for English Catholics, but was now suffering political backlash for his Roman Catholic faith. As a gesture to prove his loyalty to Parliament, he offered the Puritans a generous land grant in Maryland and installed Stone as governor of the mostly Catholic providence. The Puritans settled on the south shore of the Severn River, and the fledgling village was named Anne Arundel's Towne, in honor of Baltimore's late wife. It was here that Stone, acting at Baltimore's behest, sighed the Religious Toleration Act in 1649, bestowing liberty to all Christian denominations in the Province of Maryland.