Three guest rooms above a 1747 tavern on Church Circle, the rarest historic sleep in Annapolis and the only address in the city where you wake up inside a building that predates the United States by 29 years.
"Three rooms above a 1747 brick tavern on Church Circle, sash windows looking out onto the steeple of St. Anne's, eighteenth-century floorboards underfoot, and an afternoon tea service downstairs that is the most properly executed in the Mid-Atlantic. Reynolds Tavern is the booking that takes the longest to secure and the easiest to remember."
Reynolds Tavern sits at 7 Church Circle, directly opposite St. Anne's Church, on a parcel that William Reynolds (a hatter and dry-goods merchant) leased from the church in 1747. Reynolds built the brick tavern that still stands today as a multi-purpose colonial enterprise: a public house, his hat business, an ordinary where farmers and gentlemen could conduct trade, and three guest rooms upstairs for travelers passing through the colonial capital. Jill and Andrew Petit purchased the building in 2000 and restored it as a working tavern, tea room, and three-room inn, which is roughly how it operates today, almost three centuries after the first guests checked in.
The three guest rooms occupy the second floor. The Washington Suite is the largest at roughly 320 square feet with a sitting area facing Church Circle; the Jefferson Suite holds a queen four-poster and an eighteenth-century writing desk; the Mary Reynolds Room (named for William Reynolds's wife, who continued the business after his death) is a compact king with a working fireplace and the property's most coveted corner view of the church spire. Period decoration is handled with restraint, not theatre: hand-printed reproduction wallpapers, milk-paint trim, oil portraits, and the original wide-board pine floors are the visual notes. Modern interventions are limited to en-suite bathrooms, a discreet HVAC retrofit, and proper bedside lighting.
The food and beverage operation is the property's quiet anchor. Reynolds Tavern downstairs runs three separate concepts under one roof: the 1747 Pub in the cellar (a colonial-styled bar with a working fireplace and a craft beer programme), the main floor dining room (lunch and dinner with a contemporary Mid-Atlantic menu), and the formal afternoon tea service that is among the best in the region. Guests at the inn are served a full hot breakfast in the dining room each morning, and dinner reservations on-site are essentially guaranteed for in-house residents, which solves the City Dock booking problem for a Saturday evening.
Service is small-property hospitality at its most direct: Jill or Andrew Petit, or one of two long-tenured front-of-house staff, will check you in personally and remember your name by morning. The location is the simplest in Annapolis. The Maryland State House is one block south, the Naval Academy main gate is six blocks east, and City Dock is six blocks down Main Street. There is no parking on-site, but the public garage on Gott's Court (a 200-metre walk) is the conventional answer and the inn validates a discounted overnight rate.
For an Annapolis anniversary that wants the period feel without the kitsch, Reynolds Tavern is the cleanest option in town. The Washington Suite is the right room for the milestone, the afternoon tea is properly engineered, and the dinner reservation downstairs is the simplest evening logistics in the Historic District. The property is the rare hotel where the history is real rather than themed.
For a Church Circle proposal, the Washington Suite is the room and the 1747 Pub is the setting. The property co-ordinates discreetly with the kitchen for a private dinner in the cellar, the front-of-house team will set a champagne service in the room without prompt, and the moment ends in a building that has been hosting consequential conversations since the year George Washington turned fifteen.
7 Church Circle
Annapolis, MD 21401
United States
One block from the Maryland State House, six blocks from City Dock
Three guest rooms
Mary Reynolds Room from $265/night
Jefferson Suite from $275/night
Washington Suite from $295/night (peak weekends to $325)
Check-in: 3:00 PM
Check-out: 11:00 AM
Building dates to 1747. Adults preferred. Parking at Gott's Court Garage (validated).
1747 Pub (colonial cellar bar)
Main floor restaurant (Mid-Atlantic menu)
Afternoon tea service (booked separately)
Full hot breakfast included
Working fireplaces in two suites
Free WiFi throughout
From $265/night. With only three rooms, weekends book five to six months ahead for Commissioning Week and the Annapolis Sailboat Show; two to three months for any spring or autumn Saturday.
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