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William Paca’s Annapolis House

Grand Homes & Gardens 2026

Thursday, March 5 from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.

The first program in the 2026 Grand Homes and Gardens series, Freedom at Home: Telling the Full Story of America’s Founding Homes & Gardens, featuring the William Paca House in Annapolis, Maryland with speaker Glenn E. Campbell, Historian Emeritus, Historic Annapolis.

Described in 1800 as a “commodious two story brick dwelling house … with the necessary outbuildings and large and elegant garden,” the William Paca House was built in the 1760s as the Annapolis home of an ambitious young lawyer who later became a patriot leader, signer of the Declaration of Independence, and third governor of the state of Maryland. The Paca household included William, his wife Mary, their children, and enslaved and other bound workers. For two decades after William Paca sold the five-part Georgian mansion in 1780, it was home to two other elite households. Historian Glenn E. Campbell recounts the story of a National Historic Landmark property in the heart of Maryland’s capital city.

About the Speaker

Glenn E. Campbell earned degrees in history from the U.S. Naval Academy and University of Maryland, College Park. Following his naval service, he joined the staff of Historic Annapolis in 1997 and was named Senior Historian of the non-profit historic preservation and education group in 2008. Since retiring in 2022, Mr. Campbell has pursued his passion for international travel while remaining engaged in public history as an independent scholar.

For Morven Members

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Series Schedule

All programs begin at 6:30 p.m. Doors will open at 6:00 p.m. for light refreshments. The programs are hybrid, offered both in-person and virtually. Upon registration, a Zoom link will be sent to virtual participants. All programs will be recorded and shared with registrants following each event.

In an 1804 newspaper advertisement, Trenton clock and watchmaker William J. Leslie touted that he was “Not from Paris, London or Boston – But a Native of New-Jersey.”  At the time, the state was home to dozens of craftsmen specializing in tall case clocks. Morven’s newest exhibition will examine the work of New Jersey clockmakers as they collaborated with cabinetmakers, ran shops, and formed professional partnerships to create beautiful timekeeping pieces.

Spanning the colonial and post-revolutionary period, clockmakers ran their shops with the assistance of apprentices and often enslaved labor. Some carried on the clockmaking tradition through several generations, often working multiple trades, including silversmithing.

This exhibition will feature over 50 tall case clocks, representing almost as many different clockmakers, from both private and public collections. These freestanding pendulum clocks are as functional as they are beautiful with faces made of intricate brass work or painted designs of objects like ships, suns, and moons. Internally, their complicated workings are mechanical masterpieces. Some even chime with contemporaneous melodies. 

Striking Beauty will be the first large-scale exhibition of its kind, exploring the experiences of the artisans and apprentices, free and enslaved, who contributed to this unique craft. Explore the five-gallery exhibition to see clocks from cities and towns such as Elizabeth, Newark, Burlington, Flemington, and Salem, and more. 

Lenders to the exhibition will include: Boxwood Hall, Brown University, Buccleuch Mansion Museum, Burlington County Historical Society, Gloucester County Historical Society, Hunterdon County Historical Society, Monmouth County Historical Association, Trenton Museum Society,  as well as loans from numerous private collections.