Merchants’ Hoisting Beams in Annapolis

In the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries warehouses were built near the waterfront in Annapolis. They were used both to store goods coming into town from ships out in the Chesapeake Bay as well as to store goods like tobacco which were shipped to England.

Some of these buildings have survived until today and still have the beams in place that used to be part of the hoist system, which lifted merchandise up to the house’s storage spaces. These buildings now serve very different purposes.

This warehouse now houses a clothing shop:

A waterfront warehouse c. 1800 (now it houses a museum):

This one houses an oyster bar:

 

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