Although few colonial sites survive along the modern Chesapeake Bay waterfront to give a sense of the port's former maritime strength, the rebuilt 1850s dockside city Market House is an early nineteenth-century replacement of a colonial warehouse used by the revolutionary army. Today, with its sidewalk cafés and stalls, it's a good spot for people-watching.

The rest of the waterfront, locally known as "city dock", is pleasant enough for an afternoon's wandering, especially on summer weekends when the harbor and bay are full of clanging halyards and billowing sails. In amongst the boat supply shops and harborside bars, the gray stone walls of the US Naval Academy (daily: March-Nov 9am-5pm; Dec-Feb 9am-4pm; free) seem designed to exacerbate the sensory deprivation endured by the over four thousand crew-cut young men and handful of women (all of whom line up in formation outside King Hall , the dining commons, every day at noon) who spend four strictly disciplined years here before embarking on careers as naval officers. The moment of transition, at the end of each summer's graduation ceremony, is marked by the traditional "Hat Toss." A small museum holds models of various British and US warships and other naval memorabilia. Superb guided tours of the Academy ($5.50) leave every half-hour from the Armel-Leftwich Visitor Center (same hours as the Academy) in Halsey Field House, through Gate 1 at the end of King George Street.

US Naval Academy

• US Naval Academy

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