John Shaw’s Huge Flags Welcome Congress

When Congress arrived in Annapolis in 1783, it was greeted by two large flags atop the dome of the State House and the governor's residence. Each measured almost 10-feet tall by 23-feet wide, and were designed and created in John Shaw's shop "at the request of the Gov[ernor] and Council." Research suggests that Jane Lewis, a 14-fourteen year-old seamstress apprenticed to Shaw, made the flags.

Charles Cotton Milbourne's watercolor clearly shows the current dome, built between 1787 and 1797, flying the Shaw flag. This view served as the basis for the design of an accurate reproduction flag that was created in 2009. The reproduction flag is sometimes displayed in the rotunda.