Historians suspect much of that work was done by slaves lent to the effort by patriotic landowners. Hulking cypress trees were dragged out of surrounding swamps, which today are suburban neighborhoods. The dome was designed by Joseph Clark, a London-trained architect whose brother owned an Annapolis bookstore, and took three years to construct.

Jefferson and fellow future president James Madison returned to Annapolis in 1790 and spent three hours with a friend atop the newly finished dome, reportedly looking at the houses from a birds-eye view and gossiping with a local about the people who lived inside them, said Bachmann.Ī 'Thomas Jefferson' signature that intrigued historians turned out to be a fake, said Maryland State Archivist Dr.