USNA   1812   Walking Tour

4. Joseph Nicholson Home & Bandstand (Blake Rd.)

The original manuscript for the "Star-Spangled Banner" was held in the now demolished Nicholson house at this site. After the house was removed, a bandstand was built so that the USNA Band could play the "Star-Spangled Banner."

"The Star-Spangled Banner"
(Percy Moran, 1862-1935)
Library of Congress, 1913

In 1814 when Francis Scott Key wrote the words to the poem, "The Defense of Fort McHenry," his wife's sister and brother-in-law lived in a house on this site. The poem quickly became famous when it was set to music and re-titled "The Star-Spangled Banner."

The Nicholsons preserved an original copy of the poem in their house. After the house was removed to expand the Naval Academy, it was decided to place a bandstand nearby so that the Naval Academy Band could play "The Star-Spangled Banner" at the site.

This perpetuated the history of the site and its association with the music that officially became the United States national anthem by an act of Congress in 1931.

This is the third bandstand on the site and dates from 1922.

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