The Shiplap House
In 1957 Historic Annapolis Incorporated bought the Shiplap House at 18 Pinkney Street. The Shiplap house, built in 1713, was for the most of the 18th century a tavern and in the 19th century the family home of a Scottish cabinetmaker John Slicer.
HAI used the house as their offices for some years and had part of it open as a museum exhibit of the 18th century tavern. In this small museum area they also displayed some of the artifacts found in the historic archeology program cosponsored by HAI and the University of Maryland.
The name Shiplap is not the name of the house’s first owner as is the common practice. Shiplap is the method by which the horizontal exterior wood siding is applied with the bottom edge of one board having a recessed area along its rear which receives the top-rear edge of the board below it. This method resembles clapboard but is more secure and watertight.