Stroll along a serene wooded path, lined with the unmarked graves of paupers. Then spy on a wedding in progress. Then enter a fancy house and contemplate the plight of a naughty indentured servant who kept birthing illegitimate children. Then look at some nice flowers. Historic London Town and Gardens’ many facets offer nothing if not mood whiplash.

Backstory: London Town, a tobacco port on the South River, was founded in 1683. It thrived until the mid-1700s, when trade went elsewhere. Despite the town’s fading prospects, a guy named William Brown built a tavern there between 1758 and 1764; later, he lost it to creditors. The building spent decades as an almshouse for Anne Arundel County, Md. In 1973, the 23-acre site reopened as a hybrid of Maryland history attraction and botanical garden.

Highlights: The basement of Brown’s tavern greets visitors with two creepy mannequins in the likenesses of indentured servants with criminal records. Find also a substantial dress-up collection (for kids, though some garb will fit adults), a hands-on exhibit about period textiles, and friendly costumed docents. Outside, the Lord Mayor’s Tenement, in which a laborer or servant might have dwelled, is instructive in a there-but-for-the-grace-of-electricity-go-we way.

In the gift shop: Stock up on Colonial-era hats and $5 recipe booklets like “Christmas Season During Slavery Times.”

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