Hillsmere Shores was a census-designated place (CDP) in Anne Arundel County, Maryland, United States. It is a suburb of Annapolis. The population was 2,977 at the 2000 census. It was included in the Annapolis Neck CDP at the 2010 census. Built in phases, beginning in 1960, the community was originally gated, with the sign "a private community", a code intended to warn black and Jewish visitors that they were not welcome as new neighbors.