Preserving and promoting Baltimore's historic buildings and neighborhoods.
Author: Eli
Eli Pousson started as a Field Officer at Baltimore Heritage in partnership with the National Trust for Historic Preservation in October 2009. Prior to moving to Baltimore, Eli worked for the DC Office of Historic Preservation and completed graduate work in anthropology and historic preservation at the University of Maryland College Park. Eli continues to work with the Lakeland Community Heritage Project and other heritage organizations in Prince George’s County, Maryland.
Brrr! Weathering the “polar vortex” this week certainly encouraged our interest in Captain Henry Thompson’s daily journal entries on Baltimore’s weather. On January 7, 1814, Thompson recorded:
“7th – Fine day, and having Frozen for a week past, commenc’d filling my Ice House, haul’d 21 loads today with two Carts from Herring Run Went to Town return’d to Dinner”
Over the past week of 1814, Baltimore has been hauling ice and more:
Sheriff John Chalmers advertised an auction to sell off property confiscated from James Hamilton: “A negro Woman named Ledda, with 2 small female children, slaves for life.”
Jean Pierre Morel de Guiramand, one of many of former French colonists who fled Saint-Domingue for Baltimore at the beginning of the Haitian Revolution,received a patent a new “power loom.”
We’ve been busy this fall getting ready for Bmore Historic – our third annual “unconference” for historic preservation, public history and cultural heritage. If you work at a local archive, volunteer regularly for a historic site or house museum, or work in historic preservation, Bmore Historic is always a great opportunity to network with colleagues from all over the Baltimore region – and we still have a few spots left! Whether you’re coming to Bmore Historic or not, you are all welcome to join us this Friday evening at the St. Mary’s Historic Site for a tour and happy hour following the unconference.
Bmore Historic 2013 Happy Hour at St. Mary’s Historic Site
Friday, October 11, 2013, 4:30pm to 6:30pm
St. Mary’s Spiritual Center & Historic Site
600 North Paca Street, Baltimore, MD 21201
No registration required! Beer and wine available – suggested $5 donation. Limited off-street parking is available in the St. Mary’s Spiritual Center lot and additional on-street parking is available in the area.
Courtesy Jack Breihan
Special thanks to Fr. John C. Kemper, S.S. and Heidi Glatfelter for hosting the Bmore Historic Happy Hour. Fr. Kemper will also be leading tours of the St. Mary’s Seminary Chapel: a Seton Hill landmark built from 1806 through 1808 by French architect Maximilian Godefroy for the French Sulpician priests of St. Mary’s Seminary. St. Mary’s Seminary Chapel won a 2013 Preservation Award from Baltimore Heritage this summer for a tremendous restoration by the Associated Sulpicians of the United States, together with Kann Partners, Lewis Contractors, Thomas Moore Studios, and Giorgini Construction. Their nine-month, $1 million project restored to Chapel to its centennial year appearance and surely guarantees its preservation for decades to come.
St. Vincent’s Cemetery, 1970s. Courtesy Friends of St. Vincent’s Cemetery.
Even before St. Vincent’s Cemetery in Clifton Park closed in the 1980s, the grounds had suffered from decades of neglect and vandalism. Over the past 30 years, the cemetery nearly disappeared under the thick weeds and five tons of trash and debris illegal dumped on the grounds. Fortunately, for the last three years, the volunteer-led Friends of St. Vincent’s Cemetery have been slowly taking the cemetery back. Baltimore Heritage recognized their efforts with a 2012 Preservation Award and you can join this group of descendants and Clifton Park neighbors restoration efforts at a cemetery clean-up day this fall.
Friends of St. Vincent Cemetery’s Clean-Up Day
Saturday, October 5, 2013, 9:00am to 1:00pm
St. Vincent’s Cemetery, 2401 N. Rose Street, Baltimore, MD
Wear appropriate work clothes and shoes (no sandals or flip flops!) and bring a shovel or rake. Water and light snacks will be provided. For questions or to RSVP for the clean-up day, please contact Stephanie Town at 610-368-1910 or Rakeleafs@yahoo.com.
St. Vincent’s Cemetery, 1970s. Courtesy Friends of St. Vincent’s Cemetery.
St. Vincent de Paul Church purchased five acres of land for the cemetery from Robert Purviance and Miles White on April 1, 1853. The land was located just outside the city on Mine Bank Lane (now known as Rose Street) just west of Bel Air Road and remained outside the city until the annexation in 1888. On May 19, 1853, Rev. Leonard Ambrose Obermyer blessed the cemetery and led the church in transferring earlier burials from a cemetery the congregation had shared with St. James the Less Church along Harford Road.
Over 2,000 people were buried in the cemetery before 1965 including many Irish, Italian and German Catholic immigrants. With no endowment for maintenance, unfortunately, St. Vincent’s Cemetery suffered from repeated vandalism in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s damaging markers and, most disturbingly, removing bodies from their plots. Ultimately, the church decided to remove all of the existing markers and demolish the mausoleum in an attempt to protect the cemetery further disturbance and desecration.
A group of descendants came together in 2010 and with support from St. Vincent de Paul Church launched their ongoing effort to reclaim the cemetery from the weeds and trash making news in the Baltimore Sun and Catholic Review along the way. Join the Friends of St. Vincent Cemetery in cleaning up this unique historic cemetery in Clifton Park! If you’d like to learn more about conservation and historic cemeteries, join us in Druid Hill Park on October 2 for our tour of the Rogers Buchanan Cemetery with conservation expert Howard Wellman and local historian and Rogers family descendant Ed Johnson.
We are also excited to announce the launch of our new Literary Heritage in Baltimore tour for Explore Baltimore Heritage. The tour was created in partnership with the University of Baltimore, CityLit, the Maryland Humanities Council and the Maryland State Arts Council with contributions from student volunteers including Ryan Artes, Nathan Dennies, Amelia Grabowski, and Elizabeth Matthews. Don’t forget to download Explore Baltimore Heritage for iPhone or Android or visit explore.baltimoreheritage.org to learn more about how these writers left their mark on Baltimore neighborhoods!
Happy 133rd Birthday, Mr. Mencken!
Sunday, September 8, 2013, 1:00pm to 5:00pm
1524 Hollins Street, Baltimore, MD 21223
Born on September 12, 1880, H. L. Mencken lived in the handsome historic rowhouse at 1524 Hollins Street for nearly all of his life. Join the Friends of the H.L. Mencken House as they celebrate Mencken’s 133rd birthday with their annual open house! The house and garden will be open and light fare will be served. Beer and wine will be available for a modest amount. The highlight of the occasion will be cake (with candles, though not 133 of them) served in his beloved garden. More details from the Friends of the H.L. Mencken House.
“Poe-pen House” Weekends in October
Saturday, October 5, 2013, 12:00pm to 4:00pm
Edgar Allan Poe House, 203 N. Amity Street, Baltimore, MD 21223
Thanks to support from Free Fall Baltimore, Admission to the Poe House will be free every weekend in October from 12:00pm to 4:00pm.
Closed since 2012, Baltimore’s famous Poe House re-opens to the public with a “Poe-pen House” on October 5! Join Poe Baltimore for stories and snacks, lore and a chance explore the famous house of the master of the macabre. The family-friendly event will also delight avid fans of Poe, introduce the house to new visitors, and engage the surrounding community with this jewel in their neighborhood. No advance registration required. The house is small so tours will accommodate visitors on a first-come, first served basis. Email poebaltimore@gmail.com for more information.
An Evening with Dead Baltimore Authors
Thursday, October 10, 2013, 7:30pm to 8:30pm
University of Baltimore Wright Theatre
UB Student Center, 5th Floor, 21 West Mount Royal Avenue, Baltimore, MD 21201
Join us for an Evening with Dead Baltimore Authors to hear the words of dead Baltimore authors with a selection of readings excerpted from the works of Edgar Allen Poe, H.L. Mencken, Karl Shapiro, Ogden Nash, F.Scott Fitzgerald, Gertrude Stein, John Dos Passos, Lizette Woodworth Reese, Upton Sinclair, Emily Post, Munro Leaf, Dashiell Hammett, Walter Lord, and Dorothy Parker. The evening will also feature an introduction to a few of the places these authors wrote, drank, lived and worked featured on our new Literary Heritage in Baltimore tour for Explore Baltimore Heritage.
An Evening with Dead Baltimore Authors is organized in partnership with the University of Baltimore, CityLit, the Maryland Humanities Council and the Maryland State Arts Council. Learn more about additional programs for Literary Arts Week through Free Fall Baltimore. Registration is not required for this free program. For questions or more information contact Jon Schorr at jshorr@ubalt.edu.
Knowles Light Fancy Power-Loom, ca. 1787
