Bring a Friend, Win a Prize! 2012 Membership Challenge

Behind the Scenes Tour of the USS Constellation, March 2011

In fall, Baltimore Heritage launched our annual membership drive and the new 2012 Membership Challenge. As part of our ongoing efforts to get more Baltimoreans engaged in learning about and preserving our great historic buildings and neighborhoods, we are asking for your help by bringing friends, neighbors, family members, and others to our tours and events. We know we need a large and diverse group of friends and supporters to effectively preserve and promote Baltimore’s historic places, and we believe that coming to one of our events is a great way to introduce people to our work.

As a way of saying thank you for your help and support, we are raffling off private guided tours of historic neighborhoods – a walking tour of Mount Vernon, a bike tour of West Baltimore Parks and more – led by myself and Baltimore Heritage Field Officer Eli Pousson. Anybody who joins us for a tour or to an event and then becomes a member of Baltimore Heritage, along with any current Baltimore Heritage member who refers a new member is eligible to win. We’ll announce the winners in early January. So the next time you register for one of our Behind the Scenes tours or other events, please bring a friend! Thank you for helping us with our 2012 Membership Challenge, and for helping us protect our shared history and revitalize our historic neighborhoods. I hope to see you and a guest at one of our events soon.

Explore Colonial Grandeur at the Perry Hall Mansion

Join us in exploring one of Baltimore County’s most historic places, Perry Hall Mansion, home of the Gaugh Family. We’re pleased to host this event with our partners, the Friends of the Perry Hall Mansion and the Preservation Alliance for Baltimore County.

Behind the Scenes Tour of Perry Hall Mansion

Wednesday September 19, 6:00 pm to 7:00 pm
3930 Perry Hall Rd, Perry Hall, MD 21128
RSVP today! $15 per person.

Erected high on a hill above the Gunpowder River Valley, Perry Hall Mansion dominated life in northeastern Baltimore County in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Built in the 1770s by Harry Dorsey Gaugh, Perry Hall was named after the family castle near Birmingham England. The 16-room home, the seat of a vast plantation, soon became one of the leading houses in colonial Maryland. The mansion, considered a “sister” house to Hampton Mansion not very far away, turned from a house of raucous parties to a place of more reserved pleasure as Gaugh and his wife, Prudence, became ardent supporters of the early Methodist movement that had strong roots in Maryland.

Gaugh became a distinguished planter, a member of Maryland’s House of Delegates, and on the board of one of Maryland’s first orphanages. After Gaugh’s death in 1808, the mansion remained in the family for nearly 50 years. It was sold to a group of investors in 1852 that carved the plantation into lots for houses, many of which went to German immigrants. By 2001, the estate had dwindled to four acres and the house was sold to Baltimore County for use as a museum and community center. The County completed a first stage of restoration in 2004, and exterior restoration won an award from the Preservation Alliance of Baltimore County as an “outstanding public project.” The Friends are continuing with the restoration of this stately home.

Ride along with Baltimore by Bike this fall for War of 1812 and more

Join us this fall for three more fun Baltimore by Bike tours – a War of 1812 ride this Saturday to celebrate Defender’s Day with local scholar Kate Drabinski, a tour of West Baltimore murals with Baltimore Heritage board member Dr. Ralph Brown, and a free tour of Jewish Landmarks in northwest Baltimore (part of our new Baltimore Jewish Landmarks Photo Competition). Most of our rides are comfortable for everyone from teens to retirees and offer a great way to explore Baltimore’s historic neighborhoods.

War of 1812 by Bike

Saturday, September 8, 3:30 pm to 6:00 pm Rescheduled due to predicted thunderstorms! New date: Saturday, September 22, 9:30 am to 12:00 pm
RSVP today! $10 per person.
Meet at Riverside Park, Riverside Avenue and East Randall Street. Note – the starting location has been moved from Fort McHenry to Riverside Park.

This year we are taking our Defender’s Day celebrations beyond Fort McHenry with an afternoon bike tour around the harbor exploring the lives and landmarks that witnessed how the War of 1812 came home to Baltimore 200 years ago.

West Baltimore Murals by Bike

Sunday, September 16, 9:00 am
RSVP today! $10 per person.
Meet at the intersection of Frederick Avenue and the Gwynns Falls Bike Trail on the north side of Frederick Avenue – at 2800 Frederick Avenue.

With over a dozen murals decorating walls and bridges, West Baltimore comes alive in this tour that explores a rich part of our city that many rarely visit. Please join us to learn about some seminal events of the 19th century that occurred in West Baltimore and changed the course of world history.

Baltimore by Bike: Jewish Landmarks in Northwest Baltimore

Sunday, October 14, 10:00 am to 12:00 pm
Meeting location at Beth Am Synagogue, 2501 Eutaw Place, Baltimore, MD.
RSVP Today! Free thanks to Free Fall Baltimore.

In the decades after the Civil War, Baltimore’s economy boomed, countless immigrants arrived from around the world and many – including the city’s growing Jewish community – moved northwest into the rapidly expanding Baltimore suburbs around what is now Bolton Hill. We’re taking a two-hour bike tour past historic synagogues and other Jewish landmarks from from Eutaw Place to Park Heights – all free thanks to Free Fall Baltimore.