Category: Baltimore by Bike

Join Baltimore Heritage on a Tour This Spring

We are thrilled to offer up another batch of unique walking tours, behind-the-scenes tours, and ways to help neighbors across Baltimore over the next few months. I hope to see you on some soon. Check out our calendar to see new additions!

–Johns Hopkins, Executive Director

Events Calendar

 

Herring Run Park Trash Clean-Up

Join us and our partner, Friends of HerringRun Parks, for a trash clean-up. We provide all the supplies, including gloves!Thank you to NPS Chesapeake Gateways for supporting this project. March 15, 10:00am – 12:00pm. FREE. 

Laurel Cemetery Voluntour: Trash Clean-up and History

Tour Laurel Cemetery was incorporated in 1852as Baltimore’s first nondenominational cemetery for African Americans. In 1958, it was leveled. Join members of the LaurelCemetery Memorial Project to see the site firsthand…and have a hand in improving it.This will be an hour-long trash clean-up followed by a history tour of the site. March 22, 10:00 am – 12:00 pm. FREE

LGBTQ Heritage in Charles Village

You may know this neighborhood for its colorful “painted ladies,” but it was also home to many activists and institutions at the heart of the city’s LGBTQ community in the 1970s and 1980s. Discover local landmarks like the original home of theGay Community Center of Baltimore and the radical feminist writers and publishers that gave a voice to lesbian authors. March 30, 10:00 am – 11:30 am. $10-$15

Green Mount Cemetery

Opened in 1839, Green Mount Cemetery is the final resting place of some ofMaryland’s most famous, and infamous, figures including Johns Hopkins, EnochPratt, William and Henry Walters, Mary Elizabeth Garrett, Betsy Patterson, A.S. Abell, John H. B. Latrobe, John Wilkes Booth, and Elijah Bond, who patented theOuija Board! April 5 & April 19, 9:30 am – 11:30 am, $20.

Patterson Park

Join us to walk through Patterson Park and through time! During the War of 1812, the park saw action defending Baltimore. And during the Civil War, troops here made sure Maryland didn’t secede from theUnion. Discover the history of PattersonPark and see how it really is “the best backyard in Baltimore.” April 6, 9:30 am – 10:30 am. $10-$15.

Druid Ridge Cemetery by Bike

Join Dr. Ralph Brown and Phil Briscoe on a bike tour of Druid Ridge Cemetery! Did you ever wonder where the Cone sisters ended up, or John Goucher, or Virginia Hall, or Art Modell? Maybe you were afraid to visit Druid Ridge Cemetery because of the curse of Black Aggie. There will be a few slight ups and downs on the route but nothing too strenuous. April 12, 10:30am – 12:30pm. $15.

Fell’s Point

Join us to see how Fell’s Point developed in the 1730s to become one of Baltimore’s premier waterfront communities. As we walk, we’ll point out historic homes and industrial heritage, like the country’s first Black-owned shipyard, and share some of the rich stories that this 300-year-old waterfront neighborhood has to offer. April 13 , 9:30 am – 10:30 am. $10-$15

Historic Clifton Mansion

Join us for a tour inside Clifton Mansion, the Italianate country house that has overlooked Baltimore City for over 200 years. At one time the summer home ofWar of 1812 captain Henry Thompson and then philanthropist Johns Hopkins, the story of Clifton is one of two prominent businessmen, enslaved & free Black people, and more. April 12, 10:00 am – 11:00 am, $10-$15.

Steel, Glass, Plants andHistory: Behind the Scenes at the Howard P. Rawlings Conservatory

Join us to visit the Howard P. Rawlings Conservatory & Botanic Gardens! Established in 1888 as the Druid Hill Conservatory and modeled after London’s famous Kew Gardens, it is the second oldest steel-framed glass building in the country. April 13, 2:30 pm – 4:00 pm. $15.

The Gwynns Falls Neighborhood

Before 1977 Gwynns Falls was known asCarroll Station and until 2020 was home to the Maryland Brush Company. We will start at Mighty Park, a former illegal dump that the community purchased and transformed into a vibrant green space. Come be inspired by the work that has been done and encouraged to support continued revitalization efforts. April 13 , 3:00 pm -4:00 pm. $10-$15.

Federal Hill

Baltimoreans celebrated atop Federal Hill when we ratified the U.S. Constitution. We used it to defend the city from the British in the War of 1812 and to make sure we stayed in the Union in the Civil War. We have even tunneled under it to quarry minerals. Join us on a tour of Federal Hill and the neighborhood around it to learn about this waterfront community’s rich history. April 20, 9:30 am – 10:30 am. $10-$15.

 

See all of our upcoming events here!

Looking for a good excuse to enjoy the beautiful spring weather? Get outside on our upcoming tours!

If you’re looking to get outside and enjoy springtime in the city, we have plenty of opportunities to get some fresh air on our upcoming walking tours, a bike tour through Druid Hill Park, and the latest chance to get inside the Shot Tower.

On Saturday, May 11, our Baltimore by Foot series continues in Union Square where we’re asking what H.L. Mencken might think of summer concerts and window boxes. That same day, we’re also offering our final Lexington Market tour for the spring—and it even has a few spots still open! The following Saturday, May 18, our last Baltimore by Foot tour for the season explores the history (and future) of arts and entertainment on Pennsylvania Avenue.

Early next month, on Saturday, June 8, we hope you can put a little air in your tires and ride along for The Nooks and Crannies of Druid Hill Park by Bike with our two veteran tour leaders Dr. Ralph Brown and artist Graham Coreil-Allen. We keep to a modest pace and a mostly flat grade so people of all biking abilities are welcome.

Finally, whether it rains or shines, our Monumental City Tours continue on Sunday mornings with Historic Jonestown and the Shot Tower on May 12 and Mount Vernon and the Washington Monument on May 19. These affordable tours are a great way to show off the city to visiting family and friends.

With wishes for a happy spring, I hope to see you on one (or two or more!) of our upcoming tours.

Defender’s Day Run & Ride! Two fun and athletic tours to remember the War of 1812 in September

Fort McHenry Bombardment, 1814When Francis Scott Key witnessed the bombardment of Fort McHenry as a captive aboard a British ship, he was one of thousands of Baltimoreans who waited anxiously through the night uncertain if the city would fall before the British attack. Baltimore’s endurance through the battle is remembered still today in the Star-Spangled Banner and in Maryland’s annual observance of Defender’s Day.

On our second annual Baltimore by Bike Defender’s Day Ride and our first ever heritage running tour, we’ll explore the people and places of Baltimore touched by that night in 1814. Enslaved men worked on the massive fortifications that still stand in today’s Patterson Park. Recently arrived German immigrants heard the warning bells ring out from Old Otterbein Church on the news of the British approach. An enterprising seamstress on Pratt Street sewed the famous flag that became our nation’s Star-Spangled Banner. Follow us beyond the ramparts of Fort McHenry and join our Defender’s Day Ride & Run past the landmarks that tell the story of how the city lived and fought through the Battle of Baltimore and the War of 1812.

Defender’s Day Ride!

Sunday, September 8, 2013 9:00 am to 11:30 am
Fort McHenry National Monument & Historic Shrine
2400 East Fort Avenue, Baltimore, MD 21230
Register – $10 for members, $15 for non-members

Love to learn history on two wheels? Ride along with local scholar and cyclist Dr. Kate Drabinksi on our 10-mile route of quiet streets and mixed-used paths from Fort McHenry to Hampstead Hill in Patterson Park and back again

Defender’s Day Run!

Sunday, September 8, 2013 9:00 am to 10:30 am
Fort McHenry National Monument & Historic Shrine
2400 East Fort Avenue, Baltimore, MD 21230
Register – $10 for members, $15 for non-members 

Update: The Defender’s Day Run has been cancelled! If you are interested in learning more about future heritage running tours, please contact Eli Pousson at pousson@baltimoreheritage.org.

At a moderate pace of a 10 minute mile, our guide Dustin Meeker will take us around Baltimore’s once fortified harbor up to the Battle Monument and back to Fort McHenry on an energetic 10K tour. Dustin is doubly prepared for the task as a former ranger at Fort McHenry and a competitive distance runner.

Baltimore meets Florence! Enjoy Italian-inspired Desserts and Architecture by Bike on June 15

Have you ever seen a handsome building in Baltimore and swear that you had seen it before? Maybe around Florence, Italy? Join Dr. Ralph Brown for our fun bike tour around Baltimore and you’ll swear you are back in Florence—even for just a few hours. Florence has Michelangelo’s David, the Duomo, the Palazzo Vecchio, the Medici, the Arno River spanned by the Ponte Vecchio and great gelato. Baltimore has the Bromo Seltzer Tower, the Jones Falls and, of course, our own tasty gelatos in Little Italy.

We’ll re-discover the sights, sounds and tastes of the great Renaissance city of Baltimore has while learning something new about iced desserts and Baltimore’s key role in their history.