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Your membership makes preservation possible in Baltimore. Thank you for doing so much for our city.
— Johns Hopkins, Executive Director
Category: Tours
Sailing Through History: A Baltimore Inner Harbor Boat Tour Experience
Jenye Stanley, a Stevenson University student, took one of Baltimore Heritage’s first boat tours. Baltimore Heritage will be offering more boat tours in 2025. Please join our mailing list to receive updates. Here are Jenye’s impressions:
If you’re looking for a unique way to explore Charm City, the Baltimore by Boat Inner Harbor Tour is truly a sight to see. Recently, I had the pleasure of embarking upon Baltimore Heritage’s new boat tours. This 75-minute tour details the rich 300-year history of Baltimore and its harbor as it is brought to life by the knowledgeable volunteer guide of Baltimore Heritage. The experience was not just about the beautiful views but an engaging narration of the city’s past, present, and future.
As we set sail on a brisk Saturday morning, with a refreshing breeze off the water, we boarded the boat and set off at 9 AM. The weather was beautiful, making it the perfect start to our adventure. As the boat glided along the harbor, the fresh scent of the water filled the air, instantly rejuvenating everyone on board.
The boat followed a steady pace, allowing us passengers to process every sight along with the history tidbits that came along. Each building and structure along the harbor were unique, showcasing a vibrant array of shapes and colors that reflect Baltimore’s one-of-a-kind character. From the iconic Domino Sugars sign—measuring a staggering 70 by 120 feet—to the stunning 68-foot guitar at the top of the Hard Rock Cafe, every sight added to the charm of the city’s history.
One of the highlights was learning how Baltimore pioneered harbor tourism. The city’s revolutionary spirit showcases historical landmarks like the first streetlight and various innovations that other harbors have since replicated. During the tour, we also learned about other Baltimore Heritage tours, like a tour of Federal Hill. It was a great reminder that there’s always more to explore in this vibrant city. As we approached closer to the Domino Sugar factory, the sweet smell of raw sugar wafted through the air. We could see crane machine in action as it unloaded the sugar off of the boat into crates to later become the sugar we use.
The small yet impactful star of the Inner Harbor was the celebrated Mr. Trash Wheel. This quirky hero plays a vital role in keeping the harbor clean and beautiful, and it displays Baltimore’s commitment to sustainability and the environment. We even got to see a small figurine of Mr. Trash Wheel and his googly eyes. Thanks to this guy and the Waterfront Partnership this harbor is safe swimming and fishing as of June 2024. For those who may be concerned about seasickness, the boat was incredibly stable, with little to no shaking throughout the ride. I typically don’t experience much seasickness, but I can confidently say that even the most sensitive passengers would feel comfortable on this ride. As a tip, with early morning boat rides, the water can generate breeze, as it is refreshing can become a bit chilly. It’s recommended to bring a coat or windbreaker to brace the winds that may come.
Baltimore Heritage’s Baltimore by Boat Tour of the Inner Harbor, brought to you by PNC, encourages you to keep exploring the harbor. With a capacity of 49 passengers, it still felt intimate and personalized. Bring along friends and family to celebrate Baltimore’s rich heritage. If you’re in Baltimore, don’t miss the chance to embark on this remarkable boat tour. It’s not just about the sights—it’s about the stories, the people, and the heritage that comes with being present in the city. Grab your coat, enjoy the sweet-smelling breeze, and book your historic experience on Baltimore’s Inner Harbor today!
–Jenye Stanley
Announcing New Baltimore by Boat Tours!
On October 12 and October 26, join us for the first two of our brand new Baltimore by Boat series! America defeated the British here. Frederick Douglass escaped from here. Today we are pioneering watershed restoration here. Join us for 300 years of history on a live-narrated tour of Baltimore’s world famous Inner Harbor. Come see how Baltimore’s wonderful waterfront connects the past with the present and Baltimore to the rest of the world.
Boat tours are 75 minutes long. We have partnered with the Baltimore Water Taxi to use their vessels.
If you can’t make these two dates, we will be offering more tours in 2025. Stay tuned!
–Johns Hopkins, Executive Director
Exciting New History Events: Join Baltimore Heritage This Fall!
We are thrilled to offer up another batch of unique walking and behind-the-scenes tours in the next few months and hope to see you on some soon. Check out our calendar to see new additions!
–Johns Hopkins, Executive Director
A Road Wars Tour of Fell’s Point
September 21, 2024, 11:00 am – 12:00 pm – More information
Imagine an interstate highway barreling through Fell’s Point–loud trucks, smog, and restricted access to the water. Luckily we only have to imagine, but it was almost a reality. Join us on September 21 for the ultimate insider’s guide to who-what-where-and-how historic Fell’s Point was protected from destruction. Get to know the no-name outsiders and activists that defeated the insiders and the powerful to save this vibrant and historic waterfront community. The walking tour will be conducted by Evans Paull, author of Stop the Road, Stories from the Trenches of Baltimore’s Road Wars and Joe McNeely, the first director of Southeast Community Organization (SECO). Joe was active in Southeast Council Against the Road (SCAR), and one of the brave squatters that occupied Fell’s Point houses and prevented their decline while the Road Fight dragged on. We hope to see you on September 21 to hear about this scrappy underdog saga!
Mount Vernon Place: A Monumental City Tour
September 22, 2024, 9:30 am – 10:30 am – More information
Mount Vernon began as a country estate for Revolutionary War hero John Eager Howard and grew to be the place to live for Baltimore’s rich and famous in the mid-nineteenth century. The Garrett family, owners of the B&O Railroad, the Walters, founders of the Walters Art Museum, and the Thomases, owners of Mercantile Bank, are among the families that built handsome mansions along the four parks that surround the Washington Monument. Join us on a tour to hear the stories behind the landmarks of Baltimore’s grandest historic neighborhood.
Mount Vernon Place Plein Air Art Show 2024
September 22, 2024, 1:00 pm – 4:00 pm – More information
The best of Baltimore’s history and art come together on September 22, 2024 at one of Baltimore’s most spectacular historic places: the Garrett-Jacobs Mansion. This spring and summer, artists from the Mid-Atlantic Plein Air Painters Association will bring their easels to Mount Vernon Place to capture its magnificent history, landscapes and architecture. On Sunday, September 24, we’ll have nearly 100 original paintings of Mount Vernon Place on display and for sale.
September 27, 2024, 8:00 am – 5:00 pm – More information
Bmore Historic is a participant-led unconference at the Baltimore Museum of Industry for scholars, students, professionals and volunteers who care about public history, historic preservation and cultural heritage in the Baltimore region. As always, Bmore Historic is a unique opportunity to spend a day with friends, neighbors, and colleagues interested in exploring the connections between people, places and the past in Baltimore and Maryland. Bmore Historic is a place where many kinds of participation are welcoming: enthusiastic speaking out and careful listening; practicing hands-on skills and struggling with big issues. Expect thoughtful conversations but no academic papers or boring slideshows.
Doors Open Baltimore 2024 Kick Off Event
October 2, 2024, 6:00 pm – 7:00 pm – More information
Baltimore Architecture Foundation and Baltimore Heritage are shaking up the Doors Open kick-off event. Join us for a casual evening of storytelling showcasing a variety of voices, perspectives, and special places in Baltimore as we take our letter writing campaign to the stage in the inaugural Love Letters Live! Hosted by the Hotel Ulysses in their new event space, Swann House, the event will include light fare and wine.
October 3, 2024, 5:00 pm – 6:00 pm – More information
When the Scottish Rite Masons set out to build a new building in the 1920s, they dreamt big. They hired the nationally prominent architect John Russell Pope as a consultant (Pope designed the National Gallery of Art in Washington and the Baltimore Museum of Art around the corner) and the ground breaking ceremony on May 1, 1930 included officiating with the gavel used by President George Washington at the Masonic groundbreaking of the U.S. Capitol building. The Italian Renaissance temple at the corner of Charles and 39th Streets includes an exterior of Indiana limestone with 10 columns 34 feet high, solid bronze doors that measure 14 by 18 feet, and an interior with gray marble wainscot and a black marble base. The Great Depression that had begun six months before unfortunately put a crimp on some of the grandest plans, but the 1100-seat auditorium that sits under a 60-ft. domed ceiling still could boast to be the largest auditorium south of New York when it was built. Please join us on a tour of the building and its Masonic elements.
Victorian-Era Seton Hill: A Walking Tour
October 5, 2024, 11:00 am – 12:30 pm – More information
Baltimore’s Seton Hill neighborhood, once known as the city’s French Quarter, has a rich nineteenth-century history. On this walking tour through the beautiful old streets of Seton Hill, we will explore the surviving traces and look for the ghosts of the Victorian city. Come join historian Emma Katherine Bilski to step off the beaten path and hear stories of this neighborhood, including Baltimore’s Black Catholic history, student “pranks and misdemeanors,” the real history of Baltimore’s asylums, and the human history of America’s oldest Gothic Revival masterpiece. Accessibility: We will be walking over some uneven grassy terrain and paving stones in addition to city sidewalks, and the tour will cover approximately 1.5 miles.
Out of the Ashes: The Great Baltimore Fire of 1904
October 6, 2024, 9:30 am – 10:30 am – More information
In February 1904, Baltimore’s chief firefighter cabled Washington DC: “Desperate fire here. Must have help at once!” A tremendous fire was sweeping through downtown and showed little signs of stopping. Not until 5:00 p.m. the next day was the fire brought under control. Overall, it destroyed 1500 buildings, left 35,000 people unemployed, and damaged $150 million of property. Resilient Baltimore rebounded quickly, erecting new buildings, widening streets, and improving fire safety designs. Rising out of the ashes, Baltimore used the fire to rethink the city, and the downtown we know today is shaped largely by this incident. Join us on this walking tour as we see what 2500 degrees Fahrenheit heat can do to blocks of solid stone, learn how the fire shaped architecture locally and across the country, and hear the tale of one of the fire’s great heroes: Goliath the horse.
October 10, 2024, 5:30 pm – 7:30 pm – More information
Join us for our Preservation Celebration 2024 at Hollins Market. On October 10, we’ll honor our 2024 Preservation Award winners and, with your help, give out five micro-grants to people working on the front lines in our historic neighborhoods. We’ll say thank you to our volunteers and honor all of their hard work this year. This gathering also acts as Baltimore Heritage’s annual meeting where we elect new board members. With food and drinks from Baltimore vendors, we hope you will join us for what promises to be a wonderful evening.
The Catacombs Under Westminster: Two Hundred Years of Tombs and Edgar Allan Poe’s Gravesite
October 13: 11:00 am
November 3: 11:00 am
November 16 (multiple tours): 9:00 am, 9:30 am, 11:00 am, 2:00 pm, 2:30 pm
December 8: 11:00 am
December 15 : 11:00 am
Join us to explore the eerie catacombs underneath Baltimore’s First Presbyterian Church, now called Westminster Hall, and the graves that surround it, including the final resting place of Edgar Allan Poe. The burial ground predates the church, which was built on arches above the gravesites, so that the graveyard and its tombstones lie both underneath and around the building. We bet you will also recognize more than a few Baltimore street names as we walk among the patriots and civic leaders buried at Westminster including Calhoun, Hollins, Gilmore, and Bentalou. All told, the compact cemetery next to the University of Maryland School of Law is the final resting place for over 1,000 individuals. We can’t wait to see you “Where Baltimore’s History Rests in Peace!”
Federal Hill Beyond the Views: A Monumental City Tour
October 20, 2024, 9:30 am – 10:30 am – More information
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 tunnelled 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, including stops at one of the last wooden houses in the city, the oldest house in Federal Hill, and the wonderful alley houses along Churchill Street.
Historic Clifton Mansion
October 23 (5:30 pm-6:30 pm)
November 20 (5:30 pm-6:30 pm)
December 7 (10:00 am-11:00 am)
December 18 (5:30 pm-6:30 pm)
Join us for a tour inside Clifton Mansion, the unique Italianate country house that has overlooked Baltimore City for over 200 years! At one time the summer home of War of 1812 captain Henry Thompson and then philanthropist Johns Hopkins, the story of Clifton Estate is one about two prominent businessmen, enslaved & free Black people, and more. You’ll see the latest restorations made possible by the Friends of Clifton Mansion and Civic Works. You will also be invited into unrestored spaces that are brimming with stories to tell! And the tour wouldn’t be complete without climbing the tower and taking in one-of-a-kind views of Clifton Park and our surrounding city. We hope to see you there.
Historic Green Mount Cemetery
October 26 and November 2, 9:30 am-11:30 am
Inherited from the great Baltimore historian Wayne Schaumburg, join Baltimore Heritage to tour Baltimore’s historic Green Mount Cemetery. Opened in 1839, Green Mount is an early example of an urban-rural cemetery, that is, a cemetery with a park-like setting located close to the countryside. Green Mount is the final resting place of some of Maryland’s most famous, and infamous, figures including Johns Hopkins, Enoch Pratt, William and Henry Walters, Mary Elizabeth Garrett, Betsy Patterson, A.S. Abell, John H. B. Latrobe, John Wilkes Booth, and Elijah Bond, who patented the Ouija Board! Accessibility: Although there are some paved pathways, we will be walking over mostly uneven grassy terrain and cobblestones.
October 26, 2024, 4:00 pm – 5:00 pm – More information
On October 26, join us on a pleasant stroll through historic Hampden to learn about many of the local bars in the neighborhood! We’ll also delve into our city’s long and beloved relationship with local bars and the changes brought about during the tumultuous Prohibition era. We’ll stop at a beer garden where we will sample some locally-brewed beer and then we will end at a former speakeasy tucked away on a residential street to quench our thirst one last time. We hope you’ll join us for a brew-tiful walk around Hampden (ticket includes 2 beer samples).
What’s Out There Weekend, September 21-22: Join Us and the Cultural Landscape Foundation!
Join us, the Cultural Landscape Foundation (TCLF) and its other partners to explore Baltimore’s unique landscape legacy during What’s Out There Weekend Baltimore on September 21-22, 2024. This event features FREE, expert-led tours of dozens of sites, including gardens, campuses, plazas, public parks, and cultural institutions.
These tours allow participants to discover the background and design history of familiar places they often overlook. Knowledgeable guides will share rich stories, personal anecdotes, and keen observations, providing behind-the-scenes expertise and insights into landscape architecture and urban development.
TCLF will produce a printed guidebook for What’s Out There Weekend Baltimore, featuring most of the tour sites. The guidebook will be available for pre-order and as a free downloadable PDF soon. Additionally, you can explore the area’s landscape legacy with TCLF’s digital What’s Out There Cultural Landscapes Guide to Baltimore, available now.