Category: Behind the Scenes Tours

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!

Join Baltimore Heritage on a Tour This Summer!

As we move into our warmer months, we are creating even more unique walking and behind-the-scenes tours. We hope to see you on some soon. Please check our calendar to see new additions!

–Johns Hopkins, Executive Director

Ridgley’s Delight: For a tiny neighborhood squeezed between the University of Maryland and Camden Yards, Ridgely’s Delight contains an oversized history. George Washington slept here and Babe Ruth was born here! Join us to walk the preserved, picturesque streets of one of the earliest neighborhoods in Baltimore while we look back at the stories of both its famous visitors and the ordinary Baltimoreans who worked and raised their families here. June 9, 9:30 am – 10:30 am. $10-$15

 

A Factory Tour of Mount Royal Soaps: Mount Royal Soap Company was founded in Baltimore, MD in the Spring of 2014 by three soap-obsessed friends: Matt, Pat & Sam. With the explosion of soap and sanitizer demand during the pandemic they opened their first manufacturing space in the Woodberry neighborhood just 2 miles from the Remington store. Join us for a fascinating tour of sustainably sourced bath and body products made through a small batch production process right here in Baltimore! June 18, 3:00 pm – 4:00 pm. $10-$15

 

Mount Vernon Place: 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. Join us on a tour to hear the stories behind the landmarks of Baltimore’s grandest historic neighborhood. June 23, 9:30 am – 10:30 am. $10-$15

 

Feisty Females of Fells Point: Everyone knows that Fell’s Point has a rich history, but do you know about the Caribbean immigrant, Mary Lange, who dared to teach children of color out of her home and rose to be the first Black mother-superior in American history? How about the single mom who helped stop the development of an interstate highway through these historic streets? We hope you’ll join us and tour guide Robin Minor to hear about these fierce women who helped forge Fells Point into the vibrant, distinctive neighborhood it is today. June 23, 11:– am – 12:30 pm. $10-$15

 

Celebrate Pride! LGBTQ Heritage in Charles Village: Charles Village was home to many activists and institutions at the heart of the city’s LGBTQ community in the 1970s and 1980s. Our wonderful guides will take us on a walk past local landmarks from the original home of the Gay Community Center of Baltimore, now the GLCCB, to the St. Paul Street church that supported the growth of the Metropolitan Community Church, Baltimore’s oldest LGBT religious organization, and the radical feminist writers and publishers that gave a voice to lesbian authors who might not otherwise have been read. June 30, 10:00 am – 11:30 am, $10-$15

 

The Lillie Carroll Jackson Civil Rights Museum: From 1935 until her retirement in 1970, Lillie Carroll Jackson was president of the Baltimore chapter of the NAACP and for much of this time her home on Eutaw Place was a hub of Civil Rights organizing for Jackson and her daughter, Juanita Jackson Mitchell. Executive Director Johns Hopkins for a short walk around Lillie Carroll Jackson’s neighborhood. Then we will go inside the museum to tour where Jackson, called the “Mother of the Civil Rights Movement,” lived and worked. July 27, 9:30 am – 11:00 am. $10-$15

Spend Your Holidays with Baltimore Heritage: Upcoming December Tours

The holiday season is upon us and we want to spend it with you! Please check out our upcoming heritage tours to get to know even more about Baltimore’s history this winter season. We hope to see you this month!

Boughs of Holly: A Tour of Evergreen Museum & Library Decked Out for the Holidays

When a tremendous Gilded Age mansion gets fully-adorned with holiday decorations, there’s a lot to see. On Tuesday, December 5, please join us for a special winter tour of the Evergreen Museum and Library, which holds 48 rooms, a soaring portico, a Tiffany designed glass canopy, and loads holiday decorations. Register here!

 

The Baltimore Immigration Museum: A Behind-the-Scenes Tour

On Tuesday, December 19, join Baltimore Heritage at the Baltimore Immigration Museum to hear the stories of the various ethnic groups, including Germans, Irish, Jews, Poles, Lithuanians, Czechs, Italians, and Greeks, who started their American journey in Baltimore between 1830 and 1914. Register here! 

 

Up into the Clockworks at the Bromo Seltzer Tower

On Wednesday, December 27, join us for a behind-the-scenes tour of the Bromo Seltzer Tower! Completed in 1911, the tower’s four clocks each measure 24 feet across, a foot more London’s Big Ben, and the tower itself was the tallest building in Baltimore at the time. Our tour through the building will include a trip up into the clockworks at the top to look at the tick-tock operation in process and peer out the translucent windows. Register here! 

 

Our 2023 Preservation Celebration

Finally, with Thanksgiving just behind us, we at Baltimore Heritage have a lot to be thankful for, starting with the kind volunteers who lead our tours, research and write about historic places for Explore Baltimore Heritage, join us in fighting for threatened historic landmarks, and so much more. You make our work possible. Thank you all!

— Johns Hopkins, Executive Director

PS: It’s the time of year when we both give thanks and look forward to the year ahead. It is also the time of year when we ask you to join or renew your membership support for Baltimore Heritage. Your gift makes our work possible.