Category: Tours

A small candy store with a tile roof and a neon sign reading: "Rheb's" Overlaid pink text reads: "How Sweet It Is! Rehb's Candies Turns 100"

Tour Rheb’s Candies on August 8—then mark your calendar for fall events

One hundred years ago, newly-wed couple Louis and Esther Rheb started making fudge and taffy out of their house on Wilkens Avenue. Join us on an August 8 tour to discover the story of Rheb’s candies and tour the family house and garage where a fourth generation still carries on this legacy business and long-time Baltimore favorite sweet spot.

Mark your calendar for a tour on Saturday, September 8 where we will visit the Maryland Historical Society’s newly updated exhibit “Divided Voices: Maryland in the Civil War,” then walk around Mount Vernon Place with our own Eli Pousson, and hear the neighborhood’s stories of slavery and emancipation. The following weekend, on Saturday, September 15, radio host, architectural historian, and Charles Village resident Lisa Simeone will lead a walking tour covering the colorful history of this rowhouse neighborhood.

We’re also pleased to announce a new lecture series in partnership with the Garrett-Jacobs Mansion. About once a month from September until March 2019, we’ll feature a different speaker on Baltimore history. The first speaker is historian Jack Burkert talking about the Port of Baltimore on Sunday, September 23. Other speakers include Wayne Schaumburg, Antero Pietilla, and Ric Cottom. Come to one or come to all!

We hope you are staying cool this summer and can stay tuned as we line up our fall tours, talks, and events.

An old mechanical artifacts with a complicated set of gears and wheels.

Join us for a tour of the System Source Computer Museum on July 25

Do you ever wonder about the history of the computer or smartphone you’re using to read our tour announcements? Please join us on Wednesday, July 25 for a tour exploring the long history of computing from ancient adding machines to mid-century punch cards and mainframes and more.

The System Source Computer Museum in Hunt Valley features a remarkable collection of artifacts including the Altair 8800, on which a young Bill Gates learned to code; an accurate replica of an Enigma cypher machine used by the German navy in 1942; and even an original iPhone which turned eleven years old last month. You can check out the museum’s collection on their website but, even in our digital age, the screen is no substitute for exploring history in person.

You can also find us leading a walking tour around Federal Hill on Sunday, July 22 for our ongoing Monumental City tours. We hope you are staying cool this summer and can stay tuned as we line up our fall tours, talks, and events.

Sunlit cutting table with measuring table, scissors, weights, and a large stapler.

Tour a working garment factory, take a trip to Middle River, and more!

If you thought garment manufacturing in Baltimore was a thing of the past, think again! Fashions Unlimited has been making sportswear for companies like Fila, Nike, and Champion in its South Baltimore factory since 1976 and is still going strong today. We hope you can join us on the morning of June 26 for a tour of their factory with owner Phil Spector. We also hope you’ll join us this Saturday, June 9, as we head out the old Eastern Avenue Trolley line to take a tour of the Heritage Society of Essex and Middle River Museum and its rich collection of information on this part of Baltimore County.

Tomorrow night, June 7, we are pleased to partner with the Greater Hampden Heritage Alliance and the Mid-Atlantic Regional Moving Image Archive as they host a special showing of WJZ-TV archives capturing 50 years of Baltimore on film. Tomorrow’s event is at the Picker House at Mill No. 1 on Falls Road.

And if you haven’t made it out for a Sunday morning Monumental City tour, please come by for an hour on Sunday June 10 as we take a tour of the Phoenix Shot Tower and nearby Jonestown. Or join us later in the month! On Sunday, June 17 we’ll tour the Washington Monument and Mount Vernon Place and, on Sunday, June 24, we’ll take a tour Federal Hill.

Discover food history and a Centennial Business

Trying not to let spring get away from us, we are eager to share on latest tours to get you outside this spring. On Monday, April 30, we’re sampling Italian food and taking a short walk around Little Italy with Kit Chiapparelli, co-owner of Chiapparelli’s restaurant: A Glass of Wine, an Appetizer, and a Stroll: Food and History at Chiapparelli’s and Little Italy.

On Thursday, May 17, we’ve lined up another outdoor tour, this time to see first hand how architectural stone products are made at the 150-year-old Hilgartner Natural Stone Company, one of Baltimore’s Centennial businesses: Oh Those Marble Steps: 150 Years of Stone Work at the Hilgartner Stone Company. We’re planning at other Baltimore businesses with roots going back a century or more throughout the year. Stay tuned for details!

And, as always, if you haven’t made it to a Monumental City walking tour yet, please come along! On Sunday mornings through November, we’re offering one-hour guided tours of downtown statuary, the Shot Tower and Jonestown, the Washington Monument, and Federal Hill. Come outside with us and explore Baltimore.

Baltimore by Foot is showing off the city from the Gwynns Falls to Lauraville!

Spring is finally here and we are ready to take you on a tour. Our Monumental City tours kick off on Sunday, April 8 with our Jonestown and the Shot Tower tour—the same day that the Baltimore Farmers’ Market and Bazaar opens for the season! On Sunday mornings from April to November, you can take a walk to explore downtown, the Shot Tower, Mount Vernon Place and the Washington Monument. This year, we’ve added Federal Hill to the mix so be sure to check out the full schedule.

If you save Sunday for sleeping in, you can still sign up for our Saturday morning neighborhood walking tour series beginning on Saturday, April 21. Our annual Baltimore by Foot neighborhood walking tours show off four unique historic neighborhoods and one beautiful historic park:

You can sign up for just one tour or all five! We have tickets left for every tour but we expect to sell out. I hope you can get outside, enjoy the warmer weather, and come along for a tour soon.