Category: Tours

Get outside this spring with our Monumental City tours and more

Spring is here and I know you are all eager to get outside! The arrival of spring is a sign that we’re kicking off our 2017 Monumental City Tours with a climb up to the top the Patterson Park Observatory on April 23. In May, we return to the Baltimore Farmers’ Market & Bazaar where we offer tours of Jonestown and downtown landmarks on the first and second Sunday of the month through November.

This month, you can also join our Mount Vernon Pride tour of LGBTQ heritage from the original building of the Chase Brexton Health Center to the locations where early twentieth-century lesbian women helped shape some of Baltimore’s premier educational institutions. We’ll continue to explore downtown with Theatrical Baltimore: a walking tour with theater historian Bob Headley. Spend a morning learning about our city’s rich performing arts history, from vaudeville venues to historic movie houses.

If two wheels are your thing, we’re hosting our first spring bike tour on May 21: Florence Meets Baltimore By Bike: Gelato and Ice Cream. If you promised your sweetheart a trip to Florence but just can’t make it work, do the next best thing by joining our tour. You’ll learn why Baltimore is way more important than Florence in the history of frozen desserts.

Finally, don’t miss two upcoming events from our partners: tomorrow’s Opening Day for Trails and next weekend’s Everyday Utopias public art installation at Pool No. 2 in Druid Hill Park. Pool No. 2 (1921-1956) operated as a segregated pool in the historically black section of Baltimore’s Druid Hill Park. Everyday Utopias invites viewers to consider the promise of both real and imagined aspects of civic participation as they navigate their way through physical structures and spiritual spaces of the pool’s remains. Sheena M. Morrison, MFA Candidate in MICA’s Curatorial Practice Program, brings together eleven contemporary artists who respond to the palpable history of Pool No. 2 with imaginative wit, humor, and compassion. Please join Ms. Morrison on for the opening reception on Saturday, April 15, 4:00 pm to 8:30 pm.

Beware the Ides of March? Not today with new tours at Zion Lutheran Church and Lexington Market

Although Shakespeare warns Julius Caesar “beware the Ides of March,” this March 15 brings a much happier message: we’ve lined up a new tour of Zion Lutheran Church and two more tours of the catacombs under Lexington Market!

As we near the one hundred year anniversary of the U.S. entry into World War I on April 2, please join us on March 29 at Zion Lutheran Church for a look at one of the centers of German heritage in Baltimore. With tributes to German history in everything from stained glass to Maypoles to a piece of the Berlin Wall, the tour will explore how many Baltimoreans identified as German and American at the same time.

After several sold out tours of the catacombs under Lexington Market, we’ve scheduled two more on April 15 and May 20. In addition to the underground vaults, you’ll meet a few of Lexington Market’s long-standing vendors, learn about the history of market, and discuss the future of city’s public markets.

Also, if you haven’t signed up already, we welcome you to join public artist and Baltimore Heritage board member Graham Coreil-Allen for a people’s history tour of the Inner Harbor on March 18 and a walk across the Highway to Nowhere on April 1. Graham is known for his playful, participatory, and informative tours – you don’t want to miss them!

What is public space? Ask the question on two unconventional tours of local landscapes

Take a walk around the picturesque Inner Harbor or past the concrete piers that carry the “Highway to Nowhere” over Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard. You’ll see two very different public spaces. We can’t help but wonder how these public spaces came to be and how they affect us. You’ll be wondering too when you join public artist and Baltimore Heritage board member Graham Coreil-Allen for a people’s history tour of the Inner Harbor on March 18 and a walk across the Highway to Nowhere on April 1. Graham is known for his playful, participatory, and informative tours – you don’t want to miss them!

We are also excited to share our 2017 Baltimore by Foot tour series this spring – sign up for one or all five but please sign up soon. We expect all our spring walking tours to sell out!

Finally, if you’re looking for another way to explore Baltimore’s history this spring, join us for one of our 2017 bike tours. Our May and June rides include everything from tasty gelato to serene historic parks.

Our Mount Vernon “Love Stories” tours are back!

Valentine’s Day would not be the same in Baltimore without our annual tour of jilted suitors, star-crossed lovers, and European royalty in historic Mount Vernon. Make a date and join tour guide and Baltimore historian Jamie Hunt on Sunday, February 12 for a wonderful walk through Mount Vernon. We’re running two identical tours, the first at 11:00 am and the second at 1:00 pm.

Plus, as we inch closer to those warmer days of spring, we are putting the final touches on our 2017 Monumental City and Baltimore by Foot tours. Watch out for details coming soon!

Exterior view of Hampton Mansion

Discover the story of America at Hampton Mansion

We hope you can join us on January 26 at Hampton Mansion. In 1948, the federal government designated this eighteenth century manor a National Historic Site and, in 2017, the building remains one of the highest regarded examples of Georgian architecture in the country. We are thrilled that Ms. Gregory Weidman, the mansion’s head curator, is leading our tour.

Are you interested in our Lexington Market and catacombs tours but frustrated that you have been stuck on a waitlist? Our tour coordinator Marsha Wise is working with the market management to schedule monthly Saturday morning tours into the spring. Look out for an announcement when registration opens!

If you’re curious about what’s going on with archaeology in Baltimore, please join the Archaeology Society of Maryland for a presentation on the Herring Run Archaeology project on January 20.

Finally, we could not be more pleased to share the news that one of our longest running preservation priorities, Baltimore’s Hebrew Orphan Asylum, took a big step towards a better future. The Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development recently awarded the Coppin Heights Community Development Corporation a grant to purchase the building from the University of Maryland University System. We plan to keep you updated as we continue to work to restore this fantastic building as an asset to the Greater Rosemont community.