Category: Tours

Mount Vernon Pride, Lutherville, Corpus Christi Church and more upcoming tours!

We’re looking forward to a busy weekend of heritage talks and tours and several new tours coming up next month. On Saturday, Bolton Hill’s Corpus Christi Church is celebrating its 135th Anniversary with a free afternoon lecture about the building’s architect Patrick Keely. On Sunday, we’ll be touring the Havre de Grace Lock House and Canal and reprising our Mount Vernon LGBTQ Heritage Walking Tour. Next month, you can join us on a walking tour of historic Lutherville and a sojourn around East Baltimore for a delicious bike tour of immigration and ethnic history.

Please don’t forget to purchase your tickets for our 2015 Historic Preservation Awards Celebration on June 18 at the Chesapeake Shakespeare Theatre. You can expect a fun evening with casual attire, plenty of food and drink, and an opportunity to recognize inspirational preservation and revitalization work from around the city!

New tours and events! Archaeology at Herring Run, a road trip to Havre de Grace, and Baltimore by Bike rides

With tonight’s pop-up exhibit on Baltimore archaeology, an open house at Herring Run Park archaeology dig next weekend, an excursion to Havre de Grace’s Lock House and Canal at the end of the month, we think you’ll enjoy our upcoming tours and events.

On Observatory Hill this evening, our Artifacts & Archaeologists Pop-up Exhibit is a chance to meet local archaeologists, check out artifacts from Hampden, Carroll Park and Patterson Park, and learn how to get involved with archaeology in Baltimore. Next weekend, we’re hosting an open house in Herring Run Park where you can learn about the country estate of William Smith and meet the volunteer archaeologists who are digging for answers to many questions about the park’s history.

On Sunday May 31, we’ll be driving up to Havre de Grace to visit a historic lock house and canal. Stick around for lunch and explore a historic community that Smithsonian Magazine ranked as one the best small town’s to see in America. In June, Baltimore by Bike tours return for ride through the city’s long history of salvaging, demolishing and preserving vacant houses and a tasty repeat of our East Baltimore Bakeries by Bike ride with Dr. Ralph Brown.

Finally, we invite you to join us in our push to bring the Red Line to Baltimore. The Red Line is key to saving historic landmarks, revitalizing historic neighborhoods, and creating new jobs for Baltimore residents. Come out to a Red Line rally this spring – May 12, May 15 or May 20 – to learn more and show off your support for this key investment in our city!

Walk through Fell’s Point African American heritage and explore the grand Gramercy Mansion

Over the next few days, we are excited to be celebrating African American history in Fell’s Point in partnership with the Preservation Society. Tomorrow evening, please come out for a free lecture with historian and activist Dr. Helena Hicks. This Sunday, we are looking forward to a walking tour of African American heritage in Fell’s Point covering everything from the famed escape of Frederick Douglass to little-known organizing efforts of African American drydock workers. The walk is led by Louis Fields a tireless advocate for black history in Maryland who was the driving force behind Maryland’s Harriet Tubman Day.

If you are interested in taking a look at the artifacts from last year’s dig in Patterson Park, please join us next Thursday evening on Observatory Hill for a pop-up exhibit on Baltimore archeology. Organized in partnership with the Archeological Society of Maryland, this informal one-day only exhibit will let you take a close look at artifacts from Carroll Park, Hampden, Herring Run, and Texas, Maryland and meet local archeologists.

Finally, we are excited to announce our newest Behind the Scenes tour of the lovely Gramercy Mansion and Gardens (located near Stevenson University). Built in 1902, this Tudor-style home started as a wedding present from railroad president Alexander Johnston Cassatt to his daughter Eliza. The building took an unexpected turn in the 1950s when it became home to the Koinonia Foundation – a predecessor of the Peace Corps. Sign up soon for this tour with Ann Pomykala, the mansion’s owner and historian at heart – we expect the tour will fill up fast!

New Monumental tours of Baltimore history and architecture – Sundays from April to November

Looking for a fun activity on a Sunday morning? Friends and family coming to town and you’d like to show off the best of Baltimore? Join us for a Monumental City tour!

We are expanding our Looking Up Downtown tours at the Baltimore Farmer’s Market walking tours into a new tour series highlighting the history and architecture of four iconic Baltimore landmarks & neighborhoods almost every Sunday morning from April to November.

First Sunday – Downtown Landmarks and Lions

Courtesy Library of Congress, Historic American Building Survey.Come with us to find a piece of the Berlin Wall, a War of 1812 cannon ball mounted on a Conestoga wagon hitch, and over a hundred lions looking down at you from the tops of Baltimore’s buildings.

Second Sunday – Jonestown and the Shot Tower

Courtesy Wikimedia Commons.Walk with us just a few blocks east of the Baltimore Farmer’s Market to explore one of the oldest neighborhood’s in the city and get inside the famed Phoenix Shot Tower—the tallest structure in the United States until 1846.

Third Sunday – Mount Vernon and the Washington Monument

Courtesy Wikimedia Commons.Take a short stroll around Mount Vernon Place to hear the stories of local residents including the owners of the B&O Railroad, the founders of the Walters Art Museum, and the wealthy owners of Mercantile Bank. End the tour with a climb up the newly renovated 200-year old Washington Monument! This tour begins on July 19.

Fourth Sunday – Battle of Baltimore and the Patterson Park Observatory

Patterson Park Pagoda by Smallbones, 2012 March 14. Wikimedia Commons.Climb the stairs of the Patterson Park Observatory and enjoy an unparalleled panoramic view revealing the fortifications where Baltimore defeated the British during the War of 1812, the home of the original butcher on Butcher’s Hill, and Patterson Park’s rich history from the early 19th century up through the present day.

We hope you can come out and join us for all four tours this year. Find more details or register on our events calendar.

Our Monumental City tours are supported by the Baltimore National Heritage Area and our partners: the Friends of Patterson Park, Carroll Museums, and the Mount Vernon Place Conservancy. Special thanks to all of our volunteer tour guides who help us bring Baltimore’s landmarks to life!

Springtime is here! Check out our Baltimore by Foot tours from Mount Washington to Pigtown

The first day of spring is here (even if it arrives with a bit of snow) and it’s time for our annual Baltimore by Foot neighborhood walking tours. This year, we’re thrilled to be touring five quite different neighborhoods with resident experts and local historians. Come on one tour or come on them all!

If you missed our Mount Vernon Love Stories Valentine’s walking tour in February, you’re in luck. A cold alert forced us to cancel but we rescheduled with Jamie Hunt to lead the tour again on Sunday, April 12 with a morning and afternoon option. Finally, don’t miss our upcoming tour of the 1889 Jenkins House on Maryland Avenue on March 26 for a look into this historic orphanage that has helped generations of Baltimoreans.