It finally feels as if spring is finally here, and not just on paper. Take off your jacket and come out for one of our exciting new tours or bike rides this spring! We’re especially excited to announce that our Looking Up Downtown tours return to the Baltimore Farmer’s Market this Saturday. This year, we’re also launching a new partnership with Carroll Museums, Inc. to add a tour of historic Jonestown and the inside of the Phoenix Shot Tower on the third Sunday of every month.

Join us at the Baltimore Museum of Industry as we explore the museum’s history, architecture and recent restoration inside and out! Restoration architect Carol Quigley of Frens and Frens Architects will share her knowledge on a tour of the outside and Roland H. Woodward, BMI’s director, will give us a true behind the scenes look at the making of the exhibits and the redesigned interior.

Finally, please save the date for our 2014 Preservation Awards Celebration on June 19, 2014 at the award-winning home of the Baltimore Design School. I hope you can join us!

Featured photograph by Marc Siegel, 2012. Courtesy the Baltimore Museum of Industry.

Happy first day of spring! We’re celebrating the long-awaited return of sunny days with today’s announcement for our 2014 Baltimore by Foot neighborhood walking tours. I hope you can join us on one (or all!) of these leisurely strolls through five fantastic neighborhoods.

I love Patterson Park? We dig Hampstead Hill! Our archeological investigation in Patterson Park starts next week with a high-tech remote sensing survey using ground-penetrating radar, magnetometry, and more to find what might be hidden under the hill. Stop by the park on March 27 for a high-tech show and tell discussion with Dr. Tim Horsely and Dr. John Bedell.

Finally, whether you’re Irish or not, you might enjoy our our latest Baltimore 1814 update on the St. Patrick’s Day “Divine Service” held in Fell’s Point on March 17, 1814. We even shared found a few Irish toasts that reveal how Baltimore perservered “while English drums rattle at our doors.” Enjoy and please subscribe to receive our weekly Baltimore 1814 updates in your inbox.

Photograph of Barclay & East 20th Street, courtesy Jennifer A. Ferretti, March 3, 2014.

Happy holidays! We hope to see you on one of our great heritage tours in the early new year. Don’t forget to take a look at our end-of-year video. It is our way of saying thank you to the hundreds of volunteers and supporters who make all of what we do possible.

Join us next month for a lunchtime Behind the Scenes tour of Baltimore City Hall! All of Baltimore’s political, civic and business leaders came together for the dedication of the new City Hall in October 1875. Architect George Frederick was only 21 when he won the design competition with this handsome French Second Empire civic building. Our tour guide, City Hall curator Jeannie Davis, will lead us on a tour covering both architectural history and the history of city government in Baltimore. In addition to the rotunda, we’ll venture into the building’s ceremonial room, the original mayor’s office, and the council chambers.