Category: Tours

A Wonderful Evening at the Maryland Women’s Heritage Center

At Baltimore Heritage’s 2022 Preservation Celebration, the Maryland Women’s Heritage Center won a $500 microgrant to buy this tv screen! (Image courtesy of Kalin Thomas)

Last Thursday, the Maryland Women’s Heritage Center (formerly the Women’s Industrial Exchange) hosted Baltimore Heritage and friends for a fabulous behind-the-scenes evening. We got to see an array of artifacts (many of which were found on the second floor of the building, untouched for decades) and exhibits that show how the building continues to honor Maryland women. We saw the Maryland Women’s Hall of Fame, which includes people like Margaret Brent, Pauli Murray, and Major General Linda Singh.

Pauli Murray, Civil Rights activist, advocate, legal scholar and theorist, author and – later in life – an Episcopal priest

We also viewed the Valiant Maryland Women: The Fight for Suffrage exhibit, which featured Baltimoreans Frances Ellen Watkins Harper, Etta Maddox, and Augusta Chissell, among other Maryland women. Dr. Amy Rosenkrans then gave us a fabulous historical overview of the Women’s Industrial Exchange, the third oldest women’s exchange in the country! This was a place for down-on-their-luck women to sell crafts and goods to support themselves. It also had an affordable and delicious lunchroom.

Frances Ellen Watkins Harper, abolitionist, suffragist, poet, temperance activist, teacher, public speaker, and writer

She also highlighted where she wants her research to go in the future. If you have memories or stories about the Women’s Industrial Exchange, or know anything about Baltimore’s Colored Women’s Industrial Exchange, please contact her at amyrosenkransphd@gmail.com.

Image courtesy of Kalin Thomas

Be sure to check out the Maryland Women’s Heritage Center to hear about the courageous, pioneering and often forgotten women that have made Maryland the great state is it today.

 

Announcing More Spring & Summer Tours!

We are so thrilled to be returning to our regular walking tour programming that we have decided to add even more options! Please check out the following new additions to our tour schedule.

Jonestown & the Shot Tower Jonestown is one of Baltimore’s oldest and most historic neighborhoods. On April 8, we hope you’ll join Baltimore Heritage and tour guide Bev Rosen as we stroll past a series of firsts: the McKim Free School, the city’s oldest education building from 1833, the Lloyd Street Synagogue, the first synagogue in Maryland and the third oldest in the country, and the 1808 home of Charles Carroll, the longest living signer of the Declaration of Independence. And of course, what is a visit to Jonestown without a stop at the iconic Phoenix Shot Tower! Register here.

Maryland Women’s Heritage Center On April 20, join Baltimore Heritage on a special behind-the-scenes tour of the Maryland Women’s Heritage Center with its Executive Director, Diana Bailey! Formerly the Woman’s Industrial Exchange, the third oldest women’s exchange in the country, the building continues to honor Maryland women with art installations and exhibits including the MD Women’s Hall of Fame and “Valiant MD Women: The Fight for the Vote.” Over wine and cheese, we’ll be joined by Dr. Amy Rosenkrans to hear the stories behind the artifacts. Register here.

Liberty Ship S.S. John W. Brown On May 17, join Baltimore Heritage on a special behind-the-scenes tour of S.S. John W. Brown, one of only two remaining, fully operational Liberty ships that participated in World War II. One of 384 vessels built at Bethlehem-Fairfield Shipyard, S.S. John W. Brown could carry almost 9,000 tons of cargo, about the same as 300 railroad boxcars, and could transport every conceivable kind of cargo during the war – from beans to bullets. On May 17, join us to go below deck and explore this preserved piece of history! Register here.

LGBTQ Heritage in Charles Village On June 3, celebrate Pride Month with us on a LGBTQ Heritage walking tour of Charles Village! Guides Richard Oloizia, Louis Hughes and Kate Drabinski 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. We hope you’ll join us to celebrate Pride and the incredible community that called Charles Village its home. Register here.

The Catacombs Under Westminster: Two Hundred Years of Tombs and Edgar Allan Poe’s Gravesite On June 24 and July 15, join us to explore the eerie catacombs underneath Baltimore’s First Presbyterian Church, now called Westminster Hall, and the graves that surround it, including the final resting place of Edgar Allan Poe. The burial ground predates the church, which was built on arches above the gravesites, so that the graveyard and its tombstones lie both underneath and around the building. All told, the compact cemetery next to the University of Maryland School of Law is the final resting place for over 1,000 individuals. We can’t wait to see you “Where Baltimore’s History Rests in Peace!” Register here: June 24 & July 15

We will be updating our tour schedule to include more Behind the Scenes tours of places all over city, so please continue to check our website. Find all of our tours and more here!

– Johns Hopkins, Executive Director

Join Baltimore Heritage on a Walking Tour this Spring!

Spring is right around the corner and with it comes a host of great heritage tours! We are thrilled to offer tours in historic neighborhoods all over Baltimore.

Historic Rockland Village: A Preserved Hamlet from 1706 – On March 4, Baltimore Heritage and Preservation Alliance of Baltimore County hope you can join us for a tour of Rockland Village, one of the earliest settlements on the Jones Falls River. Thomas Bruggman, a 45-year resident and historic preservationist, will help us travel back in time on a tour of this idyllic hamlet that is still home to an 18th century tavern and blacksmith shop, as well as a livery stable and a grist mill. Situated in Baltimore County right on the city/county line, this tour will showcase the eclectic history of this area from its roots as a buffalo crossing and Susquehannock summer camp to the oldest existing outdoor Art Deco swimming pool in the country.

Sunday Morning Monumental City Tours – The first day of the Sunday Farmers’ Market & Bazaar is Sunday, April 2, and it’s also the first tour in our 2023 Monumental City Sunday morning series! From April through November, we’ll be hosting guided walking tours on Sunday mornings of the 1904 Fire Downtown, Ridgely’s Delight, Federal Hill, and Mount Vernon Place. Come to one or come to all, and bring a friend! Find the list of all of the tours here.

Lexington Market: In October 2022, the new Lexington Market opened in a brand new building. On this tour we’ll first explore the surrounding neighborhood to discover how Baltimore emerged as a leading industrial and economic city in the 19th century. Immigration, slavery, commerce and major changes in transportation were all part of the mix here in Baltimore and the country as a whole. We’ll end with a tour of the new market, including its wonderful public art and, of course, its merchants (new and old). Be sure to bring your canvas bags to do some quintessential Baltimore shopping after the tour! Join us on March 25 & April 22.

Green Mount Cemetery – We are also back again with tours of Green Mount Cemetery. Green Mount is the final resting place of some of Maryland’s most famous, and infamous, figures including Johns Hopkins, Enoch Pratt, William and Henry Walters, Mary Elizabeth Garrett, Betsy Patterson, A.S. Abell, John H. B. Latrobe, John Wilkes Booth, and Elijah Bond, who patented the Ouija Board. We’ve got tours lined up on: March 18, April 15, May 20, & June 17.

Clifton Mansion – Finally, we are introducing a new tour at Clifton Mansion, the unique Italianate country house that has overlooked Baltimore City for over 200 years. At one time the summer home of War of 1812 captain Henry Thompson and then philanthropist Johns Hopkins, the story of Clifton Estate is one about two prominent businessmen, enslaved & free Black people, and more. We’ll also get to see the latest restorations made possible by the Friends of Clifton Mansion and Civic Works, as well as some yet-to-be restored spaces that are brimming with stories to tell! And the tour wouldn’t be complete without climbing the tower and taking in one-of-a-kind views of Clifton Park and our surrounding city. We hope to see you there on March 4, April 15, & May 6.

 

We will be updating our tour schedule to include more Behind the Scenes tours of places all over city, so please continue to check our website. Find all of our tours and more here!

Members Make It Happen: Have You Renewed Your Membership?

It’s membership renewal time at Baltimore Heritage! If you haven’t yet done so, please consider joining or renewing your membership today. To learn more about our upcoming walking tours, recent Five Minute Histories videos, the next Friday afternoon virtual histories talks, and more, check out our event calendar!

Your membership makes preservation possible in Baltimore. Thank you for doing so much for our city.

Celebrating Noted Baltimore Historian Wayne Schaumburg

I am sad to report that Baltimore Heritage board member Wayne Schaumburg passed away last week. Wayne was a superstar at helping people fall in love with Baltimore. He developed and led tours at Green Mount Cemetery for something like 40 years and they will forever be known as the Wayne Schaumburg Tour. That’s how everyone in Baltimore refers to them! He also developed and led tours of the 1904 Fire downtown, which Baltimore Heritage was fortunate enough to have inherited. Wayne was a teacher in the city’s public schools for his career, but spent an equal amount of energy on helping Baltimore’s historic places. In addition to our board, he was a long time board member of the Irish Railroad Workers Museum and the Baltimore City Historical Society and other groups. And for something like 20 years, he gave lectures on Baltimore’s history to thousands of people all over the region. Almost anywhere I go, people ask me: “Do you know Wayne Schaumburg? He gives the best talks and tours!” In addition to all of this, if you had the privilege to know Wayne, I am sure you will agree that there was not a nicer person to walk on planet Earth.