Established in 1888 as the Druid Hill Conservatory and modeled after London’s famous Kew Gardens, today’s Howard P. Rawlings Conservatory & Botanic Gardens has grown from its original Palm House and Orchid Room to include three greenhouses, two display pavilions, and outdoor gardens. Join us as we stroll through the second oldest steel framed-and-glass building in the country to learn about its history and its botanical collection.

50 years ago to the day, New York’s LGBT community rose up to protest a police raid at Greenwich’s Village’s Stone Wall Inn. We are celebrating this critical turning point in the nation’s struggle for LGBT rights with a tour through our own Mt. Vernon neighborhood to learn about pioneering residents who shaped Baltimore’s educational institutions, founded Baltimore’s first black LGBT church and more. We’ll end at Flavor. You bring the conversation and we will pick up the tab for appetizers!

Newlyweds Louis and Esther Rheb moved into their new home at 3352 Wilkens Avenue in 1917 and a year later, Louis started making candy. With batches of taffies, fudges and jellies going to Hollins and Belair Markets, Rheb’s Candies was born 100 years ago. Please join us and the fourth generation of Rheb family members on a tour of the factory (still on the first floor of their house) and store (a converted garage) of this quintessentially Baltimore legacy business.

Did you know that the Continental Congress met in downtown Baltimore? Or that Abraham Lincoln just barely escaped an assisination attempt there? Or that German agents plotted sabotage on Charles Street during World War I? Please join us and our tour guide, Mr. Jefferson Gray, as we explore downtown Baltimore from its earliest days through the Civil War, the labor unrest of the Gilded Age, the Great Fire of 1904 and Civil Rights Movement. We’ll take in some great architecture, spot the filming sites of various movies, and of course learn a good bit about Baltimore’s history.