Baltimore Heritage

Join us for a tour inside 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. You’ll see the latest restorations made possible by the Friends of Clifton Mansion and Civic Works. You will also be invited into unrestored 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.

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. We bet you will also recognize more than a few Baltimore street names as we walk among the patriots and civic leaders buried at Westminster including Calhoun, Hollins, Gilmore, and Bentalou. 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!”

Join Baltimore Heritage on a special behind-the-scenes tour of the Irish Railroad Workers Museum with its managing director, Megan "Sammie" Samuels! This unique museum shares the lives of Irish immigrants, their communities, and legacy in America. Learn about the Great Hunger, also known as the Potato Famine, and walk through the restored home of 19th century Irish immigrants, James and Sarah Feeley. You’ll hear about their treacherous journey across the Atlantic and how they developed a new way of life in this vibrant, thriving city. We hope to see you there!

Always one for flamboyance, Captain Isaac Emerson came back from a trip to Italy and decided he wanted to build a new factory in downtown Baltimore and that it should look like Florence’s fabulous town hall, the Palazzo Vecchio. Completed in 1911, the tower’s four clocks each measure 24 feet across, a foot more London’s Big Ben, and the tower itself was the tallest building in Baltimore at the time. Emerson, the man who became wealthy from his invention of Bromo Seltzer and gave us the slogan “if you keep late hours for society’s sake, Bromo Seltzer will cure that headache,” was quite proud. Our tour through the building will include a trip up into the clockworks at the top to look at the tick-tock operation in process and peer out the translucent windows. We’ll also stop in at the museum room that holds the world’s largest collection ephemera from Captain Emerson, Bromo Seltzer, and Maryland Glass. And along the way, we’ll get a taste of the newest art that comes from the Tower’s artists: it is now home to dozens of local art studios. If you’ve wondered what goes on in the Bromo Seltzer Tower and how the imposing clocks actually work, now’s your chance!