Join Baltimore Heritage and BMI curator Rachel Donaldson for a walking tour of neighborhood corner bars, past and present, along Fort Avenue. Ticket includes parking and museum admission. The tour route is about one mile total.
In February 1904, Baltimore’s chief firefighter cabled Washington DC: “Desperate fire here. Must have help at once!” A tremendous fire was sweeping through downtown and showed little signs of stopping. Not until 5:00 p.m. the next day was the fire brought under control. Overall, it destroyed 1500 buildings, left 35,000 people unemployed, and damaged $150 million of property. Resilient Baltimore rebounded quickly, erecting new buildings, widening streets, and improving fire safety designs. Rising out of the ashes, Baltimore used the fire to rethink the city, and the downtown we know today is shaped largely by this incident. Join us on this walking tour as we see what 2500 degrees Fahrenheit heat can do to blocks of solid stone, learn how the fire shaped architecture locally and across the country, and hear the tale of one of the fire’s great heroes: Goliath the horse.
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!”
As the nation’s oldest continuously operating ironworks company, G. Krug & Son literally has helped build Baltimore. For over 200 years, the firm has fabricated distinctive components of such notable landmarks as the Baltimore Basilica, the Washington Monument and the Baltimore Zoo. G. Krug began in 1810 by Augustas Schwatka, and by 1871, Gustav Krug became the sole proprietor of the “bell hanger and locksmith” company. G. Krug today is owned by Peter Krug, a fifth generation Krug ironworker, and continues to fabricate artistic ironwork in the same building where it was founded. Mr. Krug and his ironworking colleagues will lead our tour of the iron working shop and museum. We’ll be treated to archival blueprints, century-old rare pieces of ironwork that are no longer made anywhere, and their two hundred year old ironworks building where they produce wonderful pieces as they have for over two centuries. There will be a light wine and cheese reception.
