Baltimore Heritage

Historic Green Mount Cemetery
2022-10-01 09:30 - 11:30, 2022-11-05 09:30 - 11:30, 2023-03-18 09:30 - 11:30, 2023-04-15 09:30 - 11:30 (America/New_York) | Green Mount Cemetery, 1501 Greenmount Ave, Baltimore, MD, 21202, United States
Baltimore Heritage has inherited the Green Mount Cemetery tour from the great Baltimore historian Wayne Schaumburg and we invite you to join us. Opened in 1839, Green Mount is an early example of an urban-rural cemetery, that is, a cemetery with a park-like setting located close to the countryside. 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, A. Aubrey Bodine, John Wilkes Booth, and Elijah Bond, who patented the Ouija Board! Join us to tour Baltimore’s historic Green Mount Cemetery.

Out of the Ashes: The Great Baltimore Fire of 1904
2022-10-02 09:30 - 10:30, 2022-11-06 09:30 - 10:30, 2023-04-02 09:30 - 10:30 | The Replica Gaslight, 300 E Baltimore St, Baltimore, MD, 21202, United States
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.

Our Monumental City tours are guided walks exploring iconic Baltimore landmarks in Downtown, Ridgely’s Delight, Mount Vernon and Federal Hill on the first four Sundays of each month from April through November, except holiday weekends.

Idlewylde: A Community on the City Line (Virtual Talk)
2022-10-07 13:00 - 13:30 | Virtual, MD, United States
Idlewylde, a community of more than 700 homes situated on the Chinquapin Run and Herring Run-B watershed, is the oldest of the suburban neighborhoods of South Towson. The community has a mix of housing styles characteristic of the development of suburban neighborhoods during the time of its growth, ranging from 1920s bungalows and small Cape Cods to brick Colonials and Mid-Century Modern designs. Its development differed greatly from that of its younger neighbors, Anneslie and Stoneleigh, chiefly owing to the development of The Alameda as an arterial road terminating in Idlewylde and to the northward extension of Baltimore City in 1918 to Idlewylde’s southern border.
The Idlewylde neighborhood partially occupies land that was once Beulah, the estate of Joshua Regester (1816-1906), a Baltimore brassfounder whose bells graced Baltimore City Hall and other buildings of note. Beulah once extended north to Stevenson’s Woods (now the Country Club of Maryland golf course), south almost to today’s City-County line, west to the Birckhead estate (“Anneslie”) and the Brown estate (“Stoneleigh”) and east to the Herring Run tributary. The family’s farmstead and summer home, built in 1853, is the oldest building standing in south Towson. It and the Idlewylde United Methodist Church from 1917, the oldest house of worship in the area, are listed on the Maryland Inventory of Historic Properties.
This special program is hosted in partnership with the Friends of Maryland’s Olmsted Parks & Landscapes as part of their Olmsted 200 programming, a nationwide celebration of the firm’s work and influence, on the Bicentennial Anniversary of Frederick Law Olmsted’s birth. In 1928 the developer contacted the Olmsted Brothers, the renowned landscape architects responsible for designing the City neighborhoods of Roland Park and Homeland, to commission a street layout for the undeveloped northern section contoured by the ravines of Herring Run, but the project was nipped in the bud by the stock market crash and ensuing Great Depression. However, Idlewylde turns out to have an unexpected connection to Frederick Law Olmsted.
Come learn of this as well as celebrate the heritage of this unique community as shared by two Idlewylde community members who will be available to answer participants’ questions after the presentation.

ABOUT THE PRESENTERS:
Paul Romney is a longtime resident of the Idlewylde Community and serves as the newsletter editor and secretary of the Community Association. He is a professional historian specializing in the history of Canada.
Bryan Fisher, AIA, NCARB, is a registered architect and a historic preservation specialist. He has contributed significantly to numerous important architectural projects including work for the U.S. Capitol, the National Archives, the Smithsonian Institution, dozens of National Park Service sites throughout the U.S., the GSA, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, NAVFAC, Washington College, and the Maryland Historical Society. In his spare time he enjoys sailing, exploring Idlewylde, and working on his Mid-Century Modern home.

ABOUT THIS SERIES:
The Baltimore Architecture Foundation and Baltimore Heritage, Inc. have been hosting this Friday Virtual Histories Series of live lunchtime presentations and virtual tours since the start of the pandemic as a way to share an understanding of architecture, preservation, and history of the Baltimore region with the public. Tickets are donation based. We encourage you to give what you can to support these organizations to help make up for lost tour and program revenue from the pandemic and create more virtual programs like this.
Upon registering you will receive an email confirmation and a Zoom link. If you do not receive a link, please contact mhudson@aiabalt.com. If you do not contact us at least 1 hour prior to the start of the program, we cannot guarantee admittance.
Hope you can join us!

Historic Green Mount Cemetery
2022-10-08 09:30 - 11:30 | Green Mount Cemetery, 1501 Greenmount Ave, Baltimore, MD, 21202, United States
Rescheduled to October 8 to not conflict with the Baltimore Running Festival.

Baltimore Heritage has inherited the Green Mount Cemetery tour from the great Baltimore historian Wayne Schaumburg and we invite you to join us. Opened in 1839, Green Mount is an early example of an urban-rural cemetery, that is, a cemetery with a park-like setting located close to the countryside. 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, A. Aubrey Bodine, John Wilkes Booth, and Elijah Bond, who patented the Ouija Board! Join us to tour Baltimore’s historic Green Mount Cemetery.

Preservation Celebration 2022!
2022-10-13 17:30 - 19:30 | Peale Museum, 225 North Holliday Street, Baltimoe, 21202, United States
Join us for our Preservation Celebration 2022 at the newly restored and re-opened Peale Museum! On October 13, we’ll honor our 2022 Preservation Award winners and, with your help, give out four microgrants to people working on the front lines in our historic neighborhoods. We’ll say thank you to our volunteers and honor all of their hard work this year. This gathering also acts as Baltimore Heritage’s annual meeting where the board will elect its new members. With food from Baltimore vendors, wine and beer from Maryland suppliers, and complimentary valet service, we hope you will join us for what promises to be a wonderful evening. And we couldn’t be in a better historic place than the newly renovated Peale Museum. We hope you’ll join us!

About Our 2022 Historic Preservation Awards
At our October 13 celebration, we will honor the people in Baltimore who over the last year have made an impact in helping save our historic places and improve our historic neighborhoods.
Our awards recognize work of all kinds: people who have done an excellent rehab job on their house or building; people who have volunteered at a historic site; people who have stepped up to improve their historic community with a new program or partnership. Individuals are eligible, as are organizations, corporations, and government agencies or programs. Self nominations are encouraged! Please send your ideas for award recipients to us at info@baltimoreheritage.org by September 7.

About Our 2022 Microgrants
We’re in our 7th year of giving away microgrants to help fund preservation work in the city. If you have a good idea to help preserve a historic building or place in Baltimore or help revitalize a historic neighborhood, we’d love to hear from you! The process is easy: simply fill out the online application and hit send by September 13.
We’ll pick the most promising ideas and give them a chance for one of two $1000 grants and two $500 grants. The awards will be made on the October 13 celebration at the Peale Museum. Supporters of each idea will get three minutes to pitch them and at the end, all of us present at the Peale will cast ballots to decide which ideas receive the micro grants.
The types of eligible projects are endless, and as long as they relate to Baltimore’s history, heritage, historic buildings or historic neighborhoods we will consider them. Past award winners include: restoring leaking masonry at a historic church, launching an after school arts-based safe space program in a historic neighborhood, supporting archaeological efforts at a historic furnace, and providing supplies for a community trying to provide access to a neighboring park. The sky’s the limit!
The amounts of the award ($500 and 1000) may not be enough to complete an entire project. That’s OK. The goal is to help spark new and support existing neighborhood-level preservation work. You don’t need to be a nonprofit organization or even a formalized group to be eligible. Individuals and small groups are welcome! Complete rules can be found on the application.

Federal Hill Beyond the Views: A Monumental City Tour
2022-10-16 09:30 - 10:30, 2022-11-20 09:30 - 10:30 | Federal Hill Park (Southwest Corner), 301 Warren Avenue, Baltimore, MD, 21230, United States
Baltimoreans celebrated atop Federal Hill when we ratified the U.S. Constitution. We used it to defend the city from the British in the War of 1812 and to make sure we stayed in the Union in the Civil War. We have even tunnelled under it to quarry minerals. Join us on a tour of Federal Hill and the neighborhood around it to learn about this waterfront community’s rich history, including stops at one of the last wooden houses in the city, the oldest house in Federal Hill, and the wonderful alley houses along Churchill Street.
Our Monumental City tours are guided walks exploring iconic Baltimore landmarks in Federal Hill, Downtown, Mount Vernon and Ridgely’s Delight on the first four Sundays of each month from April through November, except holiday weekends.

The Evolution of Windy Gates Estate and its Olmsted Gardens (Virtual Talk)
2022-10-21 13:00 - 13:30 | Virtual, MD, United States
The Windy Gates country estate of the Jenkins family from 1882 to 1981 was the centerpiece of a much larger property that in its heyday, lolled down the rolling hills stretching along Lake Avenue from Roland Avenue to Falls Road. On the heels of their work on the Roland Park neighborhood to the south, the Olmsted Brothers were employed from 1902 through 1906, to do extensive landscaping design for the property, producing a detailed plan for the estate and specifications for approximately 150 different planting beds.
When the heirs wished to sell the unique 20-acre property forty years ago, they offered a unique contest awarded to the developer presenting the most inspired and pleasing plan. Based on designs prepared by Peterson and Brickbauer Architects, the Azola Company was selected to redevelop the site into the Devon Hill Residential Community. They saved much of the historic landscaping, converted the historic Queen Anne-style country house and its carriage house and barns into condominium units and residential homes, and added additional residential buildings in keeping with the scale and historic character of the site.
This presentation by Thom Rinker will draw on the extensive material, vintage drawings, and photographs found in the records of the Frederick Law Olmsted National Historic Site, the Library of Congress, the Smithsonian Archives of American Gardens, the Jenkins family archives, and the surveying firm of S.J. Martenet & Company. He will share unique insights into this Baltimore County treasure that still retains a quiet serenity and gentility over the landscape.
This special program is hosted in partnership with the Maryland Chapter of the American Society of Landscape Architects in celebration of their 50th anniversary and the Friends of Maryland’s Olmsted Parks & Landscapes (FMOPL) as part of their Olmsted 200 programming, a nationwide celebration of the firm’s work and influence, on the Bicentennial Anniversary of Frederick Law Olmsted’s birth.

ABOUT THE PRESENTER:
Thom Rinker and his wife lived in Devon Hill for over 15 years and is the author of a recently released three-volume book set entitled Devon Hill: The Pleasure of Living in an Historic Landscape. The books present a detailed narrative of the evolution of the landscape and architectural history of the property as it has evolved over its 175 years. Volume I covers the 100-year period the Jenkins family and its decients owned Windy Gates, Volume II covers the subsequent period after 1983 when the Devon Hill community has maintained and enhanced the property, and Volume III contains a review of the correspondence, field notes, and landscape plans in the Olmsted Brothers’ project files.

ABOUT THIS SERIES:
The Baltimore Architecture Foundation and Baltimore Heritage, Inc. have been hosting this Friday Virtual Histories Series of live lunchtime presentations and virtual tours since the start of the pandemic as a way to share an understanding of architecture, preservation, and history of the Baltimore region with the public. Tickets are donation based. We encourage you to give what you can to support these organizations to help make up for lost tour and program revenue from the pandemic and create more virtual programs like this.
Upon registering you will receive an email confirmation and a Zoom link. If you do not receive a link, please contact mhudson@aiabalt.com. If you do not contact us at least 1 hour prior to the start of the program, we cannot guarantee admittance.
Hope you can join us!

Historic Clifton Mansion
2022-10-22 10:00 - 11:00, 2022-11-19 10:00 - 11:00, 2023-03-04 10:00 - 11:00 | Clifton Mansion, 2701 Saint Lo Drive, Baltimore, MD, 21218, United States
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!

Mount Vernon Place: A Monumental City Tour
2022-10-23 09:30 - 10:30 | Washington Monument (South Entrance), 699 N. Charles Street, Baltimore, MD, 21201, United States
Mount Vernon began as a country estate for Revolutionary War hero John Eager Howard and grew to be the place to live for Baltimore’s rich and famous in the mid-nineteenth century. The Garrett family, owners of the B&O Railroad, the Walters, founders of the Walters Art Museum, and the Thomases, owners of Mercantile Bank, are among the families that built handsome mansions along the four parks that surround the Washington Monument. Join us on a tour to hear the stories behind the landmarks of Baltimore’s grandest historic neighborhood.
Our Monumental City tours are guided walks exploring iconic Baltimore landmarks in Federal Hill, Downtown, Mount Vernon and Ridgely’s Delight on the first four Sundays of each month from April through November, except holiday weekends.

Jonestown & the Shot Tower: A Walking Tour
2022-10-29 10:00 - 11:00 | Carroll Mansion, 800 Lombard Street, Baltimore, MD, 21202, United States
Jonestown is Baltimore’s oldest and most historic neighborhood. Both groundbreaking industry and vibrant communities have thrived here. On this tour, we will see the vestiges of its Eastern European Jewish residents as we pass Corned Beef Row. 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, the 1808 home of Charles Carroll, the longest living signer of the Declaration of Independence, and the Hendler Creamery, the nation’s first fully-automated ice cream manufacturing plant. And of course, what is a visit to Jonestown without a look inside the iconic Phoenix Shot Tower, which until 1846 was the tallest building in the country!

No Ball Playing: Baltimore Kids Playing in Streets and Hanging on Corners (Virtual Talk)
2022-11-04 13:00 - 13:30 | Virtual, MD, United States
Before the early 1900s, families in Baltimore never had to tell a kid to “watch out for cars”. However, as the number of cars in the city grew during the early 20th century, playing in the street became increasingly dangerous and even illegal. Criminalizing children at play has a long history in Baltimore from complaints in the Sun about young “baseball maniacs” breaking windows in the 1870s to a 1898 police order designed to “disperse” children from gathering on newly “smoothly paved streets to play.” In 1910, the Children’s Playground Association of Baltimore formed a “Guild of Play” to host supervised street play at locations around the city and started working to keep children safe through building more playgrounds. Despite their efforts and others, more than one in three East Baltimore youth surveyed in 2017 said they didn’t have or didn’t know of any safe place to play in their neighborhood.
Join planner and historian Eli Pousson for a lunch-time talk on the history of street play and the policing of children in public space from the 19th century through the present-day.

About the speaker
Eli Pousson is a local historian, former Baltimore Heritage staff member, Bikemore board member, and INSPIRE Planner for the Baltimore City Department of Planning (since June 2022). Eli is also a parent of three busy kids that give him plenty of opportunities to visit playgrounds, play in the street, and shout “watch out for cars”.
Please see your email confirmation for instructions on how to get the Zoom Link for this program. If you have any questions, please email mhudson@aiabalt.com.

Frederick Douglass, the Canton Company, and Canton History
2022-11-18 13:00 - 13:30 | Virtual, MD, United States
What started out as a volunteer effort to clean up trash on Canton’s waterfront led Dr. Raymond Bahr on a path of research that has brought to light where Frederick Douglass escaped from his enslavement, how the Canton Company shaped Baltimore, and the national impact that Canton’s industries had on the growth of America. Join Dr. Bahr as he shares his research and findings on this under-told part of our history

About this event

Please see your email confirmation for instructions on how to get the Zoom Link for this program. If you have any questions, please email mhudson@aiabalt.com. If you do not contact us at least 1 hour prior to the start of the program, we cannot guarantee admittance.
The Baltimore Architecture Foundation (BAF) and Baltimore Heritage present the Virtual Histories Series: 30 minute live virtual tours and presentations focusing on Baltimore architecture, preservation and history. Hosted every Friday at 1:00 pm EST.
Tickets are donation based. We encourage you to give what you can to support BAF and Baltimore Heritage. Your support helps us make up for lost tour and program revenue from COVID-19 and create more virtual programs like this.

Baltimore's Marble Hill: How A Neighborhood Shaped the Civil Rights Movement
2022-12-03 10:00 - 11:00 | Lillie Carroll Jackson Museum, 1320 Eutaw Place, Baltimore, MD, 21217, United States
Join us for a guided tour of Baltimore’s Marble Hill neighborhood, which was the home to an astonishing amount of groundbreaking Civil Rights leaders. Reverend Harvey Johnson began one of the first collective action movements here in the 1880s. In the 1930s Lillie Carroll Jackson engaged youth in “The Movement” and pioneered new non-violent protest tactics that were later picked up in cities across the country. Thurgood Marshall grew up here, as did the chief lobbyist for the 1964 Civil Rights Act, Clarence Mitchell. Most recently this was the district for the late Representative Elijah Cummings, one of the most powerful voices for civil rights in Washington. Join Johns Hopkins and Lashelle Bynum to learn how fundamental pillars of the Civil Rights Movement got built here by driven, activist neighbors with their eyes on the prize.
The tour will begin and end at the Lillie Carroll Jackson Civil Rights Museum. We encourage you to tour the museum after the conclusion of our tour. Admission is free.

Examining Forced Labor at the Northampton Iron Furnace through Archaeology (Virtual Talk)
2022-12-16 13:00 - 13:30 | Baltimore, MD, United States
From the 1760s to the 1820s, convicts, indentured servants, and enslaved peoples worked and died producing and forging iron at the Ridgely family’s Northampton Iron Furnace outside of Baltimore. The iron was crucial to the growth of the British Empire, the American Revolution, and the building of the town of Baltimore. By using and controlling people who were marginalized in society, the Ridgely family was able to exploit their labor and lives to generate considerable wealth and political power. Archaeologist Adam Fracchia will present the findings of his archaeological work at the furnace and discuss the structure of labor relations and the experience of workers at the furnace.
Please see your email confirmation for instructions on how to get the Zoom Link for this program. If you have any questions, please email mhudson@aiabalt.com. If you do not contact us at least 1 hour prior to the start of the program, we cannot guarantee admittance.
The Baltimore Architecture Foundation (BAF) and Baltimore Heritage present the Virtual Histories Series: 30 minute live virtual tours and presentations focusing on Baltimore architecture, preservation and history. Hosted every Friday at 1:00 pm EST.
Tickets are donation based. We encourage you to give what you can to support BAF and Baltimore Heritage. Your support helps us make up for lost tour and program revenue from COVID-19 and create more virtual programs like this.

The New Lexington Market & Exploring the Neighborhood Around It
2022-12-17 10:30 - 11:30 | Faidley’s Seafood (Entrance), 203 N. Paca Street, Baltimore, MD, 21201, United States
For over 200 years, Lexington Market’s wooden sheds and concrete stalls have been a gathering place for Baltimoreans. And the market is still evolving! 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). Please join us and make Lexington Market a part of your holidays. Be sure to bring your canvas bags to do some quintessential Baltimore shopping after the tour!

Baltimore & Boston: Frame Suburbs and Rowhomes (Virtual Talk)
2023-02-10 13:00 - 13:30 | Virtual, MD, United States
The center of Boston, with skyscrapers and row houses, looks like Baltimore. But 99% of Boston’s neighborhoods look really different. To find out why, Charlie Duff, former BAF President and author of The North Atlantic Cities, shows how the building cultures of the two cities came to be what they are – and how two “Men with a Mission” succeeded, and failed, to change the way the people of their cultures built houses.

About the Presenter:
Charles Duff is a planner, teacher, developer, and historian. Since 1987, Mr. Duff has been President of Jubilee Baltimore, a non-profit group that has planned some of Baltimore’s most successful neighborhoods and built or rebuilt more than 300 buildings. A graduate of Gilman, Amherst, and Harvard, he has been President of the Baltimore Architecture Foundation. His book The North Atlantic Cities was published in the UK in 2019.
Upon registering, you will receive an email confirmation to request a Zoom link. If you do not receive a link, please contact Meghan Hudson (mhudson@aiabalt.com). If you do not contact us at least 1 hour prior to the start of the program, we cannot guarantee admittance.

Baltimore's Early Trade with China (Virtual Talk)
2023-02-24 13:00 - 13:30 | Virtual, MD, United States
John O’Donnell initiated trade between Canton, China and Baltimore in 1785, operating his own merchant sailing vessels. While the Baltimore-China trade was short-lived, it involved many of our early Founding Fathers. On February 24, join John Danz to learn how the trade propelled Baltimore’s development as a major East Coast port.
About the Speaker:
John Danz, Jr., is a native of Baltimore, Maryland. He graduated from Virginia Tech with a degree in European history. John has lectured widely on the subject of America’s early trade with China based on more than three years of research. His focus has been on Maryland’s experiences in the China trade from the viewpoint of both the decorative arts and economics. Mr. Danz served as Vice President of Towson University’s Asian Arts & Culture Center for more than fifteen years and currently serves as Vice President of the State of Maryland’s Sister States program for Anhui Province, China.

Upon registering, you will receive an email confirmation to request a Zoom link. If you do not receive a link, please contact Meghan Hudson (mhudson@aiabalt.com). If you do not contact us at least 1 hour prior to the start of the program, we cannot guarantee admittance.

Historic Rockland Village: A Preserved Hamlet from 1706
2023-03-04 10:00 - 11:00 | Callahan Gardens Studio, 2210 Old Court Rd, Pikesville, MD, 21208, United States
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.

Being Literate, Being Free (Virtual Talk)
2023-03-10 13:00 - 13:30 | Virtual, MD, United States
Despite the harshness and cruelty that slavery inflicted on people of color, whether they were enslaved or free, these people derived creative methods to learn to read and write as an essential first step toward freedom.
Frederick Douglass said that it was through reading that he first heard “the silver trump of freedom.” Thus, it was literacy, the ability to read, write, and understand information, that showed Douglass and countless other blacks the pathway from slavery to freedom.
Through her Virtual Histories webinar Being Literate, Being Free, Dr. Joanne Martin will highlight historical personalities for whom literacy was the key to a future of freedom and hope for a people who were coming to understand that “If you would keep a people enslaved, refuse to teach them to read”.

Meet the Speaker
Drs. Elmer and Joanne Martin founded The National Great Blacks In Wax Museum in Baltimore, over thirty years ago.
The Museum is the nation’s first wax museum concentrating on black history, life and culture. It is a national attraction and has been featured on major television networks (CNN, NBC,BET, etc.); magazines (Jet, Essence, Black Enterprise, etc.); and newspapers (The Washington Post, New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, etc.).
Dr. Joanne Martin received a BA from Florida A&M University, Tallahassee, Florida; MA degrees from Atlanta University, Atlanta Georgia and Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland Ohio: and her PhD from Howard University, Washington, DC.
A noted historian, educator and researcher, she performs most of the Museum’s curatorial duties and has laid the groundwork for both architectural and exhibition design for the expanded Museum. Her principal role is to ensure the intellectual integrity of all interpretive materials and approaches, particularly relating to exhibition concepts, storyline, and texts. She also provides guidance and direction to the Museum Educator in identifying curriculum-appropriate educational programming for k-12 students and alignment with U.S. and State of Maryland curriculum standards.
Upon registering, you should recieve an email confirmation with a link to request the Zoom link. If you have any questions, please contact Meghan Hudson at mhudson@aiabalt.com at least one hour before the start of the event.

Ghost Signs of Baltimore
2023-03-24 13:00 - 13:30 | Virtual, MD, United States
Have you ever noticed the fading signs painted on buildings all around Baltimore and wondered what they used to say or why they were on a certain building? They are called ghost signs and photographer Lashelle Bynum has been meticulously researching and documenting them over the last few decades. She has photographed nearly 300 ghost signs in Baltimore to date. Please join us to hear Lashelle talk about her quest to discover and uncover the history of Baltimore’s ghost signs.
Meet the Speaker
Lifelong Baltimorean Lashelle Bynum is a photographer and researcher of her city’s ghost signs and Black history. She is also a board member of Baltimore Heritage and has contributed as a guest in several of the organization’s Five Minute Histories videos.
Upon registering, you will receive an email confirmation to request a Zoom link. If you do not receive a link, please contact Meghan Hudson (mhudson@aiabalt.com). If you do not contact us at least 1 hour prior to the start of the program, we cannot guarantee admittance.

The New Lexington Market & Exploring the Neighborhood Around It
2023-03-25 10:30 - 11:30 | Faidley’s Seafood (Entrance), 203 N. Paca Street, Baltimore, MD, 21201, United States
For over 200 years, Lexington Market’s wooden sheds and concrete stalls have been a gathering place for Baltimoreans. And the market is still evolving! 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!

Jonestown & the Shot Tower: A Walking Tour
2023-04-08 10:00 - 11:00 | Carroll Mansion, 800 Lombard Street, Baltimore, MD, 21202, United States
Jonestown is one of Baltimore’s oldest and most historic neighborhoods. Both groundbreaking industry and vibrant communities have thrived here. On this tour, we will see the vestiges of its Eastern European Jewish residents as we pass Corned Beef Row. 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, which until 1846 was the tallest building in the country!
