Out of the Ashes: The Great Baltimore Fire of 1904
2024-05-05 09:30 - 10:30, 2024-06-02 09:30 - 10:30 (America/New_York) | 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.

Baltimore, President-Making City: A Talk by Author Stan Haynes
2024-05-05 14:00 - 15:00 | Engineers Club / Garrett Jacobs Mansion, 11 West Mount Vernon Place, Baltimore, MD, 21201, United States
Baltimore was once the primary American city for hosting presidential nominating conventions. Six presidents, including Andrew Jackson, Abraham Lincoln, and Woodrow Wilson, were nominated here. With the 2024 conventions on the horizon, join Baltimore Heritage and the Garrett-Jacobs Mansion for an informative discussion, presented by Stan Haynes, of the intrigue, hoopla, and drama of the Baltimore conventions.
The author of three books about the history of presidential nominating conventions, Mr. Haynes has been called by The New Yorker “the most exhaustive chronicler of the conventions.” He has spoken about his books at presidential sites and has been interviewed about them by several major media outlets

Historic Green Mount Cemetery
2024-05-11 09:30 - 11:30, 2024-06-01 09:30 - 11:30, 2024-06-22 09:30 - 11:30 | Green Mount Cemetery, 1501 Greenmount Ave, Baltimore, MD, 21202, United States
Inherited from the great Baltimore historian Wayne Schaumburg, join Baltimore Heritage to tour Baltimore’s historic Green Mount Cemetery.
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, John Wilkes Booth, and Elijah Bond, who patented the Ouija Board!
Accessibility: Although there are some paved pathways, we will be walking over mostly uneven grassy terrain and cobblestones.

Historic Woodberry
2024-05-11 10:00 - 11:00 | Outside of Woodberry Kitchen, 2010 Clipper Park Rd., Baltimore, MD, 21211, United States
On May 11, join us for a walking tour of historic Woodberry with Jones Falls historian Nathan Dennies. Once home to textile mills the largest machine shop and iron works in Maryland, this historic neighborhood’s industrial past is largely intact including the original mill village. Discover how the story of Woodberry’s growth is a story of the Industrial Revolution at the local scale. As the factories grew, so did the neighborhood, and many styles of homes for working families can still be seen today. We hope you’ll join us for this fabulous tour of historic Woodberry!

The Catacombs Under Westminster: Two Hundred Years of Tombs and Edgar Allan Poe’s Gravesite
2024-05-11 11:00 - 12:00, 2024-06-22 11:00 - 12:00 | Westminster Hall and Burying Ground, 519 W Fayette Street, Baltimore, MD, 21201, United States
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!”

Historic Ridgely’s Delight
2024-05-12 09:30 - 10:30 | Babe Ruth Birthplace and Museum, 216 Emory Street, Baltimore, MD, United States
For a tiny neighborhood squeezed between the University of Maryland and Camden Yards, Ridgely’s Delight contains an oversized history. George Washington slept here and Babe Ruth was born here! Join us to walk the preserved, picturesque streets of one of the earliest neighborhoods in Baltimore while we look back at the stories of both its famous visitors and the ordinary Baltimoreans who worked and raised their families here.
Our Monumental City tours are guided walks exploring iconic Baltimore landmarks in Federal Hill, Downtown, and Ridgely’s Delight on the first three Sundays of each month from May through November, except holiday weekends.

200 Years of Outdoor Recreation: Baltimore Parks Bus Tour
2024-05-18 10:00 - 12:00 | Druid Hill Park Superintendent’s House (Parks & People), 2100 Liberty Heights Ave, Baltimore, MD, 21217, United States
In 1827, William Patterson donated land in East Baltimore for what would become our city’s first public park: Patterson Park. Seventy-five years later, the City commissioned the Olmsted Brothers landscape architecture firm to create a plan for a municipal park system, which eventually led to the creation of a first-class network of parks that covers thousands of acres. Family estates that at one time ringed Baltimore City, including homes of the Carrolls, Rogers, Winans and other families, were converted into promenades, nature walks, ballfields, and swimming pools. On our tour, we’ll meet at the renovated Druid Hill Park Superintendent’s House and travel between some other well known parks in the western part of our city including Leakin Park and Carroll Park, stopping by some gems that are less appreciated like Lafayette Square and Leon Day Park. Join us as we learn how our city’s parks were designed and used, and how they have shaped the city we know today.

Students are free

This tour will be two-hours long with one stop where we disembark the bus and walk around Lafayette Square, a small park. At this stop, there will also be a chance to use the restroom. There will be an option to stay on the bus and receive the same information as the walking portion of this tour. If you are a wheelchair user, please contact Molly Ricks (ricks@baltimoreheritage.org) to make a reservation.

This project has been financed in part with funds from the Charles A. and Lois H. Miller Foundation and State funds from the Maryland Heritage Areas Authority, an instrumentality of the State of Maryland. However, project contents or opinions do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of the Maryland Heritage Areas Authority.

The New Lexington Market & Exploring the Neighborhood Around It
2024-05-18 11:00 - 12:00 | Lexington Market (Paca St Entrance), 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 area immediately surrounding the market 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 see the original wagon curbstones with their vendor stall numbers and discuss underground tunnels. We’ll end at the new market to see its wonderful public art and, of course, its merchants (new and old).

Federal Hill Beyond the Views: A Monumental City Tour
2024-05-19 09:30 - 10:30, 2024-06-16 09:30 - 10:30, 2024-07-21 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.

Nuclear Ship Savannah Tour
2024-05-22 17:00 - 18:30 | 4601 Newgate Ave, Baltimore, MD 21224, 4601 Newgate Ave, Baltimore, 21224, United States
On May 22, take a step back in time to the Cold War with a tour of a ship formerly powered by uranium! The Nuclear Ship Savannah, the world’s first nuclear-powered merchant ship, is truly one-of-a-kind. In the 1950s, President Dwight Eisenhower desired a “peace ship” that would serve as an ambassador for the non-weaponized use of atomic power. On July 21,1959, First Lady Mamie Eisenhower christened the $46.9 million vessel at its launching. After traveling almost half a million miles and visiting over 77 international and domestic ports, the reactor was de-fueled in 1975. Currently docked in Baltimore, the ship has been afloat for 60 years now and is still going strong. We hope you’ll join us to tour this registered National Historic Landmark and take in the sleek modern “Atomic Age” interiors decorated with none other than atom diagrams.

Historic Clifton Mansion
2024-06-01 10:00 - 11:00, 2024-07-13 10:00 - 11:00, 2024-07-24 17:30 - 18:30, 2024-08-03 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.

Historic Cylburn Mansion
2024-06-08 10:00 - 11:30 | Cylburn Arboretum, 4915 Greenspring Avenue, Baltimore, MD, 21209, United States
Cylburn began as the private estate of Jesse Tyson, president of the Baltimore Chrome Works Company that became Allied Chemical and occupied the site of Exelon’s new headquarters on the Harbor today. At Cylburn, Tyson began building his mansion in 1863 as a summer home for himself and his mother. On Saturday, June 8, please join us and our hosts from Baltimore City Recreation and Parks to discover its Italianate design, stone from Tyson’s own Bare Hills quarry (in Baltimore County), and the interior of hardwood, grand fireplaces, and ornate plasterwork!

History from the Middle of the Street: A Walking Tour for the Charles Street Promenade
2024-06-08 14:00 - 15:00 | 1 W Saratoga St, Baltimore, MD 21201, 1 W Saratoga St, Baltimore, MD, 21201, United States
Baltimore is kicking cars off of portions of Charles Street for a day, and we’re taking advantage of it! On Saturday, June 8, only pedestrians and bicycles will be allowed on a good portion of Charles Street between Saratoga and North Avenue as part of the Charles Street Promenade. Join Baltimore Heritage’s Executive Director, Johns Hopkins, on a stroll down the middle of the street to get a perspective that we normally don’t get of many of the city’s most interesting historic buildings. We’ll talk about some of Maryland’s oldest churches, take in architecture from Colonial Revival to Brutalist, and share stories from the founding of American philanthropy to the role rye whisky played in shaping more than a few beloved institutions…all from the middle of the street!
What is Charles St Promenade? Enjoy the day shopping, strolling, and dining, as Charles Street closes down to vehicular traffic for a full day of exploration and Downtown fun!

Historic Ridgely’s Delight
2024-06-09 09:30 - 10:30, 2024-07-14 09:30 - 10:30 | Babe Ruth Birthplace and Museum, 216 Emory Street, Baltimore, MD, United States
For a tiny neighborhood squeezed between the University of Maryland and Camden Yards, Ridgely’s Delight contains an oversized history. George Washington rode here and Babe Ruth was born here! Join us to walk the preserved, picturesque streets of one of the earliest neighborhoods in Baltimore while we look back at the stories of both its famous visitors and the ordinary Baltimoreans who worked and raised their families here.
Our Monumental City tours are guided walks exploring iconic Baltimore landmarks in Federal Hill, Downtown, and Ridgely’s Delight on the first three Sundays of each month from May through November, except holiday weekends.

Sustainable, Small Batch Production: A Factory Tour of Mount Royal Soaps
2024-06-18 15:00 - 16:00 | 2165 Druid Park Drive, Suite 15, Baltimore 21211, 2165 Druid Park Drive, Suite 15, Baltimore, MD, 21211, United States
Mount Royal Soap Company was founded in Baltimore, MD in the Spring of 2014 by three soap-obsessed friends: Matt, Pat & Sam. With the explosion of soap and sanitizer demand during the pandemic they opened their first manufacturing space in the Woodberry neighborhood just 2 miles from the Remington store. You may have seen their products at Lexington Market or a farmer’s market.
If you have wondered what goes into creating their palm oil free, plant based, cruelty free products, this is your chance! Our tour will look behind the scenes and give you the opportunity to ask any burning questions you may have. On June 18, join us for a fascinating tour of sustainably sourced bath and body products made through a small batch production process right here in Baltimore.
**Every attendee will receive a free bar of wonderful Mount Royal soap!

Mount Vernon Place: A Monumental City Tour
2024-06-23 09:30 - 10:30, 2024-07-28 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.

Celebrate Pride! LGBTQ Heritage in Charles Village
2024-06-30 10:00 - 11:30 | Normal’s Books & Records, 425 East 31st Street, Baltimore, MD, 21218, United States
Celebrate Pride Month with us on a LGBTQ Heritage walking tour of Charles Village! You may know this neighborhood for its colorful “painted ladies,” but it was also home to many activists and institutions at the heart of the city’s LGBTQ community in the 1970s and 1980s. Our wonderful guides 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.

Ghost Rivers: A Walking Tour of a Buried Waterways Public Art Project
2024-07-24 18:00 - 19:00 | 3000 N. Charles Street, Baltimore, MD 21218, 3000 N. Charles Street, Baltimore, MD, 21218, United States
Did you know there is a lost stream buried below the streets of Baltimore? The creek Sumwalt Run vanished from Baltimore’s landscape in the early 1900s. Before its disappearance, its frozen waters appeared in ice boxes across the city, cut from the city’s first commercial ice pond and a later artificial ice factory. Trolley tracks crossed its ravine, bringing workers home from downtown factories. The Olmsted Company attempted to preserve part of the stream as a greenway, but real estate developers filled its valley (using debris from the Great Baltimore Fire of 1905, according to local lore). When Baltimore built a new sewer system in the early 20th century, Sumwalt Run— along with dozens of other creeks across the city — were turned into buried storm sewers. They now flow hidden and mostly forgotten below our neighborhoods. You can catch echoes of their waters whispering from certain storm drains. On July 24, join us and artist Bruce Willen to discover his recent public art project, Ghost Rivers, which reveals the hidden history and path of Sumwalt Run beneath the Remington and Charles Village neighborhoods. Through a series of installations, wayfinding markers, and writings Ghost Rivers brings lost landscapes and histories to the surface for the first time in over 100 years.

The Lillie Carroll Jackson Civil Rights Museum: A Behind-the-Scenes Tour
2024-07-27 09:30 - 11:00 | Lillie Carroll Jackson Museum, 1320 Eutaw Place, Baltimore, MD, 21217, United States
From 1935 until her retirement in 1970, Lillie Carroll Jackson was president of the Baltimore chapter of the NAACP and for much of this time her home on Eutaw Place was a hub of Civil Rights organizing for Jackson and her daughter, Juanita Jackson Mitchell. On July 27, join Baltimore Heritage Executive Director Johns Hopkins for a short walk around Lillie Carroll Jackson’s neighborhood, which was also the home of many other Civil Rights luminaries including Thurgood Marshall and Clarence Mitchell. Then we will go inside the museum to tour where Jackson, called the “Mother of the Civil Rights Movement,” lived and worked for the cause.
This tour will include a short, 30-min walk outdoors, followed by an hour-long indoor tour. The Museum and exhibits are accessible by wheelchair and others with limited mobility. There is elevator access to all floors.
