Baltimore Heritage

Bmore Historic 2023
2023-09-22 08:30 - 15:30 (America/New_York) | Baltimore Museum of Industry, 1415 Key Hwy, Baltimore, MD, 21230, United States
Baltimore’s annual unconference on people, places, and the past will be at the Baltimore Museum of Industry on Friday, September 22, 2023! Students are free this year.
What is Bmore Historic?
Bmore Historic is a participant-led unconference for people who care about public history and historic preservation in and around Baltimore. Learn more about Bmore Historic or read our introduction to unconferences.
What do we do at Bmore Historic?
Past, in-person unconferences have been structured around four session blocks: two in the morning and two in the afternoon. We usually have between four to six sessions in each of the time blocks for a total of twenty sessions throughout the day.

Historic Green Mount Cemetery
2023-09-23 09:30 - 11:30, 2023-09-30 09:30 - 11:30, 2023-10-21 09:30 - 11:30, 2023-10-28 09:30 - 11:30, 2023-11-04 09:30 - 11:30 | 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.

Jonestown & the Shot Tower: A Walking Tour
2023-09-23 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!

Mount Vernon Place: A Monumental City Tour
2023-09-24 09:30 - 10:30, 2023-10-22 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.

The Catacombs Under Westminster: Two Hundred Years of Tombs and Edgar Allan Poe’s Gravesite
2023-09-24 11:00 - 12:00, 2023-11-05 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 Clifton Mansion Tour & Reception
2023-09-27 17:30 - 19:00 | 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.
This special mid-week evening tour will include a light reception and question time after the tour!

Herring Run Archaeology & Heritage: A Behind The Scenes Tour
2023-09-30 10:00 - 12:00 | Herring Run Park, 3900 Belair Rd, Baltimore, MD, 21213, United States
On September 30, join Baltimore Heritage and the Friends of Herring Run Parks to experience this urban oasis like you never have before! The co-founders of the Herring Run Archaeology Project, Lisa Kraus and Jason Shellenhamer, will share with us discoveries from years of archaeological and historical exploration here. As we walk around the park, they will guide us through the new Herring Run Park Heritage Trail, which starts 11,000 years ago with the discovery of a pre-European contact Native American campsite, and goes all the way to 20th century Romani caravan bases. Herring Run Park was once the heart of the Eutaw Farm plantation and enslaved African Americans lived and worked on this land. We’ll learn about extraordinary people like Emeline Jones, who after emancipation, became a world-renowned chef in Washington, DC. Centuries later, Black Baltimoreans fought here for equal access to the park. You’ll be amazed by all of the history packed into this one park. We hope to see you on this fascinating tour!

Out of the Ashes: The Great Baltimore Fire of 1904
2023-10-01 09:30 - 10:30, 2023-11-05 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.

Feisty Females of Fells Point
2023-10-01 11:00 - 12:00 | Median on Broadway, 301 S. Broadway, Baltimore, MD, 21231, United States
On October 1, join us for a walking tour of the Feisty Females of Fells Point! Everyone knows that this neighborhood has a rich history, but do you know about the Caribbean immigrant, Mary Lange, who dared to teach children of color out of her home and rose to be the first Black mother-superior in American history? How about the single mom who helped stop the development of an interstate highway through these historic streets? Spoiler–it’s not Barbara Mikulski, but of course we’ll talk about her important work too. And we’ll stop by the former rowhouse of someone else you might know–Billie Holiday. We hope you’ll join us and tour guide Robin Minor to hear about these fierce women who helped forge Fells Point into the vibrant, distinctive neighborhood it is today.

Doors Open Baltimore Kickoff Lecture: Jessica Henkin
2023-10-05 18:00 - 20:30 | Central Branch – Enoch Pratt Free Library, 400 Cathedral Street, Baltimore, MD, 21201, United States
Join the Baltimore Architecture Foundation and Baltimore Heritage for the Doors Open Baltimore 10th Anniversary kick-off with guest Jessica Henkin, Co-Founder, Producer, and Host of “Stoop Story Telling.” The Stoop’s motto is “Everyone has a story. What’s yours?”

The Baltimore Architecture Foundation believes that, not only does everyone have a story, but every building has a story too and that, by opening doors and connecting people, we can inspire creativity, foster inclusivity, and contribute to the continued growth and success of Baltimore’s artistic and cultural landscape.

Doors Open Baltimore is an annual event that celebrates Baltimore’s diverse cultural tapestry by highlighting its vibrant neighborhoods, captivating architecture, and distinctive spaces, both grand and intimate, that contribute to the city’s exceptional charm. In this 10th anniversary year, Doors Open Baltimore invites you to be a tourist in your own backyard, exploring new areas, meeting different people, and finding out what goes on inside some of Baltimore’s most interesting buildings.

About the Speaker
Jessica Henkin co-created the Stoop Storytelling Series with her friend Laura Wexler in 2006. The Stoop is a Baltimore-based live show and podcast that has featured the tales of more than 3000 people onstage. It’s featured weekly on WYPR, 88.1.
She is a first-generation college student and has a Masters in Education from Johns Hopkins University, allowing for a robust career in special education that has ultimately allowed her to become the Coordinator for Baltimore City Public School’s Office of Early Learning Program.
Jessica moved to Baltimore in 2004 and became a founding member of the Baltimore Improv Group. She’s passionate about her family (husband Aaron Henkin and children Charlie and Abby), special education, Baltimore City, storytelling, keeping her house clean, rescuing strays (both animal and human), and finding most things funny.

Lecture Schedule:
Doors Open at 5:30pm, Wheeler Auditorium – Enoch Pratt Free Library – Central Library – 400 Cathedral Street, Baltimore, MD, 21201
6:00, Guest speaker, Jessica Henkin
7:30pm, Reception at Pratt Hall, First Unitarian Church, 12 W. Franklin Street

The New Lexington Market & Exploring the Neighborhood Around It
2023-10-07 10:30 - 11:30 | Food Play Sculpture at Lexington Market, W. Lexington St and N. Paca St, 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 at the new market to see its wonderful public art and, of course, its merchants (new and old). We hope you’ll join Johns Hopkins, Executive Director of Baltimore Heritage, for this tour beginning at 10:30 am. And if you can make it, come early for the dedication of the new History Walk in the market plaza at 10 am!

Federal Hill Beyond the Views: A Monumental City Tour
2023-10-15 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.

Preservation Celebration 2023
2023-10-19 17:30 - 19:30 | Open Works, 1400 Greenmount Ave, Baltimore, MD, 21202
Join us for our Preservation Celebration 2023 at Open Works. On October 19, we’ll honor our 2023 Preservation Award winners and, with your help, give out six micro-grants 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 we elect new board members. With food and drinks from Baltimore vendors, we hope you will join us for what promises to be a wonderful evening. There is a suggested donation of $25.
We’re in our 8th year of giving away micro-grants to help fund preservation work in the city. We received some amazing applications over the past month. We picked the most promising ideas and they will have a chance to win one of three $1000 grants and three $500 grants. Each finalist will get three minutes to pitch their idea and at the end, all of us present will cast ballots to decide which ideas receive the micro-grants. Everyone will receive the funds that evening.
2023 Microgrant Finalists:
Maryland Women’s Heritage Center
Friends of Herring Run Park
Govans Presbyterian Church
Racial Justice Ministry
St. Luke’s Youth Center
Baltimore Lab School
Baltimore Crime Museum

The Unexpected Past of Spring Grove Hospital Center: A Behind-The-Scenes Walking Tour
2023-10-22 14:00 - 16:00 | Spring Grove Hospital Center (Turf Field), Walnut Circle, Catonsville, MD, 21228, United States
Join us for a walk around the Spring Grove Hospital Center campus to see this partially abandoned historic facility where, among other things, the first and longest government-run psychedelic drug research took place in the 1960s. Founded in 1797, it is the second oldest continuously operating psychiatric hospital in the country. On our tour led by Paul Lubell, we’ll see the remnants of the oldest building on campus and industrial structures from the 1930s, plus a barely noticeable cemetery. We’ll end the tour at the Spring Grove Alumni Museum to see artifacts and memorabilia from the institution’s over 200-year history. We hope you’ll join us on October 22!

Maryland Public Television: A Behind-The-Scenes Tour
2023-10-25 16:00 - 17:00 | Maryland Public Television, 11767 Owings Mills Blvd, Owings Mill, MD, 21117, United States
On October 25, join us for a walk around the Maryland Public Television station in Owings Mills! We will learn all about MPT’s history and view displays of its achievements as Maryland’s only statewide broadcaster. You will get an inside look at current TV technology and visit all three of its studios, including the Irene and Edward H. Kaplan Studio. You can also view the station’s more intimate studios that you may recognize from live pledge events and programming such as State Circle. After the guided tour, the Senior Managing Director of Programming, Kate Pearson, will talk about MPT’s city-centric programs and answer our questions. We hope to see you on October 25!

Historic Clifton Mansion
2023-10-28 10:00 - 11:00, 2023-11-11 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.

Patterson Park History Walking Tour
2023-10-29 10:00 - 11:30 | Friends of Patterson Park, 27 S. Patterson Park Avenue, Baltimore, MD, 21231, United States
Join Friends of Patterson Park Director Jennifer Robinson and Baltimore Heritage Executive Director Johns Hopkins to get an intro to the layers of history that lie beneath Baltimore’s best back yard! Who is the Patterson in our name, what’s the park’s connection to Frederick Douglass, what helped the park’s renaissance over the last 25 years, and why do we have cannons and an “observatory?” The park’s history is fascinating and will add to your appreciation for this jewel of a public space.

This project has been financed through funds from the National Park Service, U.S. Department of Interior and managed by the Baltimore National Heritage Area.

Neighborhood Corner Bar Walking Tour
2023-11-04 14:00 - 16:00, 2023-11-18 13:00 - 15:00 | Baltimore Museum of Industry, 1415 Key Hwy, Baltimore, MD, 21230, United States
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.

America’s Oldest Ironworks: A Tour at G. Krug & Son
2023-11-08 17:30 - 18:30 | G. Krug & Son Ironworks, 415 West Saratoga Street, Baltimore, MD, 21201, United States
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.

Can Baltimore Save the Planet?: A Talk by Charlie Duff
2023-11-12 14:00 - 15:00 | Garrett-Jacobs Mansion, 11 W. Mount Vernon Place, Baltimore, MD, 21201, United States
Have you ever thought about how people like us in Baltimore can help to reverse climate change and species extinction? After decades of thinking and writing about how cities function, most recently with his book, The North Atlantic Cities, historian and author Charlie Duff will tackle these and other daunting questions. Charlie is optimistic about Baltimore:
We were a mid-sized city when we invented the railroad and the clipper ship, a mid-sized city when we created the first modern university and turned medicine into a science, a mid-sized city when we created America’s first great urban waterfront.
What will Baltimore do next to help our planet’s most pressing issues? In this one hour talk, Mr. Duff will share the insights he’s reached with a seriousness of global purpose as it relates to Baltimore.

About the Speaker
Charles Duff is a planner, teacher, developer, and historian. Since 1987, as President of Jubilee Baltimore, he has led the revival of several dozen Baltimore neighborhoods and built or rebuilt more than 300 buildings. Known as an expert in historic architecture and urban history, he has also pioneered in the development of residential and commercial buildings for artists and arts organizations.
A graduate of Amherst College and Harvard University, he studied at St. Andrews University in Scotland and has walked every city and neighborhood to which he refers. He is a past President of the Baltimore Architecture Foundation and has served on the boards of many community and professional organizations. He lectures widely and has taught at Johns Hopkins and Morgan State Universities.

Liberty Ship S.S. John W. Brown: A Behind The Scenes Tour
2023-11-15 13:00 - 15:00 | SS John W. Brown, Pier 13, 4601 Newgate Ave, Baltimore, MD, 21224, United States
Join Baltimore Heritage on a special behind-the-scenes tour of S.S. John W. Brown, one of only two remaining, fully operational Liberty ships that participated in World War II. One of 384 vessels built at Bethlehem-Fairfield Shipyard, S.S. John W. Brown could carry almost 9,000 tons of cargo, about the same as 300 railroad boxcars, and could transport every conceivable kind of cargo during the war – from beans to bullets. On November 15, join us to go below deck and explore this preserved piece of history!
