Tag: Herring Run Archaeology Project

Works of Art in the Past and the Artists Who Make Them Today

On two new tours this spring we are celebrating great art from Baltimore’s past and meeting the people who are making and teaching art in Baltimore’s present. On April 27, please join us on a visit to one of the grandest art collections in the city on our tour: Travel to the Gilded Age at Evergreen House. Evergreen House, once the home of Ambassador T. Harrison Garrett and his artist wife Alice Garrett, is a splendid building filled with the Garrett family’s art collection (including paintings by Degas and Picasso and one of the world’s largest collections of Tiffany glass).

On May 11, our tour of the Schuler School of Fine Arts is a chance to learn about a school that carries on the work of master Baltimore sculptor Hans Schuler. From Samuel Smith at the top of Federal Hill to Martin Luther near Lake Montebello, Schuler’s figurative monuments and sculptures adorn the city. Today, students learn the techniques of the Old World masters in the house and studio that has been part the Schuler family story for over a century. On our tour with the Schuler relatives and art instructors, we’ll see finished work by Schuler and works-in-progress by current students at the school.

Finally, we hope you can join us and our partners with the Herring Run Archaeology Project at our 2017 open house this Saturday, April 29. Project archaeologists Jason Shellenhamer and Lisa Kraus along with a great group of local volunteers are looking forward to sharing the story of the Eutaw manor house and the archaeology of the park with visitors from 10:00 am to 3:00 pm.

Exterior view of Hampton Mansion

Discover the story of America at Hampton Mansion

We hope you can join us on January 26 at Hampton Mansion. In 1948, the federal government designated this eighteenth century manor a National Historic Site and, in 2017, the building remains one of the highest regarded examples of Georgian architecture in the country. We are thrilled that Ms. Gregory Weidman, the mansion’s head curator, is leading our tour.

Are you interested in our Lexington Market and catacombs tours but frustrated that you have been stuck on a waitlist? Our tour coordinator Marsha Wise is working with the market management to schedule monthly Saturday morning tours into the spring. Look out for an announcement when registration opens!

If you’re curious about what’s going on with archaeology in Baltimore, please join the Archaeology Society of Maryland for a presentation on the Herring Run Archaeology project on January 20.

Finally, we could not be more pleased to share the news that one of our longest running preservation priorities, Baltimore’s Hebrew Orphan Asylum, took a big step towards a better future. The Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development recently awarded the Coppin Heights Community Development Corporation a grant to purchase the building from the University of Maryland University System. We plan to keep you updated as we continue to work to restore this fantastic building as an asset to the Greater Rosemont community.

We need your voice at the Preservation Pitch Party!

Baltimore is full of compelling historic sites, buildings, and neighborhoods each with dedicated people working hard for their preservation. To support these people and their projects, Baltimore Heritage will distribute four small grants during a “we the people” Preservation Pitch Party. Supporters of eight preservation projects around Baltimore City will get three minutes to pitch their project and at the end, the crowd will decide which ideas to award. We hope you can join us to contribute your vote!

Last month we asked for preservation groups to submit ideas for projects to fund. We whittled the excellent submissions own to a final group of eight. Of those eight proposals, two $500 grants and two $250 grants will be distributed at the pitch party. Below is list of the eight finalists:

  • Baltimore Immigration Museum is seeking funds for work that needs to be done on their building, including the partial re-pointing and repair of the brick facade around the entry door in order to prevent future water infiltration into the structure.
  • Friends of St. Vincent Cemetery in Clifton Park seeks funds to pay for weed and brush removal tools, wheelbarrows, and work gloves to assist with their work cleaning and restoring this abandoned but no longer forgotten 5.3 acre cemetery.
  • The Herring Run Archaeology Project is looking for funds to continue their work in 2017. The group works in Northeast Baltimore identifying and excavating previously unknown archaeological sites in Baltimore’s Herring Run Park with neighbors and community schools.
  • Irish Railroad Workers Museum requests funds to help promote and increase an audience for their “Second and Fourth Saturdays Presentations” for 2017.
  • Taylor’s Chapel asks for money to restore historic frescos believed to be painted by Constantino Brumidi, who painted the frescoes in the US Capitol building.
  • Friends of Gwynns Falls/Leakin Park is looking to fund an independent assessment from expert consultants to determine the feasibility of the stabilization or restoration of two historic field stone structures (ca.1858) in Winans Meadow in Leakin Park.
  • G. Krug & Son Ironworks Museum seeks funds to help market their 2016 Holidays at Krug, an annual winter event that allows the public to experience the entirety of the 206-year old blacksmith shop.
  • The Market Center Merchants Association wants funding for the Market Center History Day Celebration to bring students in for a tour and discussion of historic sites in around Lexington Market.

The pitch party takes place on Friday, October 21, 2016 from 5:00 to 7:00 pm at the Baltimore Immigration Museum, immediately after the conclusion of Baltimore Heritage’s 2016 Bmore Historic Conference. Please join us and cast your vote and hear about great preservation ideas in Baltimore. The pitch party is free and will include a wine and cheese reception. Space is limited to 75. Reserve your seat at the pitch party today!

For questions, please contact Johns Hopkins at 410-332-9992 or hopkins@baltimoreheritage.org.