2025 Preservation Celebration: Save the Date – October 9 & Send Us Ideas for Awardees and Microgrants

We are thrilled that this year’s Baltimore Heritage Preservation Celebration will be in the Modernist Mies van der Rohe building, One Charles Center (100 North Charles Street, Baltimore, MD 21201), on October 9! The event is free, parking is complimentary in the building’s garage, and dinner is included. We’d love to have you with us.

On October 9, we’ll honor our 2025 Preservation Award winners and, with your help, give out five micro-grants (from $500 to $1500) 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. And, we’ll be celebrating downtown Baltimore by giving away door prizes that include a two-night stay at the Lord Baltimore Hotel, two tickets to a show at Everyman Theatre, and gift certificates to local restaurants! With dinner and drinks from locally-owned Baltimore vendors, we hope you will join us for what promises to be a wonderful evening. The event is free with a suggested donation of $25.

In addition to joining us on October 9, please take a minute to send us your suggestions for our annual preservation awards. And if you are helping improve a historic neighborhood or place in the city, please consider applying for one of our microgrants. See below for more information.

–Johns Hopkins, Executive Director

Register here for our Preservation Celebration 2025

 

About Our 2025 Historic Preservation Awards

At our October 9 celebration, we will honor 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 email nominations to Johns Hopkins (hopkins@baltimoreheritage.org) by September 4.

 

About Our 2025 Microgrants

We’re in our 10th year of giving away microgrants to help fund preservation work in the city.
We’ll pick the most promising ideas and give them a chance for one $1500 grant, one $1000 grant and three $500 grants. Supporters of each idea will get three minutes to pitch them and at the end, all of us present will cast ballots to decide which ideas receive which 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 award amounts ($500 to $1500) 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 applicationPlease apply by September 12, 2025.

New Inner Harbor History Virtual Tour!

Did you know we have curated virtual tours on our free website and app, Explore Baltimore Heritage? Check out our newest one about the Inner Harbor. America defeated the British here. Frederick Douglass escaped from here. Today we are pioneering watershed restoration here. Join us to discover 300 years of history around Baltimore’s world famous Inner Harbor and see how Baltimore’s wonderful waterfront connects the past with the present and Baltimore to the rest of the world. This virtual tour was created as a companion to our in-person Inner Harbor history boat tour. Thank you for support from National Park Service Chesapeake Gateways and PNC Bank.

 

Happy Pride from Baltimore Heritage!

Happy Pride from Baltimore Heritage! This month we are celebrating and remembering the LGBTQ community that has always been here.

Monumental Elks Lodge #3’s Pansy Balls (click the photo for more information)

 

The Friday Evening Group (click the photo for more information)

 

Baltimore Gay Alliance (click the photo for more information)

 

Rev. Delores Berry/Baltimore Coalition of Black Gay Women & Men (click the photo for more information)

 

Bmore Historic: September 19, 2025

We hope to see you this September at the Baltimore Museum of Industry for Bmore Historic 2025! Students are free this year.

Questions? Please email us at info@baltimoreheritage.org.

Thanks,

The Bmore Historic Organizing Committee


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.

Johns’ Pride of Baltimore II Tall Ship Voyage

Our very own executive director, Johns Hopkins, is preparing to set sail as a guest crew member on the Pride of Baltimore II! Beginning tomorrow, Johns joins the Pride II crew as the tall ship sails to Lunenburg, Nova Scotia en route to the Great Lakes. Make sure to follow us on social media @bmoreheritage for his daily updates and 2 Minute Histories videos recorded on the ship.

And please join us Friday, May 30 at 11:00am at Constellation Pier 1, 301 E. Pratt St for a special dockside celebration to help us wish Johns and the crew “fair winds and following seas” as they carry Maryland’s maritime legacy, history, and spirit to new audiences across the Great Lakes.