Wayne's Guide to Talks, Walks, and Tours of Baltimore
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Can you name and locate this historic Baltimore building? For the answer, go to the end of this page.

 

 This website is an on-going list of walks, talks, and tours that relate to Baltimore history and architecture.  The site was created for the benefit of my students, friends, and colleagues who often inquire about upcoming events.   My e-mail address is: wschaumburg@earthlink.net.  Please feel free to comment or make suggestions. 

Baltimore History Evenings at the Village Learning Place

A series of free presentations on Baltimore and its history will take place through July.  Sponsored by the Baltimore City Historical Society, the programs will take place at the Village Learning Center (former Pratt Library branch) located at 2521 St. Paul Street in Charles Village.  A reception will take place at 7 p.m. followed by the presentation at 7:30 p.m.  For more information, call 410-889-3252. 

  • July 16th:  Edward Orser - Green Spaces and Brown Fields:  Restoring Natural Heritage along the Gwynns Falls

 

 

Art Scape 2009 - Baltimore Painted Screens

The Painted Screen Society of Baltimore will present a series of programs, Saturday, July 18th and Sunday July 19th, on Baltimore rowhouses, white marble steps, formstone and the unique art form of painted screens. Begun in 1913 by William Oktavec, painted screens can be found all over the city but especially in the neighborhoods of southeast Baltimore.   All of the events listed below will take place at the Meyerhoff Symphony Hall and are free and open to the public.

  • Saturday, July 18th at noon:  Painted Screen Society Demonstrations
  • Also at noon:  Painted Screen Society Workshops
  • Also at noon:  Film:  "The Screen Painters"
  •  1 p.m:  Meet the Screen Painters
  •  2 p.m:  "All About Rowhouses," an illustrated talk by Baltimore historian and educator Wayne Schaumburg
  •  3p.m:  Learn about the new Painted Screen Driving Tour of Baltimore  with Elaine Eff
  •  4p.m:  Learn to Paint a Screen with John Iamperi
  •  Sunday, July 19th at noon:  Demonstrations, Tips and Sales by the Screen Painters
  •  Also at noon:  Learn to Paint a Screen with Dee Herget
  •  1 p.m:  Meet the Screen Painters
  •  2 p.m:  "All About Formstone," an illustrated talk by  Baltimore historian Dean Krimmel
  •  3 p.m:  Film: "Little Castles"
  •  4 p.m:  Learn about the new Painted Screen Driving Tour of Baltimore with Elaine Eff

 

 

Tudor Hall Tours

Tours of Tudor Hall, the historic home of the Booth family, located in Churchville, Harford County will take place on the last Sunday of each month from June through October.  Tours begin at 1:00, 2:00, and 3:00 p.m. and reservations are required.  Tours are free, but donations are always welcome.  The two-story, four bedroom cottage was built by the acclaimed English-born actor Junius Brutus Booth in 1847 as a country retreat from Baltimore.  After his death in 1852, Booth's widow, Mary Ann, raised their ten  children including Edwin Thomas Booth and John Wilkes Booth, both of whom would go on to successful stage careers.  Today, the house is owned by Harford County.   To make reservations for the tours, call 443-243-7571.  For more information on Tudor Hall and the tours, visit http://spiritsoftudorhall.blogspot.com.

 

 

 Edgar Allan Poe Bicentennial     

Beginning in January, 2009 Baltimoreans will celebrate the bicentennial of Edgar Allan Poe's birth:  January 19, 1808.  Numerous activities have been planned.  Information on all of the events can be found at www.nevermore2009.com or at www.poebicentennial.com.

 

 

Patterson Park Pagoda

The Patterson Park Observatory, known to most Baltimoreans as "The Pagoda" has re-opened.  Designed and built by Charles H. Latrobe in 1891, it stands on Hampstead Hill and provides a magnificent view of the city.  The Pagoda will be open on Sundays through October from noon to 6 p.m., and is located on the west side of the park near the intersection of Pratt Street and Patterson Park Avenue.  Admission is free.

 

 

Fell's Point Walking Tours

The popular walking tours of historic Fell's Point will run on weekends from April through November.   $   All tours start from the Visitor Center at 1724 Thames Street and are approximately 90 minutes long.  Reservations are required.  for more information, call 410-675-6750, ext. 16 or 12. 

  • Immigration Tour:  Saturdays at 12 noon
  • Secrets of a Seaport - Fell's Point Tour:  Saturdays at 10 a.m.
  • African American History Tour - Sundays at  3 p.m.
  • Robert Long House (Ann Street) - Tuesdays through Saturdays at 1:30 p.m. 

 

 

Enoch Pratt Free Library   

  • Edgar Allan Poe:  More Than a Poet - This exhibit at the Central Library which marks the bicentennial of Poe's birth will run through August 2nd.  The exhibition will include photographs, letters, and other memorabilia belonging to Poe from Pratt's archives.  Artifacts range from a fragment of Poe's coffin to locks of his wife's hair to an original manuscript of A Valentine, a poem composed by Poe.  The exhibit is free and open to the public during regular library hours. The Central Library is located at 400 Cathedral Street.  For more information, call 410-396-5430.

 

 

Maryland Historical Society Programs and Exhibits: 

  • Exhibit:  Maryland Diversions, In-State Travel in the 19th Century - The story of 19th century travel in the state will be told through three rotating exhibits of prints from the MDHS collection.  The first installment runs through July and will feature panoramic views of Maryland cities including Baltimore, Ellicott City, Frederick, Annapolis, Hagerstown and others. In addition, views of grand country homes will be on display including Doughoregan Manor (Carroll Family) and Alexandroffsky (Winans Family).  Also on display will be lithographs of the state's numerous railroad viaducts and bridges.  The exhibit is free with admission to the Society.  

 The Maryland Historical Society is located at 201 W. Monument Street at Park Avenue.  For more information, call 410-685-3750 or visit www.mdhs.org.

 

 

Basilica of the Assumption Tours

Free tours of America's first cathedral, the Basilica of the Assumption, take place Monday through Friday at 9 a.m., 11 a.m., and 1 p.m.  For Saturday tour times, call 410-727-3565.  Sunday tours begin at noon following Mass.  The Basilica is located at Cathedral and Mulberry Streets.

 

 

SS John W. Brown Cruise

Take a day cruise aboard the World War II Liberty Ship John W. Brown on Saturday, September 13th.  $  The six hour cruise includes continental breakfast and lunch as well as live band music from the 40's. Built in Baltimore, the John W. Brown is one of only two Liberty Ships still in operation.  For more information, call 410-558-0164 or visit www.liberty-ship.com.

 

 

Green Mount Cemetery Walking Tours

The next set of walking tours through historic Green Mount Cemetery will take place on Saturday, October 10, 17, 24, 31 - $ -Opened in 1839 as the city's first urban-rural cemetery, Green Mount is the final resting place of Johns Hopkins, Enoch Pratt, William and Henry Walters, Mary Elizabeth Garrett, Theodore McKeldin, John Wilkes Booth, Betsy Patterson, Walter Lord, and other famous Marylanders.  Tours begin at 9:30 a.m. from the main gate located at Greenmount Avenue and East Oliver Street, and are led by Baltimore historian Wayne R. Schaumburg.   For information, call 410-256-2180 or e-mail:  wschaumburg@earthlink.net. 

 

 

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This Week in Baltimore's History:

July 9th:  1935:  Due to bankruptcy, the name of Baltimore's streetcar system changed from United Railways & Electric Company (UR&E) to the Baltimore Transit Company.  Known as the BTC, unhappy patrons would later refer to BTC as "Better take a cab!"
 
 
July 10th:  1916:  The German merchant submarine Deutschland arrived in Baltimore touching off a controversy that would not end until the ship's departure on August 1st.  Baltimore's large German population, filled with pride, pulled out all the stops in entertaining Captain Koenig and his crew of 29 sailors.  However, with the war and the earlier sinking of the H.M.S. Lusitania, most Baltimoreans wanted nothing to do with the German U-boat.
 
------------:  1936:  Baltimore City recorded its all-time highest temperature of 107 degrees -- truly a hot time in the old town!
 
------------:  1863:  Union officials issued an order forbidding residents of Baltimore from receiving or entertaining wounded Confederate officers and soldiers.  Later that month, Confederate Captain William Dawson Brown (killed at Gettysburg) was buried at Green Mount Cemetery.  Upon leaving the cemetery, the funeral party was arrested and charged with "giving an honorable burial to a Confederate." 
 
July 11th:  1948:  At Druid Hill Park, a group of black and white tennis players participated in a match on the "whites only" clay courts to protest park segregation rules.  Two dozen tennis players and spectators were arrested while a supportive crowd of 500 looked on.  This act of civil disobedience made national attention and became part of Baltimore's civil rights history.  H. L. Mencken would later describe the park board policy as an "irrational and nefarious relic of Ku Kluxry."
 
-----------:  1968:  Fair warning to American League umpires:  Earl Weaver was named the new manager of the Baltimore Orioles. 
 
July 12th:  1730:  Surveyor Phillip Jones laid off the streets and lots of new Baltimore Town.  The town was divided into 60 one-acre lots.  There were three main streets: Long Street (later Baltimore Street), Forest Street (later Charles Street), and Calvert Street.
 
------------:  1859:  The Baltimore City Passenger Railway began free trial runs of the first horse-drawn streetcars in Baltimore. Regular revenue service began on July 26th with a fare of 3-cents.  
 
July 13th:  1839:  The new Green Mount Cemetery was dedicated.  It was Baltimore's first "urban-rural" cemetery and consisted of 65 acres of land that had belonged to Robert Oliver.  Baltimore lawyer John Pendleton Kennedy gave the keynote address.  In it he said that "Death was part of nature and now Green Mount would provide a place for man to repose with dignity in the quiet simple beauty of the natural countryside."  Over the years, the cemetery has become a "who's who" of famous Baltimoreans.
 
July 14th:  1853:  Loudon Park Cemetery on Frederick Road in Irvington was dedicated.  Laid out in a similar fashion to Green Mount Cemetery, Loudon is the city's largest cemetery in terms of size with 250 acres of land.  
 
July 15th:  1981:  Mayor William Donald Schaefer made good on a promise to swim in the seal pool of the new National Aquarium if it had not opened by July.  Dressed in an 1890s swim suit, a straw hat, and holding a large inflated duck, the mayor took the plunge!  For Schaefer and the city, the event turned out to be a huge public relations coup!     
 
-----------:  1996:  Cal Ripkin Jr. started at 3rd-base for the first time since June, 1982.
 
 
                 Updated on 07/09/09
 
 
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Located on the southeast corner of Eutaw and Baltimore Streets (across form the Hippodrome Theater), the Abell Building opened in 1879.  Baltimore Sun founder, Arunah S. Abell built the structure as an investment property to capitalize on the growing garment trade that was moving into this part of the central business district. Abell commissioned City Hall architect George Frederick to design this Victorian Gothic warehouse that is 6 bays wide and 19 bays long with abundant details.  The first floor is framed with cast iron manufactured by Bartlett,  Robbins & Company here in Baltimore. The upper floors are brick with bluestone, white marble and terra-cotta trim.  With the demise of the westside district, the Abell building sat vacant for a number of years until it was recently purchased by the PMC Property Group which has rehabbed the building for use as one and two-bedroom apartments.