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Home , Baltimore Museum of Art, Harborplace, Maryland Science Center, Walters Art Museum

ACRL National Conference Patty MacDonald and Maureen Beck What’ll it be, Hon? Things to do in

altimore is a great city to visit as there the 27th fl oor observation deck of the World Bis so much to see and do near the Trade Center, the world’s tallest pentagonal downtown and harbor areas. Within walking building. distance, or by water taxi, you can explore USS Constellation (Pier 1, 301 E. Pratt the scenic waterfront and an interesting mix St., www.constellation.org). Another standout of neighborhoods, museums, and galleries. feature of the , this 179-foot sloop You’ll get to know what makes Baltimore is the last full sail warship and the last Civil unique and exciting; the quirky mix of ethnic War vessel still afloat. Built in 1853, it has diversity, old world traditions, and hometown been fully restored and gives visitors a good funk alongside the modern elements of the look at life on board the ship with its elegant, harbor . A short ride on the Light if compact, captain’s quarters, the simple Rail, a bus, or taxi will take you to destina- hammocks for the crew, the prison brig, and tions a bit further away. Here are a few of the even a manger for livestock. Of course there many attractions of Charm City, but brochures are the many cannons on the deck, one of and maps will be available at the convention which is fired regularly by a spirited guide in center or stop by the Baltimore Area Conven- uniform, who gives an enlightening history tion and Visitors Association (www.baltimore. of the vessel. org) for all the information you need. and the Gallery (Pratt and Light Street, www.harborplace.com). Time Inner harbor for a stop at Harborplace, the two eating These attractions are located within walking and shopping multiplex glass pavilions cen- distance of the convention center starting trally located on the harbor and connected with the National Aquarium in Baltimore. with an outdoor amphitheater, where you National Aquarium in Baltimore (501 E. can sit and watch the street performers or Pratt St., Pier 3, www.aqua.org/). Designated boats. The Pavilion has many national by Congress, the National Aquarium good restaurants and a wide selection of in Baltimore is ’s most popular traditional and unusual shops, such as Hats attraction, and the glass-topped triangular in the Belfry. At the Light Street Pavilion design makes it the most striking building in you’ll find the well-known standard, Philips the harbor. The aquarium contains more than Seafood Restaurant, along with lunch and 10,000 specimens and represents not only snack choices galore from homemade ice the ocean and rain forest, but an Icelandic cream and fudge to an extensive food court coast, a coral reef, and its newest exhibit on the animals of Australia. Patty MacDonald is head of research and instruction Top of the World Observation Level- services at Notre Dame Library in Baltimore, e-mail: [email protected], and Maureen Beck is director World Trade Center (401 E. Pratt Street, of library services at Villa Julie Library in Baltimore, e- www.baltimore.to/TopOfWorld). Get a mail: [email protected] panoramic view of the city and harbor from © 2006 Patty MacDonald and Maureen Beck

October 2006 559 C&RL News on the second floor, where you can sample . The brick façade, sunroof over the local seafood favorites. The Light Street the upper deck, and grass turf are some Pavilion also specializes in stores featuring of the features that connect it to the great everything Maryland. ballparks of the early 1900s such as Fenway (601 Light St., Park and Wrigley Field. The 1905 B&O brick www.mdsci.org).Kids of all ages will enjoy warehouse, which runs 1,000 feet along the three levels of hands-on exhibits. Explore the east side of the ballpark, adds to the historical past with full-size dinosaurs and the future in urban ambience. “Our Place in Space.” Other interactive exhib- B&O Railroad Museum (901 W. Pratt its include: the ecology, ki- St. www.borail.org/). A must for train buffs, netic energy, human body, and fossils. If you the B&O Railroad Museum has the oldest prefer to sit back and watch, enjoy an IMAX and most extensive railroad collection in the movie or a show in the Davis Planetarium. On world. The site marks the birthplace of Ameri- Friday nights, there is free stargazing through can railroading, as the B&O Railroad was the the center’s historic refracting telescope on first successful commercial and passenger the rooftop observatory. train, and many of Baltimore’s most promi- Inner Harbor Pedestrian Walkway. nent business and civic leaders were involved This walkway affords one a path through all in the enterprise. The museum covers the his- of the tourist activity of the harbor proper, tory of the B&O Railroad and early railroading and takes you to either Federal Hill, or, in in America, and displays steam locomotives, the other direction, to the Living Classroom rolling stock, and a small object collection A detailed description of the walk appears covering every facet of railroading. in the highly recommended book, 60 Hikes Lexington Market (400 W. Lexington Within 60 Miles, by Evan Balkan (Menasha St., www.lexingtonmarket.com/). The larg- Ridge Press, 2006). est market in Baltimore has operated since 1792 and provides more than 100 stalls with Downtown attractions fresh and prepared foods, including a wide Reginald F. Lewis Museum of African variety of international cuisine, deli, and soul American History and Culture (830 E. food, as well as general merchandise. Annual Pratt St., www.africanamericanculture.org). events include “Lunch with the Elephants,” Opened in 2005, the museum is the largest which takes place in March when the circus African American museum on the east coast, comes to town; the elephants march up and it traces the history of Eutaw Avenue to the market where they from the slave trade to the present in the ar- consume the world’s largest buffet of fruits eas of agriculture, trades, business, arts, and and vegetables. culture. The main purpose of the museum is education, and its exhibits document the Fell’s Point struggles as well as the accomplishments of No trip to Baltimore is complete without a African Americans. There is an interactive visit to the historic waterfront community of exhibit of the underground railroad and a Fell’s Point, and the water taxi is the best way variety of changing displays, such as African to get there from the convention center. Fell’s American baseball greats and photographs of Point was Baltimore’s original deep seaport, African American farmers. and it is still a working waterfront with bright Oriole Park at Camden Yards (333 West red tugboats docked at the wharf. With its Camden Street, [888] 848-BIRD, orioles.mlb. eclectic shops, cobbled streets, and many com). This beautiful stadium, with its tradi- taverns and restaurants, the Point is a favorite tional design and state-of-the-art features, of the young and old. You can feed the ducks is a 12-minute walk from the inner harbor from the pier, relax in the adjoining square, and only two blocks from the birthplace of walk along the waterfront promenade, get

C&RL News October 2006 560 an ice cream at Molly Moo’s, and have tea or a drink in the cozy downstairs pub at the historic Admiral Fell Inn—humorously named after the founders of the port, William and Edward Fell. Amid the 18th- and 19th-century row houses you can still fi nd the Fell family grave marker on 1607 Shakespeare Street. There are shopping opportunities of all sorts—from old brass to expen- sive jewelry, home décor at Su Casa, handicrafts from around A view of the tug boats at Fell’s Point. Credit: Baltimore Area Conven­ the world at 10,000 Villages, new tion and Visitors Association and used book and music stores, antiques and oriental rugs, and funky shoes on the fringes of society, and they use paint as and body jewelry at Stikky Fingers. The well as such everyday materials as matches, young crowd flocks to the late-night bars in metal, or paper plates to create their vision. Fell’s Point, but this is also a great choice for Along with the permanent collection, year- an afternoon visit or dinner. long exhibits have a central theme that is Some of the attractions at Fell’s Point explored in six galleries. The building itself, include: Broadway Pier, the second busiest described as an “architectural jewel,” com- immigration port after until bines a historic industrial building with new 1917; Broadway Market, a long-standing construction and a central stairway of hand- market where you can sample food from cast metal. On the exterior of the building, a Baltimore’s Polish, Greek, and Italian heri- mosaic of hundreds of mirror, glass, and tile tage; City Recreation Pier, once a dancing pieces covers an entire three-story wall, and and social center, later a police station and there is a bright, multicolored wind-powered setting for “Homicide, Life on the Streets;” 55-foot whirligig in the courtyard, built by Douglass Terrace, five houses which Fred- 76-year-old mechanic, farmer and visionary erick Douglass had built when he returned to artist, Vollis Simpson. The museum also Baltimore as a free and famous man; the Rob- includes a sculpture barn and wildfl ower ert Long House, the oldest existing house in garden. Baltimore, which was built in 1765 complete Federal Hill Historic Park (Warren Av- with pre-revolutionary war furniture; and enue and Key Highway). This grassy space is the Fell’s Point Maritime Museum (www. located across the Key Highway behind the baltomaritimemuseum.org) for the history of Science Center, so it is close to the harbor Baltimore seafaring commerce. activity. The site of many important events in Baltimore’s history, Federal Hill got its Federal Hill name in 1788 when thousands of Baltimor- American Visionary (800 eans marched from Fells Point to the Hill Key Highway, 410-244-1900, www.avam. to celebrate Maryland’s ratification of the org/). Walk 15 minutes from the convention U.S. Constitution. Later, an observatory was center to the unique American Visionary Art built on the hill so merchants could be on Museum, home to the most bizarre, whimsi- the lookout for the arrival of their ships, as cal, and poignant collection of “outsider” art Federal Hill, along with Fells Point, was a that you’ll ever see. Many of the self-taught center of Baltimore’s shipping trade through artists are farmers, rural inhabitants, or people the 19th century.

October 2006 561 C&RL News The Federal Hill neighborhood offers a starts October 2006). The Walters collection view of early Baltimore houses. Built in the spans 55 centuries of art, including Egyptian 18th and 19th centuries, many have been antiquities (e.g., a rare sarcophagus), Asian beautifully restored. Some have elegant fa- ceramics, exquisite illuminated , cades and others are quaint and charming, ivory, Faberge eggs, and masterworks of old such as the compact two-story brick row and modern . William Walters, a houses that line the streets near Cross Street wealthy railroad and liquor magnate, began Market. The market has all types of local collecting art in the 1800s, and he displayed treats and produce, as well as a crowded beer these works for public viewing in his house and seafood venue. Federal Hill comes alive on Mt. Vernon Place. His son Henry contin- at night with its many bars, wide selection of ued the eclectic collection and eventually restaurants and music blaring from the Funk left the vast holdings to Baltimore. Box, where the city mayor formerly played The Basilica of the Assumption with his Celtic band, O’Malley’s March. (Cathedral and Mulberry Streets, www. Fort McHenry National Monument and baltimorebasilica.org/). The Basilica was Historic Shrine (Fort Avenue, www.nps. built from 1806 to 1892 and was the fi rst gov/fomc). The star-shaped fort is famous metropolitan cathedral. John Carroll, the for its pivotal role in the defense of Baltimore first Catholic bishop and Archbishop of in the War of 1812 and for the origin of the Baltimore, wanted a cathedral in the neo- national anthem. Although British warships classical American style, and Benjamin bombarded the fort for more than 24 hours Henry Latrobe, who designed the capitol, on September 13, 1814, at dawn the huge volunteered his services. Thomas Jefferson’s American flag made by a local fl agmaker, insistence on skylights for the capitol infl u- Mary Pickersgill, still waved over the fort. enced Latrobe’s plan for the Basilica’s grand Seeing the flag, a young American lawyer, dome. The church, considered one of the Francis Scott Key, who was watching from the finest examples of 19th-century architecture, deck of a truce ship where he was working on is being fully restored and will re-open in prisoner exchange, was inspired to write the November 2006. poem that would become the Star- Spangled Mount Vernon United Methodist Banner. You can tour the living quarters Church (Corner of Charles and Mt. Ver- within the fort, and cells for prisoners, see non Place, www.mvpumc.org/). One of the many cannons, and walk the perimeter only three Gothic buildings in Baltimore, of the grounds for a great view of ships on the high steeple and unique exterior walls the harbor. of green serpentine add to its splendor. It was designed by Dixon and Carr and built Mount Vernon in 1871. Interior pews are of handcarved Less than a mile north of the inner harbor walnut. on Charles Street is the cultural center of Mt. The Maryland Historical Society (201 Vernon with libraries, museums, and beauti- W. Monument St., www.mdhs.org). The ful historic townhomes clustered around the recently renovated and expanded Maryland central park. Historical Society is the state’s oldest cultural Washington Monument. Completed in institution. Highlights of the museum’s 5.4 1829, this is the first monument to George million objects include: extensive geneal- Washington. It was designed by Robert Mills, ogy indexes, rare Civil War and other pho- who later built the Washington Monument in tographs, slavery and plantation records, D.C. Climb the 228 spiraling steps for great currency, and historical maps. In addition views of the city. to the permanent exhibits at the Historical The (600 N. Charles Society, there are ten featured exhibits each Street (www.walters.org, free admission year. Also, there is a great gift store.

C&RL News October 2006 562 University (JHU)/ who live alongside the old-time blue-col- Northwest Baltimore lar residents. Thirty-fourth Street is famous (10 Art Mu- for its Christmas decorations and some are seum Drive, www.artbma.org, free admis- displayed year-round. Along “The Avenue,” sion). Adjacent to John Hopkins University, actually 36th Street, there are many unique the Baltimore Museum of Art (BMA) has a shopping and dining opportunities. Look spectacular collection of modern art contrib- for the giant pink flamingo on the storefront uted by two sisters, Claribel and Etta Cone, to fi nd Café Hon, a local tradition, which who traveled in in the early 1900s and offers good basic fare, including the Hon acquired works by Matisse, Picasso, Cezanne, burger and Hon bun, and also sells off-beat Renoir, and others. Next spring an exhibit Baltimore souvenirs. on the impressionist landscape paintings of Pissaro will be on display as well. Homewood House Museum (3400 N. Maryland Zoo in Baltimore (www. Charles Street, www.jhu.edu/historichouses). marylandzoo.org). Started in 1862 with a This 1801 National Historic Landmark, home donation of four swans by a local citizen, to Charles Carroll Jr., provided the architec- the zoo is one of the oldest in the country tural vocabulary and name for Johns Hopkins and now has more than 1,500 birds, reptiles, University’s recently renovated Homewood and mammals. campus. Built on a Paladian-inspired fi ve- part plan, Homewood is one of the nation’s Bibliography best surviving examples of federal period “Baltimore: Get in on It.” Baltimore Area architecture and is renowned for its elegant Convention and Visitors Association. www. proportions, fine workmanship, and extrava- baltimore.org/ gant details. Downtown area map provided by the Evergreen House (4545 N. Charles Baltimore Area Convention and Visitors As- Street, www.jhu.edu/evrgreen/, closed on sociation. www.baltimore.org/cmt_media Mondays). A few miles north of downtown /pdfs/base_map.pdf. Baltimore, the lovely wooded grounds of Baltimore Office of Promotion and the Evergreen House offers respite from the city’s Arts. www.bop.org/. hustle and bustle. On the National Register “Baltimore Sun Visitor’s Guide.” The of Historic Places, this Italianate mansion on Baltimore Sun. www.baltimoresun.com 26 landscaped acres was the home of two /entertainment/visitor/ generations of Baltimore’s Garrett family Evitts, Elizabeth A. and Nancy Jones-Bon- of B&O Railroad fame (from 1878 to 1942). brest. Insiders’ Guide to Baltimore, 4th ed. Today a museum owned by JHU, Evergreen’s Guilford, Conn.: Insiders’ Guide, 2005. 48 opulent rooms contain more than 50,000 Live Baltimore Home Center: Neighbor- of the Garretts’ diverse belongings, including hoods. www.livebaltimore.com/nb/. post-Impressionist paintings, drawings by De- Males, Carolyn, Carol Rolnick, and Pam gas and Picasso, Chinese , Japanese Goresh. Wish you were here! A guide to lacquerware, rare books, and one of the larg- Baltimore City for natives and newcomers. est private collections of Tiffany glass. Tours Baltimore, Md.: Woodholme House Publish- are offered during visitor’s hours. ers, 1999.

Hampden More Baltimore attractions Visit the birthplace of for a taste For additional places to visit while in of hometown funk, great shopping, and Baltimore, please see the online version offbeat restaurants. The former modest mill of this article on the ACRL Web site at www.acrl.org/c&rlnews. community has become a haven for artists,

October 2006 563 C&RL News