Super cool landmark…read more As per the plaque: Constructed in 1860, the Gatehouse was designed by the Baltimore firm of Thomas and James M. Dixon. Built in Tudor Revival Style, it provided for two living units, one on each side of the archway. The Gatehouse resembled a Swiss chalet and became a trademark of the Sheppard. The neighborhood children viewed it as the home of Hansel and Gretel. A tenant alwavs lived in the Gatehouse until 2005. The beautiful Rhododendron Drive was historically entered by driving through the Gatehouse. In 2002 the entire Charles Street entrance was reconstructed and cars no longer entered through the Archway.

This is my favorite area in Patapsco state park, I've brought many friends and family here over the…read moreyears. It's beautiful, you can find the ruins of an old mining camp and religious boarding school here. There's even a decent spot to jump off the train tracks into the water below, although take care because the water can be shallow in spots.

Probably one of the more interesting hikes that I have done in awhile. The hike will be quite…read moreshort, but you got hills and steps to get your work out on. I think the feel of the place is supposed to be spooky, unfortunately, I picked a spring break day to do it and there were enough teenagers running around here like savages (just kidding, they were all really sweet) it doesn't really have a scary feel to it at all. To explain the ruins, it was Roman Catholic school in Ilchester, Maryland. The ruins are near Ilchester and Bonnie Branch roads (so the Yelp location is pretty straight on). It was called hell house in the 70s after it was abandoned and vandalized and rumors have it a strange cult started living there. It also had an over zealous caretaker who had a gun and some dogs and would assault vandals. He was displaced after the school was set ablaze by arsonists. Hell House altar structure that most people take pictures of is at the top of a very steep hill, about a mile in. It used to have a large metal cross, and it is a very unique place for a photoshoot. For easy access, park in the lot for patapsco state park (right past the train tracks) where the trailhead is and start coming up to the left of the train tracks.

** 5 Year Review Update **…read more Fells Point continues to be great for the most part. Quality restaurants and boutiques, gorge water views, some of the coolest folks you'd ever meet. Some establishments have left, some have joined. The crowds stay heavy. Sadly lately, the crime has increased making it sometimes difficult to enjoy. Parking is gawd awful, but worth the hustle. I pray this area improves as Baltimore City deserves this.

Historic waterfront neighborhood [Baltimore MD]…read more Did some research while looking for places to visit in Baltimore and bookmarked this neighborhood. Fell's Point is located along the north shore of the Baltimore Harbor and just less than 10 miles from our hotel... we made our way here on MLK Day. Surprisingly, not all the businesses were closed on a holiday. We arrived around 10:30a and found parking. There are a few options for parking including metered parking and convenient lots and garages. We found an open spot on Thames Street. Fell's Point is beautiful as it was once a bustling shipbuilding port. We walked the snowy sidewalks and enjoyed the views of the wharf. Fell's Point is a historic waterfront and one of the oldest neighborhoods in Baltimore. It has served as the home to jazz singer Billie Holiday and abolitionist Frederick Douglass. I loved the cobblestone streets with many waterfront restaurants and bars and the local cute boutiques shops. We had brunch at Barcocina and did some window shopping at the cozy shops. We also shared a pastry purchased from Pitango Bakery Cafe located right there at the waterfront. Review #3664

Well, that was lame. Nice noticeable landmark that we walked to and it was completely closed up. I…read moreshould have checked the hours, but they're so darned limited anyway that it's useless for most. Erected in 1828 for making shot. Molten lead, poured through a sieve at the top, dropped into a tank of water inside the base. Height 234 feet, 3 inches. Diameter at base 40 feet. At top 20 feet. Owned by the City of Baltimore.

This past Saturday, my husband and I were able to visit the Phoenix Shot Tower, also known as the…read moreOld Baltimore Shot Tower, which is a red brick shot tower, 234 feet tall, at the foot of the Jones Falls Expressway. When it was completed in 1828, it was the tallest structure in the United States. The tower was originally known as the "Phoenix Shot Tower", then the "Merchants' Shot Tower", and now is also sometimes called the "Old Baltimore Shot Tower". It is the only surviving shot tower among three that existed in Baltimore, and was designated a National Historic Landmark on November 11, 1971. The Phoenix Shot Tower was named for the lead shot that was manufactured there from 1828 to 1892. Molten lead was dropped from a platform at the top of the tower, traveling through a colander-like device into a vat of cold water to create the shot.

On the side of the road near where Greenbelt Road crosses the Beltway is this historical marker…read moresign denoting the Taoping Castle (circa 1750). It is on Walker Road. It reads: On this site, Isaac Charles and Nathan Walker erected a large white oak log house named for their ancestral stronghold in Scotland which the three brothers had fled after the failure of attempts to unseat George I, King of England, as ruler of Scotland. Isaac permanently settled here and obtained land grants for 188 acres. He and his three sons served in the Revolutionary War. The graves of Isaac and his son Nathan are north of here. Taoping Castle was the birthplace of Samuel Hamilton Walker (February 24, 1817 - October 9, 1847). Lt. Colonel of the Texas Rangers and Captain of the US Cavalry, he left home at age 19 to fight Indians and later became a leader and hero of the Rangers. His suggested changes to Samuel Colt's revolver resulted in Colt's success as an arms manufacturer. 1000 Colt-Walker pistols - the first, heaviest and longest revolvers ever issued to American forces - were purchased for the Texas Rangers during the Mexican war. Walker was killed in that war at the Battle of Hua Mantla, Mexico. The family cemetery is all that remains of the Taoping Castle estate.

I visited the 1719 Museum this past Saturday and really enjoyed the experience…read more The guided tour starts with a short film about the property that provides some great context for the rest of the tour. Then you leave the visitor center and walk over to the first structure of tour, which is a full-sized reproduction of a Native American longhouse. Longhouses (large multi-generational family homes made of logs, saplings, and tree bark) were once ubiquitous in Pennsylvania, including along the Susquehanna River. At the time the Hans Herr home was built, south-central Pennsylvania was home to several Indigenous tribes, including the Shenks Ferry, Conoy, Lenape, Mohawk, Nanticoke, Seneca, Shawnee, and Susquehannock peoples. The 1719 Museum collaborated with the Circle Legacy Center and members of the local indigenous community to build the longhouse reproduction in order to share the history of and honor Pennsylvania's native communities and educate visitors to the area. With your guide, you walk into the longhouse, where you sit down while the guide explains quite extensively about the Native communities in the area, the longhouse and its architecture, and the relationships between the indigenous people and the Mennonite people who made homes in the area. After the longhouse, the guide walks you over to the Hans Herr House. It was built in 1719 and is a 2-story, rectangular sandstone Germanic-style dwelling. It is the oldest dwelling in Lancaster County and the oldest Mennonite meetinghouse in America. The guide walks you through various rooms in the house and shares information about the Herr family as well as the larger Mennonite community in early Pennsylvania history. Our guide was Cindy, and she was incredible. I learned so much about the Native, Indigenous and Mennonite communities of 18th century Pennsylvania (and - in the case of the Native peoples - a much earlier history of their lives in Pennsylvania). She really educated us on a broad range of topics, while keeping the tour fun (I love fun education)! She made my tour extra special. If you're spending some time exploring Lancaster Counter, the 1719 Museum should definitely make your itinerary! In one place, you can learn a little bit about Pennsylvania's Native and Mennonite communities, and it's just a special place!

Why is the Hans Herr House significant and who the hell was Hans Herr?…read more The house itself is significant as it is the last remaining structure that is still standing from the original group of Mennonites who came to the Lancaster County area to escape religious persecution from their native Switzerland. The house is also significant in that it is the oldest structure in Lancaster County and likely the oldest remaining Mennonite meetinghouse in the Western Hemisphere. The original group traveled from Switzerland to Germany to escape religious persecution then after a governmental regime change they were forced from Germany to England where they met with William Penn who allowed them to colonize a portion of what is current day Lancaster County or when they arrived in 1711, the extreme most western frontier of Pennsylvania. One interesting piece of information is that the house did not belong to Hans Herr as it was built by his son Christian which is why his initials are over the doorway along with the inscribing mark of 1719. On the tour you are told why the name remained(s) Hans Herr House versus Christian Herr House but honestly I forget why. Maybe something just deferential from Christian towards his father or because of his father's status with the original group that came to the area or maybe everyone just liked the flow of the name more so it's based on tradition? The tour itself is around 40-45 minutes and it starts in the building which houses the gift shop and you are given a brief overview of the Anabaptist faith, the Mennonites who are direct descendants of the faith and a map which shows the route the initial settlers took from Switzerland to Pennsylvania. After that you are taken over to the house where you see the three rooms which make up the first floor (kitchen, bedroom and all purpose dining room-meeting room-family room) and the second floor which is where the eight children slept and finally the basement which is accessed from a side entrance outside of the house. You learn that the key to the home's design is that they didn't believe in wasting any space so every inch served a purpose such as not having hallways so as soon as you walk in the front door you're right in the kitchen. One thing worth noting, if you are someone who is hardcore hung up on only visiting historical places if they have lots of original items then this place might not be for you. There is not a whole lot original to the house that you can see with the exception of a piece of the ceiling insulation on the first floor (rye straw + manure + ??), the wooden crossbeam over the kitchen fireplace and the steps which go from the second floor to the third floor attic (obviously you can't use them). Past that I think most everything else was changed out in the 19th century when the house was still used as a residence or in the early 70's when the initial renovation occurred to make things into a tourist destination. If you want more original take a look at the bibles on display in the gift shop which are original to Hans and Christian. I wouldn't call the Hans Herr House a must see, but it's interesting enough and the tour is the right length to keep everyone interested along with being located close enough to most of Lancaster County's tourist elements. If you go: The 1719 Hans Herr House is open April 1 through November 30, Monday-Saturday, 9:00 AM-4:00 PM. Forty-five minute Herr House tours are offered at 9 a.m., 11 a.m., 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. This is not the tour information for their reproduction Native American Longhouse. That tour is offered at 10 a.m., 12 noon and 2 p.m and has an entirely different focus. Prices are currently Adults: $8, Children 7-12: $4 and Children 6 and under: free with a slight discount if you choose to tour both structures. There are also several special events that happen throughout the year and that information is available on their website.

Great historic house in town located in back of the resturant. Open sometimes during the warm…read moreseason. A must do on the shore.

Located in a former church, now an event space, the grave is front and center. It has a short time…read moreline of Poe's life and brief introduction about the famous author. It is easily accessible and near the University of Maryland campus.

Super cool spot. It was a cloudy and gloomy day when we walked by so it made this place feel eerie…read more The grounds and graves all looked well kept.

Definitely a cool bit of history in Monument City!…read more The Washington Monument is the first major monument dedicated to this country's first president. Inside the building, there is a little area with interactive screens explaining the history of the monument in Baltimore city. This is free to peruse. For a modest price, you can reserve a time to go up the tower portion of the monument. It is clearly old, with stone steps spiraling up clockwise until reaching an observation spot at the top. It is tight and you may have to wait in the odd window well while someone else goes up or down past you. There are four windows each labeled "North," "South," "East," and "West" with different vistas of the city. My kids are rather enjoyed it; even Child #3 climbed up over half the steps on his own at just shy of 2 years old. The surrounding area of "Mount Vernon Place" is covered with nice areas for sitting, looking at statues of contemporaries of George Washington (e.g. the Marquis de Lafayette). Highly recommend coming out during Flower Fest in early May!

Baltimore Review 4/Many: I explored this historical neighborhood and monument with a few others…read morewhile traveling around Baltimore recently. The surrounding area is lush and green, with many large, beautiful churches, monuments, and other sights. We were originally going to this neighborhood to stop at The Walters Art Museum, but since it was closed for another hour, we walked around here instead. The George Washington Monument is fine. It's free to enter for most of it, and there are some statues inside as well as some information. We weren't exactly in the mood to pay $6 to walk up 227 stairs, as it was way too hot outside, but others were doing that, so that was their choice. In short, a nice neighborhood to relax in, especially during fall or spring when it's not so hot or cold outside. It's mostly free and well-designed with an excellent museum, so it's hard not to like it.

the staff is friendly and really supportive. We only had pictures done here for our wedding but I…read morecan completely understand the appeal of hosting a special event/meal here. It's a wonderful location and just made for some great memories!

From the owner: Poplar Hill Mansion is a beautiful historic home. Salisbury, Maryland"s oldest home and first…read morehospital is now an historic house museum open to the public for free tours every Friday & Sunday 12-4 or by appointment any other day. Come learn about the first surgeon in Salisbury, Dr. John Huston, his family, and the enslaved people. See furnishings of the early 1800s, learn about medicine of the time period, and see the exhibits about life in the period of the nation's early history. It also provides affordable rates for private event rentals, and makes a beautiful setting for a wedding, birthday party, anniversary party, baby shower, and more!