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Baltimore's Star-Spangled Trails

Explore this system of guided and self-guided walking trails to encounter inspiring stories of our nation’s heritage, set in the unique landscape of the Chesapeake’s largest city.

Learn more by visiting www.starspangledtrails.org, exploring information about the individual trails, or by picking up trail brochures at the Baltimore Visitor Center.

Baltimore’s Star-Spangled Trails reveal national heritage stories in, lively neighborhoods, beautiful natural settings,
fascinating museums, key historic sites, and bustling centers of commerce.

On foot, by bike, in a car…no matter how you choose to explore, your journey through our nation’s rich heritage will be an adventure! Journey through four centuries of American history along Baltimore’s Star-Spangled Trails.

The story of Baltimore is an American story, at the center of pivotal conflicts, movements for freedom, and the rise of a national identity. As a port city and a gateway to the continent for millions of Americans, Baltimore provided a starting point for the nation, taking full advantage of its Chesapeake location.

Baltimore’s Star-Spangled Trails chart a course through America’s heritage.

INNER HARBOR

Heritage Walk – Free
April: Weekends at 10:00 and 1:00
May 1- October 31: Weekdays at 10:00 and weekends at 10:00 and 1:00

Tour starts at the Inner Harbor Visitors Center

This guides participants through four centuries of history around the Inner Harbor, Little Italy and historic Jonestown, showcasing more than 20 of the city’s most notable landmarks, attractions and historic sites. Highlights include the Flag House and Star-Spangled Banner Flag House and Museum, the Jewish Museum of Maryland, Carroll Mansion and the Reginald F. Lewis Museum of African American History and Culture. Take the tour with a uniformed guide or explore on your own with a printed map and guide. Group tours can be arranged by calling 443-984-2369. www.heritagewalk.org

MOUNT VERNON

Mount Vernon Cultural Walk - Free
April: Weekends at 10:00 AM and 1:00 PM
May 1- October 31: Daily 1:00 PM
Tour starts at the Inner Harbor Visitors Center

Explore the city's leading role in developing America's culture. Starting at the Visitor's Center at the Inner Harbor, tour guides will take you on a journey up North Charles Street to Mount Vernon Place and explain how international trade, finance, and the railroad industry generated the great wealth that ultimately created many of the nation's foremost cultural institutions: museums, libraries, schools, and more. You will also see marvelous examples of 19th and 20th century architecture. Group tours can be arranged by calling 443-984-2369. www.starspangledtrails.org

PENNSYLVANIA AVENUE HERITAGE TRAIL

African-American Heritage Tour - Free
Coming on Sundays in May  through October

West Baltimore’s Pennsylvania Ave existed long before NYC’s Harlem or Washington D.C.’s U Street… Experience the nation’s rich African American heritage on the Pennsylvania Avenue Heritage Trail. See the home and first school of trailblazing Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall. Explore the Avenue Market, the Baltimore Arabber Center, monuments to the Royal Theatre and Billie Holiday, artist Romare Bearden’s mural in the Upton Metro Station, and historic churches, schools, social organizations, entertainment venues, homes and more.  For more information or to arrange a group tour call 443-984-2369. www.starspangledtrails.org

FELL’S POINT Guided Walking Tours

Fell’s Point Visitor Center. 1732 Thames Street.

The Preservation Society’s Authentic Ghostwalk
Fridays and Saturdays; April through November
Walk with the spirits – if you dare- to discover the real haunted history of Fell’s Point on this “Certified Authentic Baltimore” tour departing from the Fell’s Point Visitor Center. Call 1-877-BALTIMORE.

The Preservation Society’s Immigration Tour
Saturdays, April through November – Noon

As a port of immigration, Baltimore was second only to Ellis Island and many of its waterfront neighborhoods retain the strong, ethnic identities of their original settlers. Explore immigration sites and hear stories of exodus and assimilation into a new culture and country. This “Certified Authentic Baltimore” tour is presented jointly by the Baltimore Immigration Project and the Preservation Society. Call 1-877-BALTIMORE.


The Preservation Society’s Secrets of the Seaport Tour
Thursdays and Saturdays, April through November
Learn about the homes, businesses and lives of sea captains, ship builders, seamen and immigrants in this 18th century maritime community. This “Certified Authentic Baltimore” tour is guided by local historians. 1732 Thames Street. Thursdays at 7 p.m. and Saturdays at 10 a.m. Call 1-877-BALTIMORE.

Fredrick Douglass Path to Freedom Walking Tour
By appointment only
Walk in the footsteps of the great abolitionist and orator, visiting the 18th-century buildings where he lived as a slave, worked, worshiped and escaped via the Underground Railroad. This moving guided tour begins at Broadway and Thames Streets in histric Fell’s Point. Reservations required. Baltimore Black Heritage Tours; 410-783-5469, www.bbhtours.com.

BALTIMORE RIOT TRAIL

Experience the Civil War at sites that reveal the deeply divided loyalties of Maryland and the nation. March the Baltimore Riot Trail along Pratt Street from the Baltimore Civil War Museum to Sports Legends at Camden Yards. Stand where the first fatalities of the War occurred, one week after the first shots at Fort Sumter. Discover places that served as prisons, hospitals, and training camps, including those for U.S. Colored Troops. View the panorama from Federal Hill, from which the Union Army commanded the occupation of Baltimore. Pause at Greenmount Cemetery where John Wilkes Booth is buried.

For additional information, go to visitmaryland.org or call 888-248-4597.