Landmarks of Baltimore

Several of Baltimore’s landmarks are open to the public for viewing on most days, and include everything from Edgar Allen Poe’s old house to Maryvale Castle, which now houses a preparatory school and museum. In between can be found historical museums, the many colonial and early American forts, houses of scientists and statesmen, and more modern memorials such as the Holocaust Memorial and Sculpture... one may even tour the several warships that are still docked in the Bay area and have been converted for viewing by the public. What follows are a few more examples of other landmarks and historical sites that are open to the public.

Mount Clare is a Georgian style plantation house made of brick, and the oldest Colonial structure in the City of Baltimore. During the Civil War it served as quarters for Union soldiers, and is currently open to the public as a museum.

Peale’s Baltimore Museum was the first building in the United States erected exclusively as a museum and art gallery. One Rembrandt Peale had his personal works of art on one level and on another level were different curiosities, mounted wildlife and examples of Native American culture and clothing. The museum was designed by Baltimore architect Robert Cary Long, Sr., and resembles a three-story brick town house with the exception that it has a monumental frontispiece. Of note about this structure is that it served as Baltimore’s city hall from 1830 until 1875, and has been the city’s municipal museum since 1931.

The USCGC TANEY was the only surviving warship left afloat after the events of December 7, 1941. It is a Secretary Class cutter, considered the most successful of large Coast Guard-built cutters of its time. After the events of Pearl Harbor, TANEY was sent into the Atlantic for convoy duty in 1944, and was returned to the Pacific the following year for the Okinawa Campaign and the occupation of Japan.