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| Baltimore Inner Harbor with aquarium in background |
We spent an excellent 5 days in Baltimore, at a marina
in the inner harbor surrounded by the tall buildings of downtown
Baltimore. The change from a week of
staying at remote anchorages to a week of being right in the middle of the
city, was really experiencing the two extremes
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| Boats anchored off Pier 6 to hear the concert free |
Our visit this summer was timely in that the city &
surrounding area were celebrating the 200th Anniversary of the
Battle of Baltimore during the War of 1812.
Nearly every point of interest had something extra about the war, Fort
McHenry, or the flag. We learned quite a
bit of history of the War of 1812 and the British successes on the Chesapeake
Bay.
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| The view as we entered the harbor. This was the size of flag which flew in Sept 1814 |
To start off our visit, we found our marina amidst the
multitude of marinas and the plethora of boats that make up Baltimore harbor. Water taxis, pleasure boats, tourist boats,
sail boats, kayaks, and anything else that floated, passed by our marina slip
continually all day & most the night.
We were right next to the Pier 6 concert pavilion, where the band
“Boston” gave a performance Tuesday night.
We simply fixed our drinks and walked down our dock to enjoy our free
concert, with the lights of the city as a backdrop.
Of course, we made our pilgrimage to Fort McHenry where
the National Park Service presented a very impressive introductory video with a
reenactment of Francis Scott Key aboard his “truce ship” during the British
bombardment of the Fort. At the end of
the video, as the music of our National Anthem began, the movie screen rolled
up to allow us to see out the big window that the huge American flag was still flying
over the fort at the top of the hill.
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| In 1814, you'd be looking at the British fleet in front of you, and Key's ship would be just before the bridge, about 4 miles distance |
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| "Francis Scott Key Buoy", where his ship was on 9/13/1814 and, yes, if you use your "spy glass", you can see the huge flag flying over the fort at the middle of photo |
The Park Rangers gave numerous presentations about the
battles, the strategy of both the British and the Americans, why the flag was
so big (30’ x 42’), and why some young lawyer from Washington (and part-time
poet) had sailed out to meet the British two days prior & was held on his
ship during the British bombardment of the fort (for your history lesson today,
I’ll give you a hint that Key was trying to set free another American, who was
taken captive as the British retreated from burning the White House &
Capitol building in Washington DC just three weeks prior. Additional trivia for you: In mid-1814, British forces were increased with
several thousand experienced troops who had fought against Napoleon in the
European war, and these were the formidable troops which staged the land
assault against Baltimore while the British rocket and mortar ships fired on
Ft. McHenry. Ya didn’t read about that
in your history books, did you, kids?!).
After Key finished his poem about his observations and emotions during
the bombardment, it was published a couple days later, and within 60 days the
poem had spread across the young country.
That’s kind of like the 1814 version of “going viral”. And a short time later, it was put to the
tune of a British drinking song!
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| Two historic relics! |
We also toured a couple of Baltimore’s historic ships,
including the USS Constellation, built in 1854 as the last Navy sailing ship,
before this new thing called “steam power” became prevalent. I always get a kick out of seeing these old
square-rigged sailing ships & am still amazed at all the ropes &
rigging it took to make them move.
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| Work of a Visionary Artist who was diagnosed with OCD. No telling how many pencils he used. |
Back ashore, we visited the American Visionary Art
Museum, with works of artists who never had formal training or were
self-taught. It had some very
interesting and unique art work, some of it created by people who were
diagnosed with psychiatric disorders, yet found their place as an artist.
And finally, we ate our way around Baltimore, most
notably at the Blue Moon Café, where breakfast consisted of a huge
pecan-cinnamon roll, battered and fried like French toast, served with fruit
and real whipped crème. Sue tried to eat
3 eggs with crab and Hollandaise sauce, over a mound of hash brown potatoes. Guess what we had for dinner that night?!?
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| Around the Chesapeake, there's Old Bay seasoning, not Zatarain's, although both are owned by McCormicks |
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| Row houses in Federal Hill section of town, all British Colonial design. Some of these homes are only 11 feet wide! |
So now we’re back at Maryland Yacht Club, where they
charge us only $15 per night. I wanted
to stay off the waters during Labor Day weekend, when half the boaters out
there are drunk, and the other half just dumb and crazy. This week, we’ll head back to the Eastern
Shore to anchor in the coves, and if there are no sea nettles, we’ll go
swimming before summer fades away from us.
