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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.nps.gov/balt, 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.Star Spangled Trails is a product of the Baltimore National Heritage Area, www.nps.gov/balt.

INNER HARBOR

Heritage Walk
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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 410-878-6411. www.nps.gov/balt

$7.00 per person, $5.00 Seniors, Children under 13 free.

MOUNT VERNON

Mount Vernon Cultural Walk
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April: Weekends at 10:00 AM and 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 410-878-6411. www.nps.gov/balt

$7.00 per person, $5.00 Seniors, Children under 13 free. 

PENNSYLVANIA AVENUE HERITAGE TRAIL

African-American Heritage Tour
Reservations Only
Tour starts at the State Center Metro Station

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 410-878-6411. www.nps.gov/balt

$7.00 per person, $5.00 Seniors, Children under 13 free.  

FELL’S POINT Guided Walking Tours

Fell’s Point Visitor Center. 1732 Thames Street.

Historic Fell's Point Walking Tour
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Friday, Saturday and Sunday,11:00 a.m
April: Saturday and Sunday

Your tour begins from the moment you arrive at the Fell's Point Visitor Center.  A Baltimore National Heritage Area Urban Ranger will lead you through Baltimore's oldest neighborhoods, with a history dating back to the Revolutionary War. See where the unsung heroes lived during the Battle of Baltimore - War of 1812.  A civilian militia defended home, city and country from the British invasion. Walk the same streets as abolitionist Frederick Douglass and the many more that arrived in this port community in search of freedom, wealth and opportunity.  $7.00 person, Seinors $5.00 children under 13 are free. Groups welcome, visit www.nps.gov/balt or call 410-878-6411 for more information.

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.