Mark Meek's Ideas: Baltimore

With the first American Pope it is mostly forgotten today but the U.S. state of Maryland was originally a reserve for Catholics to live, hence the name of the state.

Baltimore is the largest city in the U.S. state of Maryland. The pre-independence history of America usually revolves around Puritans and Anglicans. But Maryland was an area that was set aside for Catholics, hence the name of the state, and Baltimore has the oldest Catholic cathedral in the U.S. In the days of immigration to America by ship, not all landed at Ellis Island. Many immigrants arrived in Baltimore.

A good place to begin our visit to Baltimore is downtown at the Lexington Market. The first image is from Google Street View.

There are multiple scenes following. To see the scenes, after the first one, you must first click the up arrow, ^, before you can move on to the next scene by clicking the right or forward arrow, >, After clicking the up arrow, you can then hide the previews of successive scenes, if you wish.

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These views of downtown Baltimore begin at the base of the Emerson Bromo Seltzer Clock Tower. Possibly the best known sports team in America is baseball's Baltimore Orioles. The first time I heard of Baltimore was in conjunction with baseball. Certainly the most famous name in baseball is Babe Ruth, who was a native of Baltimore.

These two views of the Emerson Bromo Seltzer Clock Tower are from Google Street View.

This image, from Google Earth, is of the baseball stadium.

These three general views of downtown Baltimore are from Google Earth.

https://www.google.com/maps/@39.2872444,-76.6207988,3a,75y,41.03h,117.85t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1s-w-8mSkK--BP7e16jlTlcw!2e0!6s%2F%2Fgeo1.ggpht.com%2Fcbk%3Fpanoid%3D-w-8mSkK--BP7e16jlTlcw%26output%3Dthumbnail%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26thumb%3D2%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D42.869114%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i13312!8i6656

The Phoenix Shot Tower, where gunshot is made simply by dropping molten metal from a height so that it falls into water and quenches, was once the tallest structure in the U.S. An old red brick power plant has been redeveloped for other uses. These two images of the Phoenix Shot Tower are from Google Earth and Street View.

There is an old smokestack nearby that is reminiscent of the Phoenix Shot Tower. When I was a stargazer, in my early teens before I got interested in exercise, I would focus the telescope for long-distance viewing on the bricks of this smokestack. Image from Google Street View.

https://www.google.com/maps/@39.2910867,-76.6052915,3a,75y,192.18h,113.29t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sK0Ksrxvx02vvTVyDLQKioQ!2e0!6s%2F%2Fgeo3.ggpht.com%2Fcbk%3Fpanoid%3DK0Ksrxvx02vvTVyDLQKioQ%26output%3Dthumbnail%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26thumb%3D2%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D92.303894%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i13312!8i6656

One of the names most associated with Baltimore today is Johns Hopkins, primarily a university and associated medical center. Johns Hopkins was a wealthy, and very generous, Nineteenth-Century philanthropist. This is Johns Hopkins University. It is one of those universities that actually "looks like a university".

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Baltimore is a city of many distinct neighborhoods. The following scenes begin in Mount Vernon, north of downtown. The monument on the column is in honor of George Washington. The first two images of the statue of George Washington are from Google Earth and Street View.

https://www.google.com/maps/@39.2997032,-76.6148953,3a,75y,133.79h,90t/data=!3m5!1e1!3m3!1sirAISx3NJVkL6GsD09wgRA!2e0!6s%2F%2Fgeo3.ggpht.com%2Fcbk%3Fpanoid%3DirAISx3NJVkL6GsD09wgRA%26output%3Dthumbnail%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26thumb%3D2%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D141.09006%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100

America's national anthem, "The Star Spangled Banner", is about Baltimore's Fort McHenry. There was a large U.S. flag flying over the fort. British ships bombarded the fort with rockets throughout the night. But when morning came, the flag was still there. That was taken as an omen that America was here to stay.

America has fireworks displays on July 4th, a celebration of it's Independence Day in 1776. The fireworks represent the rockets that were launched at the fort. But this bombardment actually took place during the War of 1812, not America's War of Independence.

What became the national anthem was first written as a poem, by Francis Scott Key. It was actually made into a song by England's John Stafford Smith, from my native Gloucestershire. There is a memorial of him today in Gloucester Cathedral. The following image is from the Wikipedia article "John Stafford Smith".