Back to Maryland

From PA we drove back to Maryland, about 30 miles west of Baltimore.   While we were here, we visited the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Museum, the Mount Clare Museum House, and Fort McHenry National Monument and Historic Shrine.

Our first stop was the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Museum which is the home to the oldest, most comprehensive collection of railroad artifacts in the Western Hemisphere.    The 40 acre historic site includes 19th century buildings and the first mile of commercial railroad tract in America.   The roundhouse was highlighting "trains come to the Civil War" and included 1860 era steam engines, re-enactors  in costume discussing the medical treatments of the war.   Outside the roundhouse we toured troop cars showing bunks in tiers of 3 cots, a dining car exhibiting china place settings from almost every line, and a car with a train layout.  

The second day we came back into Baltimore and toured Mount Clare, the summer home of Charles Carroll, Barrister.   The home of "Georgia", Charles Carroll's 800 acre plantation.   The estate had grain fields, grist mills, an orchard and a vineyard, racing stables, brick kilns, and a shipyard on the Patapsco River.    The lifestyle was made possible by the labor of many enslaved persons.

From Mount Clare we drove to Fort McHenry.   In 1814 after the British had burned Washington they turned their fleet toward Baltimore.   The people of Baltimore feared the same fate as Washington, but the troops at Ft. McHenry successfully defended the city and the British left the area.   During the fighting Francis Scott Key was detained on a truce ship and the morning of September 14  wrote the words to the Star Spangled Banner upon seeing that the US Flag was still flying over the fort.  It was first entitle "Defence of Fort McHenry"and the poem was published the next day.  Soon it was being sung to the tune of "To Anacreon in Heaven".   Now it's known as the Star Spangled Banner and became the National Anthem of the United States in 1931.