Thoughts on recent vacation in Baltimore (Halfway, Mount Vernon: wedding, construction, live in)

[pwduvall]

Originally Posted by Digger 68

Didn't look around enough. Parks are all over Baltimore. Druid Hill Park?

All of these are not parks but just one site....

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attracti..._Maryland.html

Sadly since the city has been ran so poorly managed many of these parks were either unsafe, in disrepair, or both.
That goes for many of the monuments that are all over the city.

My Grandfather mentioned how he would sleep in Druid Hill Park in the 20's, and early 30's.

Paterson Park is in relatively good condition and relatively safe. It is also the site of the earthworks intended to protect Baltimore from overland invasion during the Battle of Baltimore in 1814. Since the shelling of Fort McHenry failed, the British troops never tried to charge up Butcher's Hill. None the less, the effort wasn't for naught. The British took a look at the fortifications and gave their plans a little more thought. Anyway, The Pagoda commemorates the effort. From the top, one can see the whole layout of the battle that never really happened: https://www.google.com/maps/place/Th....5837166?hl=en

[Digger 68]

Originally Posted by pwduvall

Paterson Park is in relatively good condition and relatively safe. It is also the site of the earthworks intended to protect Baltimore from overland invasion during the Battle of Baltimore in 1814. Since the shelling of Fort McHenry failed, the British troops never tried to charge up Butcher's Hill. None the less, the effort wasn't for naught. The British took a look at the fortifications and gave their plans a little more thought. Anyway, The Pagoda commemorates the effort. From the top, one can see the whole layout of the battle that never really happened: https://www.google.com/maps/place/Th....5837166?hl=en

Great.

What the hell does that have to do with the sad fact that nobody knows a damn thing about Druid Hill Park, once upon a time one of the best city parks in the country? And largest? Or the dozen plus parks, and myriad of monuments in the city that at least as far as this sub forum is concerned nobody knows anything about.

Do any of you know anything?

Half of you are OCD.

[GiGi603]

Loved reading your report of your vacation to Baltimore and Annapolis! Happy you had a good time.

[BostonBornMassMade]

Originally Posted by Wordsmith12

Wow. I guess next time I'll have to take note! We were mostly focused on hitting up museums and monuments. I guess the parks aren't that close to the Harbor.

I just remembered that Mount Vernon has a small park near the Washington Monument. We took a few pics there.

People call it Smaltimore but its not small at all. Baltimore is 90 square miles. Nearly double Bostons 48 square miles. Its closer in physical size to Philly than Boston. Its not small. The area around the arbor is like 5% of the city.

[BostonBornMassMade]

Originally Posted by Digger 68

Great.

What the hell does that have to do with the sad fact that nobody knows a damn thing about Druid Hill Park, once upon a time one of the best city parks in the country? And largest? Or the dozen plus parks, and myriad of monuments in the city that at least as far as this sub forum is concerned nobody knows anything about.

Do any of you know anything?

Half of you are OCD.

Black people use and enjoy Druid Hill Park regularly, its never empty. I also know of weddings and other functions in the 'mansion' up there. Its also adjacent to the zoo. People use it.

[Joakim3]

Originally Posted by Wordsmith12

My wife and I recently vacationed in Baltimore for a few days. We spent one full day in Annapolis.

Overall, we enjoyed the trip -- maybe not as much as we enjoyed our Philly trip last year, but we had a good time.

We booked at the Royal Sonesta, which is right across from the Harbor and put us within a short walk or drive from most of the key attractions.

Glad to hear you enjoyed it so much! Philly is an amazing city no doubt and I adore it. The Royal Sonesta is definitely not a bad pic from a location standpoint

Originally Posted by Wordsmith12

Baltimore has beautiful neighborhoods that rival those in Boston, New York, Washington D.C., and Philadelphia. You can spend all day nerding out on architecture in Federal Hill and Fell's Point. I was especially blown away by Mount Vernon. It's one of the most gorgeous areas I've ever seen. And Federal Hill Park afforded amazing views of the Harbor.

You gotta love old colonial architecture. The row home/brownstones to the cobble roads in Fells Point. Culture culture culture. Federal Hill is the go to spot for city viewing and they are completely rebuilding the Rash Field starting this winter

I'd definitely recommend Canton, Patterson Park, Druid Hill but again those are several miles outside downtown so I get it can be a logistics problem

Originally Posted by Wordsmith12

Sites we hit up included the Washington Monument, Peabody Library, Fort McHenry, Maryland Historical Society, Maryland Science Center, Star Splangled Banner House, Oriole Park at Camden Yards, Carroll Mansion, and Walters Art Museum.

All are great places around the Inner Harbor! If you missed out on the National Aquarium... seruiously go again. It's worth the trip alone lol

Originally Posted by Wordsmith12

Thankfully, there were no incidents to report. Some kids got a bit rowdy at the Harbor one night, but nothing out of this world. We smelled weed in some places.

Never a bad thing

Originally Posted by Wordsmith12

For the most part, all the areas we visited were fairly calm and quiet. Some of them were a little too quiet, like the Sunday afternoon we stopped by the Orioles ballpark to take a few pics. It seemed really dead in that area.

The city isn't 24/7 hustle and bustle like DC or NYC, now if you happened to hit it on a weekend when the Ravens and/or the O's are in town, you'll miss the quiet times lol.

Originally Posted by Wordsmith12

And as foodies, we appreciated the wide range of dining options. We tried both the chains and a few mom and pops.

Glad to hear you tried the local stuff

Originally Posted by Wordsmith12

One area where Baltimore is lacking? Shopping. I felt they do a lousy job when it comes to marketing the city. We didn't find that many souvenir shops outside the Harbor.

BWI was also a breeze compared to other airports we've been to.

Agree 100%, they don't have a lot of big anchor chains. BWI is one of my favorite airports. I avoid Reagan & Dulles at all cost when flying into the area

Originally Posted by Wordsmith12

I would probably return to D.C., Boston, or Philly before going back to Maryland, but Baltimore and Annapolis certainly have a lot to offer. It's too bad that the news headlines will deter people from going there, even though many of the areas are safe, charming, and rich in history.

I'm glad you went and explored the city yourself and got a good experience out of it!!

[bus man]

Originally Posted by BostonBornMassMade

People call it Smaltimore but its not small at all. Baltimore is 90 square miles. Nearly double Bostons 48 square miles. Its closer in physical size to Philly than Boston. Its not small. The area around the arbor is like 5% of the city.

Philadelphia is 141.7 square miles in size, compared to Baltimore's 92.3. Baltimore is not small, but it's not particularly huge either. Oklahoma City, whose population is roughly the same as Baltimore's, is 607 square miles in size. (Of course, that's incorporated area, not necessarily the same as urbanized area.)

[Joakim3]

Originally Posted by bus man

Philadelphia is 141.7 square miles in size, compared to Baltimore's 92.3. Baltimore is not small, but it's not particularly huge either. Oklahoma City, whose population is roughly the same as Baltimore's, is 607 square miles in size. (Of course, that's incorporated area, not necessarily the same as urbanized area.)

Baltimore only comprises 81 sq/mi of land, the remaining 11 sq/mi is water.

That being said Baltimore packs 2.2 million people in 717 sq/mi for context. It's a very dense city

[BostonBornMassMade]

Originally Posted by bus man

Philadelphia is 141.7 square miles in size, compared to Baltimore's 92.3. Baltimore is not small, but it's not particularly huge either. Oklahoma City, whose population is roughly the same as Baltimore's, is 607 square miles in size. (Of course, that's incorporated area, not necessarily the same as urbanized area.)

Oklahoma City isn't a real city. Baltimore feels big to me . Its by far the least densely populated major east coast city. So Bmore is about Halfway between Boston and philly in size. But with fewer people than Boston.

Baltimore is only 81 square miles okay its smaller than i thought. Philly is 134 square miles of land. Lets keep in mind Philadelphia and Boston both have their airports in the city and that takes up a few square miles. Boston is more like 45 square miles when you factor out the airport.

Still the harbor area is like 5% of the city.

[Joakim3]

Originally Posted by BostonBornMassMade

Oklahoma City isn't a real city. Baltimore feels big to me . Its by far the least densely populated major east coast city. So Bmore is about Halfway between Boston and philly in size. But with fewer people than Boston.

Only when using city limits...

By Urban Area Baltimore is denser then both Philadelphia & Boston

Originally Posted by BostonBornMassMade

Baltimore is only 81 square miles okay its smaller than i thought. Philly is 134 square miles of land. Lets keep in mind Philadelphia and Boston both have their airports in the city and that takes up a few square miles. Boston is more like 45 square miles when you factor out the airport.

Still the harbor area is like 5% of the city.

Baltimore's Helen-Bentley Port and Wagnors Point take up way more land area then either of their Airports do, and we have significantly larger and more parks.

Granted this is all hyper nit picking... compared to the vast majority of the US cities, the NE corridor is about as dense/compact/urban as it gets