Downtown Baltimore, Maryland B&amp;W Series

Federal Hill and the Chesapeake Bay @ Inner Harbor Baltimore

Federal Hill: Early in the colonial period the area known as Federal Hill was the site of a paint pigment mining operation. The hill has several tunnels beneath its present parklike setting. On occasion a part of a tunnel will collapse causing the need to infill the area if the depression is near the surface of the edges of the hill. From early in the history of the city, the hill was a public gathering place and civic treasure. The hill itself was given the name in 1789 after serving as the location for the end of a parade and a following civic celebration of the ratification of the new "Federal" constitution of the United States of America. For much of the early history of Baltimore, the hill was know as Signal Hill because it was home to a maritime observatory serving the merchant and shipping interests of the city by observing the sailing of ships up the Patapsco River and signalling their impending arrival to downtown businesspeople. Following the Baltimore riot of 1861, the hill was occupied (against orders from Washington) in the middle of the night by Union troops under the command of General Benjamin F. Butler, who had entered the city stealthily from Annapolis via the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad. During the night, Butler and his men erected a small fort, with cannon pointing towards the central business district. Their goal was to guarantee the allegiance of the city and the state of Maryland to the Federal Government under threat of force. This fort and the Union occupation persisted for the duration of the Civil War. A large flag, a few cannon, and a small Grand Army of the Republic monument remain to testify to this period of the hill's history.

Cousins in front of The National Aquarium in Baltimore

The National Aquarium in Baltimore is a public aquarium located at 501 E Pratt St. in the Inner Harbor area of Baltimore, Maryland, USA. It was opened in 1981 and was constructed during the urban renewal period of Baltimore. The aquarium has an annual attendance of 1.6 million to see its collection of 16,500 specimens of 660 different species. Particular attractions include the dolphin display, rooftop rainforest, and central ray pool, and multiple-story shark tank. The National Aquarium in Baltimore is widely considered to be one of the best in the United States, if not the whole world. Coastal Living named it the #1 aquarium in the U.S. in 2006. The National Aquarium in Baltimore is not to be confused with the National Aquarium in Washington, D.C.; however, the National Aquarium in Washington D.C. has been operated by the National Aquarium in Baltimore since 2003.[1] As of 2005, the National Aquarium was the largest tourist attraction in the state of Maryland. In November 2006, the National Aquarium won a Best of Baltimore award for "Best Over Priced Destination for Families.

Locs, Lines and a Light

USS Constellation constructed in 1854 is a sloop-of-war, or corvette, and the second United States Navy ship to carry this famous name. According to the US Naval Registry, the original frigate was disassembled down to the keel on 25 June 1853, in Gosport Navy Yard in Norfolk, Virginia, and she was rebuilt as a faster, heavy sloop-of-war. Constellation was again decommissioned on 4 February 1955, and stricken from the Naval Vessel Register on 15 August 1955—about two weeks and one hundred years from her first commissioning. She was taken to her permanent berth—Constellation Dock, Inner Harbor at Pier 1, 301 East Pratt Street, Baltimore, Maryland