Maryland — Intrepid Pup

A Day at the Bay

June 4, 2014 by admin

Glimpses from around the 18-acre campus of the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum in St. Michaels, Maryland. Clockwise from left: a) Goofing around with the cut-outs in front of the museum; b) In the boat building workshop; c) Surveying the shoreline with the Hooper Strait screwpile lighthouse in the background; d) A tasty view of the harbor from atop the 1879 lighthouse; e) Catching some rays on the pilothouse of the buy boat Thor; f) Exploring the history of Maryland’s crab fishing industry.

It was a beautiful spring day, and we decided to head to Maryland’s eastern shore to do some exploring in St. Michaels, a town known for its Chesapeake Bay breezes, traditional Maryland fare (think: blue crab and Smith Island cake, which are the official state crustacean and state dessert, respectively), and history (more about that later). To reach St. Michaels, you head for Annapolis which is a pretty snazzy dog-friendly stop in its own right, go over the Bay Bridge, and about 50 miles later (less than an hour, if the traffic gods are smiling upon you) wind up at your destination.

We didn’t set out with a real plan this time other than to savor the sights, the day, and okay…maybe some crab cakes. We followed Route 33/Talbot Street about a half mile into St. Michaels’ downtown and turned right to park in the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum’s lot.

Tavish at the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum

What!? Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum is dog-friendly. How cool is THAT?!

We of Team Tavish were trying to figure out where along the fence line was the best spot to photograph Intrepid Pup Tavish with the museum’s signature lighthouse in the background, when…. whaaaaat?? Wait. A. Minute. Just on the other side of the fence we spied a Mutt Mitt Dispenser! You wouldn’t have one of those planted there if dogs weren’t welcome, right? So we stopped into the museum’s Admissions Building and inquired. “Yes, of course!” the visitor services attendant replied. “You’ll need to keep your dog on a leash and clean up after him, but otherwise he’s allowed anywhere on the campus, except in buildings that have carpeting.” With that, we happily shelled out our entry fees (Tavish was free) and ended up spending nearly three hours there!

The museum was a real treat: unexpectedly dog-friendly and far more extensive than we’d imagined. There were only four carpeted pavilions Tavish couldn’t go into. For those, we just took turns while one of us waited outside with Tavish, who did his share of rolling in the grass and watching the passing boats. Tavish even spied a beautiful tabby keeping an eye on us from a scrub pine. We later learned she’s a former stray who is now the museum’s resident salty boatyard cat, Ms. Edna Sprit! As for places Tavish COULD venture into, there were many! We wended our way through the Small Boat Shed housing the nation’s largest collection of Chesapeake Bay watercraft. We explored a dredgeboat to learn all about oystering and clambered out on the wharf to the working waterman’s shanty, where we got to check the eel pots and clumsily experiment with using oyster tongs. And a real highlight was navigating a narrow spiral staircase and crawling through a hatch to reach the top of the 1879 Hooper Strait Lighthouse!

An homage to Maryland’s state dog: Tavish sizes up this cast iron statue of a Chesapeake Bay Retriever outside the “Waterfowling” pavilion.

A bonus for dog lovers is the museum’s waterfowling exhibit chronicling a key element of bay heritage. While Tavish couldn’t partake of the fascinating display of hand carved duck decoys and tools of the trade, there was a stolid cast iron Chesapeake Bay Retriever statue outside with an interesting story (see photo at right). It just so happens that in 1807, Marylander George Law was sailing home from England aboard the Canton, when he intercepted a sinking British vessel and rescued its crew and two Newfoundland puppies. When Law arrived safely at port, he purchased the puppies from the captain and brought them home. He named the male Sailor and the female Canton. Since Law ultimately had to go back out to sea, he gave the dogs to two men who allowed them to breed with local dogs, probably coonhounds. Their progeny had dense dual coats, took exceptionally well to the water, and were prolific in their versatility and ability to retrieve waterfowl. The Chesapeake Bay Retriever as a breed was born, and in 1964, it was recognized as Maryland’s official state dog.

Dogging the Details

38°47’14.35″N, 76°13’13.73″W
Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum, St. Michaels, Maryland

St. Michaels ranks a “2” on the Intrepid Pup’s wag-a-meter for being exceptionally dog-friendly and offering plenty to do for pup and person alike.

Hmmm. . . lobster I’m familiar with from living in Maine. You? Not so much!

If you’re spending the day in St. Michaels, you’ll need to grab a bite to eat, and fortunately there’s a quintessential Maryland-y option that’s also dog-friendly: The Crab Claw Restaurant. This is definitely fair-weather casual dining, because with your pup in tow, you’ll be eating outside on the partially covered, spacious deck. Be prepared to wait a bit for your picnic table, since lots of people will have this very same idea on sunny weekends. It’s worth it, however, for the good food and spectacular view of the bay. Truth be told, the people-watching is equally entertaining, as folks pull up in boats of all shapes and sizes. After noticing a young couple a few tables away too full to finish off their dozen crabs, we decided to order the less messy and labor intensive option: crab cakes. Tavish was acting particularly winsome that afternoon, and it wasn’t long before the woman from the couple came over to pet and take pictures of Tavish. And. . . somehow we ended up with the remainder of their steamed crabs! Tavish is a shameless charmer and seemed both intrigued and pretty smug about this turn of events (see photo at left). Unbelievable.

Talbot Street in St. Michaels caters to dogs with this complimentary, walk-up watering hole: the Broken Rudder Doggie Bar.

You’ll want to walk off your lunch, and St. Michaels’ Talbot Street/Route 33 is lined with plenty of shops, including a pet boutique named Flying Fred’s. If you pause to read historical plaques along the way—or fancy ducking into the St. Michaels Museum at St. Mary’s Square—you’ll learn that St. Michaels was where young Frederick Douglass lived as a slave from 1833-36. You’re also bound to hear how the resourceful residents of St. Michaels “fooled the British” during the War of 1812. With the British fleet approaching in August 1813, townsfolk hung lanterns high in the trees at the outer boundary. The British fell for the ruse and aimed their cannons such that most overshot the village, ultimately sparing it from a worse fate. We encountered many dogs along our walk, and several local businesses had treats for dogs and bowls of fresh water outside.

At this point, you might have worked up a thirst of you own, so a stop at Eastern Shore Brewing is in order. This local microbrewery opened in 2008 and operates out of a historic mill complex right on South Talbot Street. They have a couple of year-round offerings and a half dozen seasonals on rotation. We tentatively poked our heads into the entrance just to survey the scene, assuming we’d have to come back another time minus our dog. No sooner had we done so, however, than one of the brewery staff spotted Tavish and hurried over to greet us. “No, stay!” he said. “If your dog’s friendly, we’re dog-friendly. Heck, most dogs are better behaved than some of our patrons, so come on in!” And with that, we were swept inside to where a live band was playing and there was already a healthy crowd gathered for mid-Saturday afternoon. The bartender immediately brought over a bowl of water for Tavish, who promptly settled himself into a care-worn overstuffed leather chair (and got his photo taken by a few smartphone-wielding guests), while we tried a couple pints.

From there, we crossed Talbot Street and headed down West Chew Avenue to San Domingo Park, scenic green space that overlooks San Domingo Creek. If you bear to the right, you’ll see a trailhead and a covered bridge. The short paved trail runs more or less parallel to Talbot Street but through residential neighborhoods. A fifteen-minute walk will deliver you to Railroad Street, and you can hang a right to re-connect with North Talbot Street again.

On our next visit, we’ll definitely take the narrated, 70-minute sightseeing cruise aboard the two-level, 149-seat Patriot. We simply ran out of time that afternoon to fit this in, but in talking to the Captain dockside, we learned that the cruise is pet-friendly at his sole discretion. We’ll be back! Also nice to know is that even though ours was just a day trip, St. Michaels boasts several pet-friendly lodging options, from motor lodges to inns to vacation rentals.

Filed Under: Cultural Heritage, History, Museums, Nature, Uncategorized, Wag-A-Meter=2 Tagged With: bay, Broken Rudder Doggie Bar, Chesapeake, Crab Claw Restaurant, crabs, dog-friendly, Eastern Shore Brewing, Edna Sprit, Flying Fred's, lighthouse, maritime museum, Maryland, oystering, retriever, St. Michael's, trail, Wag-a-meter=2, waterfowl

National Howl-iday Scene: Part III

December 22, 2012 by admin

Tavish at the LDS Temple's Festival of Lights

Even raindrops can’t keep Tavish from basking in the glow of 600,000 lights at the Washington D.C. Temple.

Tavish the Intrepid Pup continues on the howl-iday trail throughout the greater Washington metro area. Stops so far have included the Capitol Christmas Tree and the U. S. Botanic Garden’s “Season’s Greenings.” Next on his itinerary: the annual Festival of Lights at The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

The site is a study in juxtapositions. Called the Washington D.C. Temple, it’s actually physically located in Kensington, Maryland. The maelstrom that is the Capital Beltway is just a stone’s throw away with more than 250,000 vehicles a day passing in the Temple’s shadow. And yet the Temple sits upon 52 beautifully wooded acres—in the midst of a residential neighborhood, really. The glistening facade of white Alabama marble looks like nothing else in the area, but it still manages to blend in harmoniously.

When it opened in 1974 it was only the 16th operating Temple; today there are more than 140. Six spires rise to 288 feet, making this Temple the Church’s tallest. While the adjacent Visitors’ Center is free and open year-round, visitation soars during the annual Festival of Lights celebration.

Dogging the Details

39°0′56.07″N, 77°3′56.21″W
Festival of Lights, Washington D.C. Temple – The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Kensington, Maryland

The 35th Annual Festival of Lights runs from November 30, 2012 through January 1, 2013 with the lights coming on at dusk. Free concerts are offered nightly in the Visitors’ Center at 7pm and again at 8pm, with tickets available 90 minutes prior to each performance.

Tavish gazes upon the life-sized crèche outside the Washington D.C. Temple Visitors’ Center.

Team Tavish had the misfortune of timing this visit with a torrential downpour, so we didn’t stay nearly as long as we would have liked. The up-side to the weather, however, was that all 600,000 lights looked extra-spectacular reflecting off the drenched pavement. Tavish wasn’t too keen about getting rained upon but kept still long enough for a few photos as we gawked at the lights and stopped at the life-sized crèche.

Admission to the grounds is free. Non-Mormons are not permitted in the Temple itself, but all (well, excluding dogs) are welcome in the Visitors’ Center. When we arrived, crowds of people were streaming in to hear the first concert of the evening and see the displays of decorated Christmas trees and more than 100 nativity scenes from around the world. Had the Intrepid Pup not been with us, we would have ventured in as well!

The Festival of Lights earns a “1″ on the Intrepid Pup’s wag-a-meter for illuminating the joys of the season!

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Filed Under: Cultural Heritage, Gardens, Special Events, Wag-A-Meter=1 Tagged With: Christmas, dog, Festival of Lights, holidays, intrepid pup, LDS Temple, Maryland, Mormon, Tavish, vizsla, Wag-a-meter=1

Apro-Poe of Halloween

October 31, 2012 by admin

A raven marks the spot: Tavish lurks in the shadows behind the monument indicating where Edgar Allan Poe was originally interred.

As the literary master of the dark and dreary, Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849) and his special brand of Gothic fiction tie in conveniently with the whole Halloween oeuvre. So, on this All Hallows’ Eve, allow Tavish the Intrepid Pup to take you on a virtual visit to Poe’s grave site in Maryland.

Several cities lay legitimate claims to Poe—Boston, New York, Richmond, and Philadelphia among them. Yet, it’s Baltimore where Poe not only lived with relatives in the early 1830s but also where he ultimately died under somewhat mysterious circumstances…turning what was to have been a brief stopover in October 1849 into an eternal one.

At the heart of downtown Baltimore and today encircled by the University of Maryland School of Law are the Westminster Hall Burying Grounds and Catacombs. Despite the name, these catacombs are nowhere near as creepy as the ones that figure in Poe’s own tale, The Cask of Amontillado. The burial grounds date to the late 1700s, and the 1852 church on the site—sans congregation—is now used for private event rentals.

Poe’s final resting place at Westminster Hall Burying Grounds. There’s no Poe Toaster in sight…unless it’s the Intrepid Pup!?!

The cemetery is actually home to not one but two Poe memorials. Proceed to the rear of the cemetery to see Poe’s initial 1849 burial plot. While this grave never had a marker, you can’t miss the monument eventually placed there in 1913 depicting the haunting raven immortalized in Poe’s 1845 poem by the same name. On the afternoon of our visit it was particularly hot, and Tavish managed to plunk himself down in the only piece of shade, which happened to be right behind the stone and therefore created a bit of a spooky effect (see photo, right). As the marker’s accompanying inscription indicates, Poe was exhumed in November 1875 to be re-interred in a grave with his mother-in-law/aunt Maria Clemm (1790-1871) located near the cemetery’s entrance. A decade later, the remains of Poe’s young wife/cousin Virginia (1822-1847) were transported from New York and reunited with the others in the family plot. This marble monument (see photo, left) bears all three occupants’ names, as well as a large bas-relief of Poe’s likeness.

More than two centuries later, there’s still a morbid fascination with all things Poe, and perhaps nothing epitomizes this better than the anonymous soul (or souls?) known simply as the “Poe Toaster.” Beginning in 1949 on the anniversary of Poe’s birth—and continuing for 60 years!—a man would visit the monument in the dead of night to leave a half-full bottle of cognac and three red roses. A no-show on what would’ve been Poe’s 201st birthday heralded the end of this curious tradition, prompting local headlines to proclaim the Poe Toaster “nevermore.”

Dogging the Details

39°17′23.25″N, 76°37′23.35″W Find it on the Intrepid Pup Map >
Westminster Hall Burying Grounds and Catacombs, Baltimore, Maryland

Literary history meets an easy bit of urban exploration to register a “1” on the Intrepid Pup wag-a-meter for this excursion.

The nearest parking garage is a block away at the Baltimore Grand (5 North Paca Street).

Upon arrival, take care in traversing the uneven brick walkways within the cemetery, and respect the grave markers. Westminster Hall offers seasonal, guided tours, but there’s a surprising amount of information to be found on various historical plaques throughout the grounds should you prefer to do a self-guided version. Spoiler alert: Poe is not the only famous historical figure buried here! Among others, look for the grave of James McHenry (1753-1816), the namesake of Baltimore’s Fort McHenry of Star Spangled Banner fame.

Filed Under: Cultural Heritage, Roadside Attraction, Wag-A-Meter=1 Tagged With: cemetery, Halloween, intrepid pup, literature, Maryland, Poe, Tavish, vizsla, Wag-a-meter=1

Journey to the Edge of Shangri-La

July 18, 2012 by admin

That got your attention, didn’t it? OK, so while Tavish the Intrepid Pup technically didn’t stumble upon the mystical paradise described in Lost Horizon, he came pretty close to a Shangri-La. In Thurmont, Maryland, that is.

Catoctin Mountain Park, administered by the National Park Service, is some 10,000 acres of hardwood forest interspersed with recreational areas and a lot of history. Its past is interwoven with that of sawmills, whiskey stills, tanneries, charcoal production, and pig iron. In the 1930s it was shaped into the Catoctin Recreational Demonstration Area by the WPA and the Civilian Conservation Corps. Of this expanse, the Hi-Catoctin Camp for families of federal workers caught the eye of President Franklin D. Roosevelt as a viable spot for a presidential retreat. Roosevelt hadn’t been too keen on adopting his predecessor President Herbert Hoover’s retreat (Camp Rapidan) in Shenandoah, in part because its remoteness presented challenges for Roosevelt’s physical condition. But Hi-Catoctin was just an hour northwest of Washington, DC, and refreshingly cooler in the summer to boot. Roosevelt first visited Catoctin in April 1942, and the existing camp was quickly converted to a presidential retreat he dubbed “Shangri-La” after the utopia in James Hilton’s popular 1933 novel. It became a true haven for the president during World War II, and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill even came there for the Third Washington Conference in 1943. After Roosevelt’s death, President Harry Truman recognized the importance and significance of Shangri-La and preserved it through an arrangement with the National Park Service. When President Dwight D. Eisenhower came into office, he readily embraced Shangri-La but with one significant modification: he renamed it Camp David after his grandson! It’s kept that name ever since and has seen several historic moments, from visits by Leonid Brezhnev, Nikita Khrushchev, and Margaret Thatcher to the 1978 summit with Anwar Sadat and Menachem Begin culminating in the Camp David Accords. As you might suspect, Shangri-La (a.k.a. Camp David) is neither visible from any of the park roads nor open for visitation by the general public even if you do find it.

However, you have the whole rest of the park at your disposal, and with 25 miles of available hiking trails ranging from easy to strenuous, you can readily assemble an itinerary that strikes your fancy. We ended up covering about 5 miles during our visit by hiking the out-and-back Cunningham Falls Nature Trail (2.8 miles round-trip, with a nice view of the falls), the Hog Rock Nature Trail loop (1.5 miles, featuring 14 kinds of trees and nice vista of the Monocacy Valley), and the Blue Ridge Summit Trail (0.6 mile round-trip, with a rocky overlook at an elevation of 1520 ft). Just to manage expectations: at no time did Bo, President’s Obama’s Portuguese Water Dog, come bounding up to us. In fact, we were kind of surprised by how uncrowded the park was, but we chalked it up to the fact that rain in the forecast was keeping folks away. We’ll definitely be back to tackle some of the other routes!

Dogging the Details

39°39′1.54″N, 77°27′50.65″W
Catoctin Mountain Park, Thurmont, Maryland

39°37′5.79″N, 77°24′56.46″W
The Cozy’s Camp David Museum, Thurmont, Maryland
[Update: The Cozy closed in June 2014]

This excursion is a solid “2” on the Intrepid Pup’s wag-a-meter. Catoctin is a great natural setting that welcomes leashed dogs, and the hiking trails are very well marked and maintained.

Tavish on the lush and shady Cunningham Falls trail. We passed a total of six other dogs on this popular route.

Make the Park Service’s Visitor Center at Catoctin Mountain Park your first stop. There is no entrance fee for the park, although rates do apply if you’ll be availing yourself of any of the four cabin camp rental sites. The ranger can outfit you with a trail map and recommend what hikes will best suit your group and the time you have available. Particularly neat is the park’s current initiative, the “Healthy Park | Healthy People Challenge.” You’re given a pamphlet listing a combination of 13 interpretive trails and scenic overlooks in the park. With each destination attained, you have a ranger record it on your sheet. Make it to all 13 spots and you’ll earn a special Catoctin Mountain Park carabiner!

The Visitor Center contains restroom facilities, outdoor trash receptacles, a small museum covering the cultural heritage and natural history of the region, and a park bookstore/gift shop that even carries collapsible water bowls and pet bandanas stamped “National Bark Ranger” (um, yeah, we bought one).

After truly enjoying hiking in the park, our next stop was the historic Cozy in downtown Thurmont. Established in 1929, Cozy is Maryland’s oldest restaurant still run by its founding family. That in and of itself makes the Cozy noteworthy in this day and age, but it’s the Cozy’s other claim to fame that had Team Tavish intrigued. In addition to the Cozy Country Inn and Cozy Village Shops, the Cozy complex is home to the nation’s “only museum of Camp David history.” You come upon the outdoor painted plaque that says that Mamie Eisenhower and Babe Ruth are among the notables who’ve dined here, open the door to the family-style restaurant, and boom: there’s the Camp David Museum.

A modest-sized room off the main dining area serves as the gallery chock full of photographs and memorabilia highlighting the Cozy’s Camp David connections to 13 presidential administrations and counting. There’s a perfect photo opp beneath a rustic “Camp David” sign, but sorry, no dogs allowed inside.

For security reasons Camp David doesn’t show up on the Park Service trail maps, but area residents are accustomed to Camp David hubbub and seem happy enough to demystify things for you. One nice lady we met (alas, didn’t catch a name) recalled how broadcast journalist “Barbara Wawa” would hike up her skirt and vault a fence so she’d be the first out to the helicopters that used the parking lot of a local car dealership as a landing pad. Time was that President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Secret Service agents stayed at the Cozy. JFK’s cabinet members often dined there, and the Cozy was the lodging of choice for guests attending President George H. W. Bush’s daughter Doro’s wedding at Camp David in 1992. And then there were tales of television reporters who had their favorite yards or trees downtown that they’d always use as backdrops for reporting “live from Camp David”…even though all the locals watching the evening news knew better.

Yet, despite the G8 Summit being held at Camp David just two months ago (May 2012), Team Tavish detected a hint of wistfulness in our new-found Thurmont-er friend. “It’s not quite like it used to be,” she said. “Now all those world leaders just Skype and email each other, you know. And President Obama really seems to be more of a beach kind of guy, so I don’t think he gets up here as much as some of the other presidents did.”

Everything in the Cozy’s various displays has been donated over the years by visiting White House staffers, dignitaries, and members of a generous press corps. It seems that the bus tours that stop for repast at the Cozy are a pretty discerning bunch, and it apparently hasn’t gone unnoticed that the Obama section of the Camp David Museum is a little sparse. Don’t blame the Cozy, however, as they know their audience and aim to please. They’ve submitted requests for items through “official channels” and have even improvised by adding a few generic images of the First Family. But at the end of the day, Team Tavish had to concur with the assessment of our casual acquaintance: “Photos downloaded from the internet somehow just don’t cut it.”

So, if someone at the White House happens to be reading this (and we ~~know~~ hope you are!), the Intrepid Pup encourages you to “throw a bone” to the Cozy’s Camp David Museum in the way of some Obama swag and a few recent photos of the president at Camp David. Who knows? It might just translate to some key votes from Thurmont-ers and Cozy-philes in the November elections.

Filed Under: Cultural Heritage, History, National Park, Nature, Roadside Attraction, Wag-A-Meter=2 Tagged With: aviation, Camp David, Catoctin Mountain Park, Cozy, dog-friendly, hiking, intrepid pup, Maryland, presidential retreat, Shangri-La, Tavish, trails, vizsla, Wag-a-meter=2

O Say Can You Sailabrate?

June 21, 2012 by admin

Tavish gazes at Baltimore’s Sailabration festivities and the visiting ARM Cuauhtémoc, a Mexican Navy tall ship whose home port is Acapulco.

From June 16 through June 19, 2012, Baltimore put the “charm” in Charm City by rolling out the welcome mat, inviting more than 40 tall ships and navy vessels, and dialing in some stellar low-humidity “Chamber of Commerce” weather…all in the name of a Star-Spangled Sailabration commemorating the bicentennial of the War of 1812.

Not one to miss an historic event, Tavish the Intrepid Pup joined the throngs last Saturday. With activities happening citywide at five separate locations, this had the makings of being a logistical and traffic nightmare, so we were pleasantly surprised at how easy it actually was to get downtown. We decided to forgo parking at M&T Bank Stadium when we saw people lined up to park and catch shuttle buses to the various venues and opted instead to park a little further north in Redwood Garage on South Eutaw Street for a reasonable $16 daily rate. Turns out that this parking garage is a neighbor of the historic Bromo Seltzer Tower and the Baltimore City Fire Department. A few of the firemen standing in the open bay for Engine 23 offered up dog biscuits and a head pat to Tavish as we walked back by. What a nice welcome! It was just a few more blocks down to the heart of the Inner Harbor area. To take it all in, we headed all the way over to the south side and up the embankment of Federal Hill. It offers a pretty spectacular panoramic overlook of the Inner Harbor, even when there aren’t performance stages, food pavilions, an Adventure Zone, and all those visiting ships!

There were Class B tall ships hailing from ports throughout the country, Class A tall ships (square-rigged, over 40 meters) from as far away as Indonesia and Brazil, and research vessels and gray hulls representing Canada, Denmark, Japan, Mexico, Norway, the UK and the USA. Bedecked with signal flags, they were a colorful sight to behold. All the ships were open for free public tours, but Intrepid Pup was content to skip the lines and take in the views dockside. We even caught a few glimpses of the U.S. Navy’s Blue Angels doing their precision flyover formations as part of the afternoon airshow.

Just because Sailabration has now concluded doesn’t mean that the official celebration has. Four historic ships are permanently berthed in the Inner Harbor and open for tours: USCGC Taney (the last surviving warship of Pearl Harbor), the submarine USS Torsk, the Lightship Chesapeake and the sloop USS Constellation. And what’s more, with the War of 1812 so firmly embedded in Baltimore’s cultural identity, its related must-see attractions (Fort McHenry and the Star-Spangled Banner Flag House) are open year round.

Tavish stands watch outside the historic Star-Spangled Banner Flag House.

With its proximity two blocks east of the Inner Harbor, we viewed a walk over to visit the Star-Spangled Banner Flag House as a good chance to temporarily escape the growing congestion on the piers.

The red brick Star-Spangled Banner Flag House dates to 1793 and is a registered National Historic Landmark for good reason: it was here in 1813 that flagmaker Mary Young Pickersgill and eight other women took six weeks to fulfill a purchase order from Fort McHenry’s commanding officer Major George Armistead for an enormous 30′ x 42′ garrison flag. It was this same flag—still flying after British bombardment of the fort on September 13-14, 1814—that inspired attorney Francis Scott Key to pen the poem that would become the U.S. national anthem. What’s striking about the building is its size. Though relatively roomy by 19th-century standards, you have to keep in mind that this was not only Pickersgill’s house but also her office and “factory.” Most of the flags she sewed or painted for vessels in the Port of Baltimore were far smaller in scale. The soon-famous “star-spangled banner” was fashioned from approximately 400 yards of (ironically) British wool bunting. Each of the 15 stars measured two feet tip to tip, and each of the 15 stripes was two feet wide. In short, this meant that the nearly 100-pound flag was far too cumbersome to piece together in her house, so Pickersgill secured permission to finish it on the malthouse floor of Brown’s Brewery a block away! Amazingly enough, the signed receipt for the flag is retained in the museum’s archival collections. The total bill came to $405.90 for the labor and materials to create the star-spangled banner and a slightly smaller storm flag for the fort to use in inclement weather.

Dogging the Details

39°16′49.01″N, 76°36′31.27″W
Inner Harbor, Baltimore, Maryland

39°17′14.89″N, 76°36′12.57″W
Star-Spangled Banner Flag House, Baltimore, Maryland

Check out this dog-shaped nutcracker! Intrepid Pup approves. It’s one of many typical 19th-century household implements displayed in the Star-Spangled Banner Flag House. Look for it on the mantel above the hearth in the kitchen when you visit!

As always, we had plenty of water on hand. And, ever mindful of the heat of the midday sun, we made frequent stops for our shade-mongering Intrepid Pup. Fortunately, Baltimore’s Inner Harbor is pedestrian-friendly and well equipped with watering holes, benches, and scenic views for the two- and four-legged alike.

As one might guess, the historic Star-Spangled Banner Flag House isn’t pet friendly, but the exceptionally helpful visitor services staff did allow our Intrepid Pup a brief respite in the adjoining modern, air-conditioned visitors center where we watched a 10-minute introductory film. In fact, all this hospitality is what earned our Sailabration excursion an enthusiastic “2” on the Intrepid Pup wag-a-meter! While half of Team Tavish then went on the approximately 30-minute tour of the house (you can choose between docent-led or self-guided via cell phone), the other half of Team Tavish stayed outside with Tavish.

Tavish at the Star-Spangled Banner Flag House

Outside the Flag House, there’s a spacious courtyard. Tavish is sitting on a clever outline map of the U.S. where each “state” is made of the official state stone (i.e. Petoskey stone for Michigan, granite for New Hampshire, etc.). The flag in the background is the same size as Mary Pickersgill’s 1813 star-spangled original. What Tavish didn’t get to experience was the house tour and the museum gallery and kids’ discovery center on the first floor of the visitors center…but he did see the film!