“View of Baltimore from Howard’s Park,” George Beck, 1796, Maryland Historical Society. Image from The Antheneum.
We know that Baltimore is full of great historic buildings, but who knew that our city can boast a wonderful collection of historic trees? Among the dozens of our city’s leafy landmarks stands an English Elm that shaded Frederick Douglass as he delivered a public speech in 1878 in Sharp Leadenhall, one of George Washington’s celebrated “Cambridge Elms” (planted in 1932 as part of our first president’s 200th birthday celebration), and a baby Wye Oak that President Gerald Ford planted in 1976 at Fort McHenry. And that’s not to mention the exceptionally rare European Turkey Oak (Quercus cerrus) that graces the War of 1812 battery now called Riverside Park.
Please join us and the Urban Forestry Division of the Baltimore City Department of Recreation and Parks on an easy-going bike tour of historic trees in Central and South Baltimore. Mr. Gary Letteron, urban forester and tree champion extraordinaire, will lead the tour and talk horticulture and history as we wind our way through Federal Hill and parts of South Baltimore. The tour will start and end at the parking lot of the Baltimore Museum of Industry.