Maryland's Top 10 Literary Locales
Maryland has been home to many beloved literary icons, including F. Scott Fitzgerald, Rachel Carson and Edgar Allan Poe -- and they've each left their mark in the Free State. So, with the help of our readers, we've compiled a list of the best places to relive a bit of bookish history. So here are our picks, and if you have a few of your own, let us know! (Here are more Top 10 lists from Sun bloggers.)
1. Fort McHenry, where Francis Scott Key wrote the poem that would become "The Star-Spangled Banner." By the time you reach the "and the land of the free," even the most hard-hearted cynic feels a stirring their chest. "The Defence of Fort McHenry" was inspired by the Battle of Baltimore in the War of 1812, though it would take more than 100 years for it to be officially recognized as our national anthem.
2. Maryland's favorite gothic son, Edgar Allan Poe, stayed in Baltimore only a short time, but left a lasting mark -- as any Ravens fan can tell you. So don't miss the Edgar Allan Poe House and Museum at 203 N. Amity St, where you can learn everything about his life, and death, in Baltimore. Afterward, you can stop by the Westminster Burying Grounds and Catacombs, where tours are conducted the first and third Fridays, April through November.
3. Rachel Carson, the celebrated author and biologist, was born in Pennsylvania, but by the time she'd started work on "Silent Spring," she had moved to Silver Spring, in a one-story rancher she designed and lived in until her death in 1964. The Rachel Carson Conservation Park in Brookeville is a great place to commune with nature, just as the former Johns Hopkins student and sometimes Sun writer would have intended.
4. It's no secret that Baltimore Sun luminary H.L. Mencken and Jazz Age author F. Scott Fitzgerald loved to party. So while you can stop by the Mencken House at 1524 Hollins St., or the rowhouse at 1307 Park Ave. where Fitzgerald wrote "Tender is the Night," it'd be much more fitting to enjoy a drink or two at The Owl Bar, at 1. E. Chase St., where they threw back quite a few martinis.
5. Anyone who's read Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Anne Tyler's books can tell you about the beauty (and lovable oddballs) of Roland Park. Tyler made the upscale neighborhood famous in her critically acclaimed books, including "The Accidental Tourist" and "Ladder of Years." Check out Eddie's at 5113 Roland Ave., and if you're in the mood for French food, you can't go wrong with Petit Louis at 4800 Roland Ave.
6. For the more adventurous reader, a trip to Smith Island is just the ticket. Former Baltimore Sun columnist Tom Horton's "Island Out of Time" is a memoir following the lives of the independently minded watermen families who call the archipelago home. You'll find incredible foods here, including crab cakes and authentic Smith Island cake, which you'll need to fuel the incredible kayaking, canoeing and wandering this 300-year-old fishing community inspires.
7. Fans of Tom Clancy's books, video games and movies -- the man is a franchise by now -- can enter Jack Ryan's world in Annapolis. Travel over the same Severn River Bridge that the intrepid Ryan does, tour the U.S. Naval Academy on King George Street or just enjoy the scenic waterfront views.
8. Abolitionist and Eastern Shore native Frederick Douglass is one of the most celebrated African-American heroes in America. His best known work is his autobiography, "Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave." It became an immediate best-seller, launching Douglass into a fame not known to many in their lifetimes. Today, you can visit Baltimore's Frederick Douglass Isaac Myers Museum on Thames Street, with interactive exhibits for the whole family. To learn more about his early years, the Historical Society of Talbot County in Easton holds tours and events to celebrate the local hero.
Comments
Having made quite a few suggestions on the other blog- let me limit this to the top literary sites of conflict:
1. Lincoln ponders "how am I going to deliver this speech (one of history's most memorable) as he rides up along the Gunpowder (underline Gunpowder) River on the North Central Rail Line on his way to Gettysburg.
2. Langston Hughes has a poem about a bad experience he had in Baltimore- was it on Howard St.?
3. Abolitionist newsletter editor- W Lloyd Garrison writes an anti slavery poem from the Balto City Jail (1850's?).
4. At the statue of Billie Holiday, recite the words to "Strange Fruit"- a song abt lynching.
5. Ride your car along the horsesteps of civil war confederate raider Harry Campbell as he dynmites the telegraph lines in Towson.
6. Yeh- yeh- Ft. McHenry- I already wrote abt that. Is nationalism really the answer?
7. Go to Annapolis, and read all the words to "Md. My Md." including the racist ones- have they adopted new wording yet?
8. Recite the words to the "Battle Hymn of the Republic" as you tour the battlefield at Antietam or visit John Brown's hideaway before he went to Harper's Ferry.
9. Visit the grave of Father Phil Berrigan after you have read a couple of his books on peacemaking- it's in the cemetery off Moreland Ave.
10. Wonder where poet Sydney Lanier's sympathies lay as you visit the beautiful pink Georgia (his home state) marble boulder that marks his grave in Greenmount Cemetery. While there, go look at the John Wilkes Booth marker and wonder about handgun control.
Posted by: david eberhardt | November 6, 2009 8:09 AM
additional note : I should have mentioned that Harry Campbell- the confederate- had an estate the foundations of which are still visible out on the shores of Loch Raven- his memoir is out of print as far as I know but you can get it at the Pratt.
I collect books and was also intrigued to find out that Nat Turner's slave revolt diary was originally published in Baltimore (1st edition very expensive if you can even find/get one).
Being for militant non-violence myself, I am always wondering about the efficacy of violence such as Turner's or Brown's. Does it work....or not?
"The more things change, the more they stay the same?"
Posted by: david eb erhardt | November 6, 2009 9:08 AM
And what about Dashiell Hammett?
Posted by: Abe Rankin | November 6, 2009 9:25 AM
Abe, good point. At 201 East Baltimore Street is Continental Trust building, Where Hammett worked as a detective and got his inspiration for his novels.
Posted by: Dave | November 6, 2009 12:42 PM