Baltimore's Inner Harbor

We recently traveled to Baltimore for my niece's wedding and had a few hours to walk around the Inner Harbor before leaving for the airport. I didn’t know much about the area, but just before the trip I learned that the Seven Foot Knoll Lighthouse was located there. One thing I love about lighthouses is that they are almost always surrounded by beauty and history. Find a lighthouse and you’ll find so much more. If I’d realized how much there was to explore around the Inner Harbor, I would have arranged to stay in Baltimore for another day. Three hours wasn’t nearly enough time!

The Inner Harbor is Baltimore’s historic seaport, bordered by a brick-paved promenade, museums, restaurants, gardens and parks. We started at the lighthouse on the east end of the harbor, a short walk from the Baltimore Waterfront Marriott where we were staying. The Seven Foot Knoll Lighthouse is the oldest screw-pile lighthouse in Maryland, built in 1856. It was originally installed on a shoal at the mouth of the Patapsco River but was moved to the harbor in 1997 and is now part of the Historic Ships in Baltimore collection. The collection also includes four historic vessels, docked along the waterfront. Nearest to the lighthouse was the USCGC Taney. Built in 1935, this ship served in World War II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War. After engaging with Japanese warplanes during the attack on Pearl Harbor, she went on to complete 50 years of continuous service. LV116 Chesapeake and the USS Torsk, a lightship and a Tench-class submarine, were docked together next to the National Aquarium. At the west end of the harbor was the USS Constellation, commissioned in 1855 and the last sail-only warship built by the US Navy. Together, the collection spanned almost 200 years of Maryland’s naval history. I would have loved to have toured the lighthouse and ships but because of the COVID restrictions, we had to settle for viewing them from the outside.

view of the Inner Harbor from the Baltimore Waterfront Marriott

Seven Foot Knoll Lighthouse

USCGC Taney

Lightship Chesapeake and USS Torsk in front of the National Aquarium

USS Torsk

USS Constellation

I was happy to see all the environmentally conscious touches around the harbor. There were trees, flowers and plenty of green space, including the one-acre Pierce’s Park which featured a rain garden for managing storm water. In 2014, the City of Baltimore installed a trash interceptor (affectionately named Mr. Trash Wheel) that uses a water wheel and solar power to remove trash from Jones Falls before it reaches the harbor. As of 2019, Mr. Trash Wheel had collected over 1200 tons of trash! The Waterfront Partnership of Baltimore has also started an “oyster garden” with cages of baby oysters placed around the harbor. When grown, the oysters will be moved further downstream where each oyster will be able to filter and clean 50 gallons of water a day.

Mr. Trash Wheel

Under Sky/One Family by Mark di Suvero

dolphins cast from repurposed materials by Leonard Streckfus

former power plant building

On the plaza of Baltimore’s World Trade Center building, there was a memorial for the Marylanders who died in the 9/11 attacks. The memorial incorporated elements from all three sites – three steel columns from the North Tower, three limestone blocks from the Pentagon and three pieces of reflective black granite to represent the passengers on Flight 93. On the slab holding the steel columns, notches had been cut into the marble to create a timeline of the events of that day. Like a sundial, the World Trade Center building casts a shadow that moves across the slab, and on September 11 the shadow aligns with the notches at the times the events occurred.

After viewing the memorial, we had just enough time left to go to the Top of the World Observation Level on the 27th floor of the World Trade Center. I think this was my favorite part of our Inner Harbor tour. The 360-degree views of the city skyline and the harbor below were stunning. I hope that we will be able to return to Baltimore when things have reopened so we can visit some of the museums, tour the lighthouse and ships and take a water taxi to the other side of the harbor to climb Federal Hill. It would take at least a full day to do justice to this interesting and historic area.

9/11 Memorial

World Trade Center Baltimore observation level