Bmore Historic: September 19, 2025

We hope to see you this September at the Baltimore Museum of Industry for Bmore Historic 2025! Students are free this year.

Questions? Please email us at info@baltimoreheritage.org.

Thanks,

The Bmore Historic Organizing Committee

What is Bmore Historic?

Bmore Historic is a participant-led unconference for people who care about public history and historic preservation in and around Baltimore. Learn more about Bmore Historic or read our introduction to unconferences.

What do we do at Bmore Historic?

Past, in-person unconferences have been structured around four session blocks: two in the morning and two in the afternoon. We usually have between four to six sessions in each of the time blocks for a total of twenty sessions throughout the day.

Johns’ Pride of Baltimore II Tall Ship Voyage

Our very own executive director, Johns Hopkins, is preparing to set sail as a guest crew member on the Pride of Baltimore II! Beginning tomorrow, Johns joins the Pride II crew as the tall ship sails to Lunenburg, Nova Scotia en route to the Great Lakes. Make sure to follow us on social media @bmoreheritage for his daily updates and 2 Minute Histories videos recorded on the ship.

And please join us Friday, May 30 at 11:00am at Constellation Pier 1, 301 E. Pratt St for a special dockside celebration to help us wish Johns and the crew “fair winds and following seas” as they carry Maryland’s maritime legacy, history, and spirit to new audiences across the Great Lakes.

New Dates Added! Booth, Baltimore & Lincoln’s Assassination: A New Walking Tour of Green Mount Cemetery

Baltimore Heritage is delighted to be partnering with Green Mount Cemetery and Baltimore Center Stage, for a new walking tour at Green Mount Cemetery! Join us to discover the tangled history of John Wilkes Booth, Baltimore, and the plots to kidnap and assassinate Abraham Lincoln. Tickets are $10 for Baltimore Heritage members and $15 for non-members.

May 24, 9:30 am – 10:30 am (new!)

May 31, 9:30 am – 10:30 am (new!)

May 31, 11:30 am – 12:30 pm 

June 4, 9:30 am – 10:30 am 

June 4, 2:00 pm – 3:00 pm (new!)

June 14, 11:30 am – 12:30 pm 

June 21, 9:30 am – 10:30 am (new!)

We’ll trace Booth’s childhood on Exeter Street and how he followed his Shakespearean-trained father’s footsteps into the theater world. We’ll get to know Booth–the womanizer, the white supremacist, and the presidential assassin. We’ll also revisit major events of the Civil War, including the Pratt Street Riots and the surrender at Appomattox, and how they influenced the conspirators’ actions leading up to the day Booth murdered Lincoln.

As we walk, you’ll hear about the events of the fateful day and the fates of the Booth’s co-conspirators. And of course, we’ll see the unmarked burial site of Booth and the graves of two of his co-conspirators. We hope you’ll walk to the grounds of Green Mount Cemetery with us to discover this poignant history in a whole new light.

This tour is being offered in partnership with Baltimore Center Stage’s production of John Wilkes Booth: One Night Only. With your Green Mount Cemetery tour ticket, you’ll receive a coupon code for $10 off a ticket to the show.

Accessibility: Although there are some paved pathways, we will be walking over mostly uneven grassy terrain and cobblestones.

 

Lortz Lane Celebration in Historic Govans

What do you get when you add a Baltimore history trivia contest to a neighborhood event in historic Govans? A great community celebration! 

Working with a graduate fellow from the University of Maryland School of Social Work, Diamyn Wilson, we at Baltimore Heritage were proud to contribute to a community event on April 26 where residents of the historic Govans neighborhood came out to celebrate the completion of a street improvement project that will help local elementary and middle school kids walk safely from their school to the nearby Pratt Library Branch. The project focused on separating car traffic from where the kids walk along a street called Lortz Lane, including painting a bright mural on the street. Ms. Wilson worked with numerous community groups and residents to plan the celebration, including a history trivia contest with prizes from local shops along York Road just south of the Senator Theater. It’s one more step forward for this great historic place.

Graduate Fellow Diamyn Wilson (front right) from University of Maryland School of Social Work

 

Our Newest Centennial Home: The Oleniacz & Policastri Family in Canton

The 1925 Deed

On April 10, 2025, Baltimore Heritage awarded a Centennial Homes certificate to Margie and Joe Policastri. Margie’s grandparents bought this quintessential rowhouse (brick construction, stained glass above the door, and marble steps) in February 1925 and it has remained in the family ever since. When Johns presented the certificate to Margie and Joe, they told him all about the neighborhood back in the 1970s and how it has changed over time. We are grateful for the family’s presence in the neighborhood and their wonderful stewardship of the house!

The Baltimore Centennial Homes project, developed in collaboration between Baltimore Heritage and City Councilman James Kraft, recognizes families that have been in the same house for 100 years or more. These families have anchored Baltimore’s historic blocks and neighborhoods through good times and bad. Their stories show the changes that our communities and our city have experienced as well as the critical roles that neighborhoods and their families have played in keeping historic neighborhoods thriving.