Step Into History

Beginning June 1, 2026, MCHC installs a new Step Into History experience at Rash Field in partnership with the Waterfront Partnership of Baltimore and with support from MCHC’s Maritime Committee. Running through November 2026, the installation features Federal Hill from Bowley’s Wharf from the MCHC collection and coincides with America 250 and Sail 250 celebrations in Baltimore’s Inner Harbor. Visitors access the collection object online through a QR code and direct link integrated into the installation.

Rash Field Park, Baltimore City.

Step into Baltimore’s harbor as it looked in 1851, surrounded by sailing ships, busy wharves, and the growing city beyond. Then walk to the promenade along Pratt Street, near the Constellation , and see how this historic view connects to the harbor landscape that surrounds you today.

This painting captures Bowly’s Wharf in Baltimore, Maryland, in 1851. Large ships fill the harbor beneath a golden sky, while three rowboats carrying passengers glide across the water in the foreground. Rising in the distance is Federal Hill, a landmark that overlooked one of the busiest ports in the United States.

In the mid-1800s, Baltimore’s harbor was a vital hub, connecting Maryland to the wider world. Ships arrived carrying people, news, and goods from distant places and departed with flour, tobacco, oysters, lumber, and other products. Merchants, sailors, laborers, immigrants, and families all helped make the waterfront a center of trade, opportunity, and growth.

Step Into History is a place-based history initiative that brings MCHC’s collections into highly visible public spaces. Visitors step inside a historic image in a larger than life sized frame, connect Baltimore’s past and present, and engage with our collections beyond the museum campus.

View this image in Digital Collections.

Step Into History 2026 is presented in partnership with the Waterfront Partnership of Baltimore and is sponsored by the MCHC Maritime Committee.

Avalon 104 Pavilion, Patapsco State Park, Howard County.

Total Avalon site visitors: 3,490

This image features the Avalon Nail and Iron Works’ new plant, located on the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, ten miles from Baltimore City. The forge was located west of Relay on the Baltimore County side of the Patapsco River, built on the site of the old works torn down in 1854. The origins of the Avalon Iron Works enterprise date from 1822 when the Ellicott family purchased the Dorsey Forge and chartered the Avalon Company. As the operation grew, fifteen duplex houses formed the Village of Avalon. Beginning in 1848, the Avalon Iron Works started rolling rails for the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, and at the zenith of production in 1854, Avalon produced 44,000 kegs of nails annually. Enslaved labor was used to construct and man the plant, but had been phased out by the time the Sache image was created in 1857.

The image also depicts the Thomas Viaduct in the foreground of the scene. Completed in 1835, it is the world’s largest multiple arched stone railroad bridge with an arc. It is incorporated into the Patapsco State Park area today, and visitors will pass under one of its arches on their way to the site of the Step Into History frame.

Edward Sachse (1804–1873) was a Baltimore-based artist and lithographer. His business, E. Sachse & Co., published prints of regional sights and cities. Sachse’s vivid colors and skillful illustrations provide historians with visual ‘time capsules’ of 19th century Maryland, documenting sites such as Avalon or Civil War encampments in a unique birds-eye view. It is noted that on occasion, Sachse would embellish their maps with additional buildings, monuments, or aspects of 19th century life.

Read this detailed blog post about the history and value of Sachse prints, “The Most Spectacular Print of Baltimore Ever Made”.

View this image in Digital Collections.

Accokeek Foundation, Piscataway Park, Prince George’s County.

The American Revolution did not erupt suddenly in 1775. The low flames that built up to a roaring fire for independence required a match; one that had been lit two decades earlier. That catalyst was the French and Indian War.

In 1754, disputes between Great Britain and France over territory in North America dragged the 13 British American colonies into war. The French and Indian War (1754–1763), part of the Seven Years’ War, pitted Great Britain, the British North American colonies, and the Iroquois, Catawba, and Cherokee Nations against France, their colonists, numerous French Native American allies, and, later, Spain.

Unlike before, Great Britain sent its troops to defend its colonies. Around 75,000 colonial troops fought with them, including Maryland provincial soldiers under John Dagworthy. Maryland Governor Horatio Sharpe ordered the construction of Fort Frederick to defend the frontier.

A 1778 report indicates that there were 755 Black men serving in the Continental Army. Maryland initially opposed arming Black men, though some served in the Flying Camp Battalions in 1776. Yet, in 1777, when Maryland had trouble recruiting white men, the state opened enlistment to free Black men. In 1780, recruitment opened to enslaved men, though only with the permission of the enslaver. A year later, with recruitment numbers still low, free Black men were authorized for the draft.

In June 1781, lawmakers authorized the recruitment of an all-Black regiment, but this bill failed, as planters feared the economic loss they could incur should enslaved men join.

Learn about the Indigenous cultural landscape from Accokeek Foundation.

Learn more about the various Marylanders who were at the forefront of the American Revolution. Visit The Unfinished Revolution: Maryland in the Wars for Independence.

Learn more about the 1781 Yorktown campaign. Explore resources from George Washington’s Mount Vernon.

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The Village in Rock Hall, Kent County.

This poster advertises a unique beachside attraction: an opportunity to go inside a whale’s mouth! According to an article in the May 30, 1899 issue of the Baltimore American newspaper, a 75-ton (species unspecified) whale was captured off the coast of Cape Cod on June 5, 1888. The Egyptian Balm Company in Boston embalmed the beast for a not-so-small sum of $3,000. When the process was complete, the whale was set to be the star attraction during the opening week of a new season at the Tolchester Beach resort on Maryland’s Eastern Shore. Unfortunately, no evidence exists to prove that the whale ever actually arrived at Tolchester or was used as advertised in the poster, but the intent and vision of the event planners is preserved.

For nearly 85 years, Tolchester Beach resort and amusement park was a favorite destination for Marylanders. It was especially beloved by Baltimoreans, who would travel by steamboat 27 miles across the Bay for summertime fun. Visitors enjoyed the park’s hotels and restaurants, bathed at the beach and rented boats for fishing and crabbing. The amusement park offered a merry-go-round, a roller coaster, a shooting range, and tenpin bowling. Like other Bayside resorts, Tolchester declined as the rise of automobiles and construction of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge made a trip to the ocean more accessible. The resort closed and the land was finally sold for redevelopment in 1962.

To learn more about the history of Tolchester Beach, check out these resources: Rock Hall Museums; Beaches of Kent County; Tolchester Marina.

This lithograph is one of many treasures found in the H. Furlong Baldwin Library at the Maryland Center for History and Culture.

View this item in Digital Collections.

Watkins Regional Park, Upper Marlboro.

Group portrait of four Baltimore Elite Giants batters. Left to right: Henry Kimbo, Robert “Butch” Davis, Lester Locket, and Lenny Pearson. Behind them is a scoreboard and advertisement celebrating the 200th anniversary of Arrow Beer.

Maryland was home to two professional Negro League Baseball teams: the Baltimore Black Sox (1913-1936) and the Baltimore Elite Giants (1938-1950). These teams were a haven for Black talent at a time when African Americans were barred from Major League Baseball. In many communities, amateur teams and leagues—sometimes called sandlot baseball, named for the dusty fields on which it was often played—also flourished. Prince George’s County was home to several of these teams, including the Brentwood Flashes, Clinton Yellow Jackets, Deanwood Eagles, Glenwood Braves, Lakeland Giants, Laurel Allstars, Mitchellville Tigers, and the Vista Yankees. For decades, sandlot baseball was a fixture of African American life as a source of community pride and weekend entertainment.

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Located in Patapsco Valley State Park, Ellicott City

The people in this photograph are just a few of a larger group of some 50 artists, writers, and businessmen invited to make an 1859 excursion by Baltimore and Ohio Railroad train from
Baltimore to the Ohio River Valley and back. The outing began on June 1, 1859 at Baltimore’s Camden Street Station and ended four days later at the same place. Their route would have taken them northwest from downtown Baltimore, through what is now known as Patapsco Valley State Park, into western Maryland and across the Allegheny Mountains through West Virginia and on to Ohio. The train, which was six cars long, included compartments specially outfitted for photographers, writers, sketch artists, painters, diners, and smokers. The excursion was orchestrated by Maryland Institute board member William Prescott Smith, an officer of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, as a means of promoting train travel.

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Located in North Point State Park, Edgemere.

The Battle of Baltimore was a pivotal moment in the War of 1812, but the British and Americans first met at the Battle of North Point, at the mouth of the Patapsco River. After inflicting significant casualties on the British, American forces were able to buy valuable time to prepare for the defense of Fort McHenry and Baltimore City.

Edward Percy Moran created this painting for the 100th anniversary of the Battle of Baltimore, offering a romantic reimagining of the scene. Francis Scott Key appears heroic, gallantly gesturing to the American flag still standing in the early light. Key would go on to write “Defence of For M’Henry,” a poem that would become the national anthem in 1931.

You can visit both Fort McHenry and the North Point State Battlefield today. North Point State Park is located in Baltimore County, on the shores of the Chesapeake Bay and Patapsco River.

Learn more about the War of 1812 and its political, economic, and geographic implications in MCHC’s exhibition, In Full Glory Reflected: Maryland During the War of 1812*.

*This exhibition has closed. Patrons may visit The Unfinished Revolution: Maryland in the Wars for Independence to learn more on this subject matter.

Located at the Maryland Center for History and Culture, Meyerhoff Courtyard, 610 Park Avenue, Baltimore.

At Ford’s Theatre, protests against the theater’s unfair segregation policies began in 1947 and lasted five years. Actor, singer, and activist Paul Robeson (second left) came to Baltimore specifically to protest Ford’s in 1948. He is seen here with Adah Louise Killion Jenkins (far left), music critic for the Afro-American newspaper, and Dr. John Emory Toussaint Camper (middle), noted physician, veteran of WWI, and founding member of the NAACP.

Paul Henderson’s remarkable photographs offer a vivid glimpse into the daily lives of African Americans in Maryland. Henderson was a staff photographer at Baltimore’s Afro-American newspaper, operated a freelance photography business, and participated in civic organizations. For over four decades, his lens captured scenes from the civil rights movement, as well as prominent entertainers, politicians and the vibrant African American community living in mid-20th century Baltimore.

Adah Louise Killion Jenkins (1901–1973) was a musician, teacher, music critic, and civil rights activist. Born in Baltimore, she taught music in the Baltimore City Public School system as well as at Coppin State and Morgan State universities. Jenkins wrote for the Baltimore Afro-American newspaper for 23 years, primarily as a music critic. She served as the day-to-day organizer for the Ford’s Theatre demonstrations and led a letter-writing campaign informing actors, directors, and producers of efforts in Baltimore to end Ford’s segregationist seating policy. Learn more about Adah K. Jenkins:

Books: The Temple of the Drama: The Five-Year Protest at Ford’s Theatre, 1947-1952, Jennifer A. Ferretti; Baltimore Revisited: Stories of Inequality and Resistance in a U.S. City, Edited by P. Nicole King, Kate Drabinski and Joshua Clark Davis.

Paul Leroy Robeson (1898–1976)was an American stage and film actor, renowned singer, and political activist. He graduated from Columbia Law School and played football for two NFL teams. After giving up practicing law and football, Robeson’s stage career took off. Among his most famous roles were Joe in Show Boat and the titular lead in Othello. While in Baltimore for a production of Porgy and Bess at Ford’s Theatre, Robeson contemplated boycotting the production but instead decided to join the picket line against Ford’s Jim Crow seating policy. Throughout the five-year protest, Robeson returned several times to the picket line even when he had no local performances. Learn more about Paul Robeson:

Books: Here I Stand, Paul Robeson, 1958; Paul Robeson, All American, Dorothy Butler Gilliam, 1976: The Undiscovered Paul Robeson: Quest for Freedom, 1939 – 1976, Paul Robeson Jr., 2010.

Film & Video: Paul Robeson: Here I Stand (documentary); Paul Robeson Remembered (Almanac/MPT); Paul Robeson: Perceptions and Controversies.

Dr. John Emory Toussaint Camper (1897–1977) was a World War I veteran, physician, and civil rights activist. Dr. Camper helped found the Baltimore Branch of the NAACP and was an attending physician at Baltimore’s Provident Hospital. He became politically active in 1942, when he witnessed a white officer shoot and enlisted black soldier in the back on the streets of Baltimore. Afterward, he helped organize a march on Annapolis to protest the killing of Private Thomas Broadus, an enlisted black soldier from Pittsburgh. Camper was integral in bringing black physicians—to use their status, education, and money—to fight for racial justice.

A. Robert Kaufman (1931–2009) was a Civil Rights and social justice activist, political agitator, and perennial Socialist candidate who ran for nearly every office from City Council to President of the United States. He was 16 years old when he joined Adah K. Jenkins on the Ford’s picket line and he worked closely with her on the letter-writing campaign. The fifth person from the left in this Paul Henderson photograph is very likely Kaufman. 

Left to right: Adah Louise Killion Jenkins, Paul Robeson, unidentified white man, Dr. John E.T. Camper, A. Robert Kaufman (possibly), 2 on right.

View this item and other stories, oral histories, and photographs in the permanent exhibition, Passion and Purpose: Voices of Maryland’s Civil Rights Activists.

View this item in Digital Colletions.