Strange Things To Do In Baltimore

An Overview of Baltimore

Baltimore is one of the United States earliest colonial settlements, serving as a major city, a vital shipping hub and important historical nexus. The city is filled with brick buildings around the Baltimore Inner Harbor, which helped establish the city as an economic hub. Currently, Baltimore is a bustling city with charming neighborhoods, creative shopping areas and popular seafood options. There are many unique and strange things to do in Baltimore.

Strange Things To Do In Baltimore

Bazaar

This feature is a strange store and gift shop full of taxidermy animal specimens, outdated-or-fake medical devices, quirky bits of jewlery, unique artworks, bone trinkets and other weird treasures. The store is undoubtedly an odd feature of the city.

Papermoon Diner

The Papermoon Diner is a clashingly decorated eatery with funky designs and artworks. The popular restaurant serves burgers, vegetarian options and traditional breakfast meals. Decorations include caged dolls, a remarkably large Pez collection and a storm of bright colors.

Patapsco River

Found in the southern portion of Baltimore, the Patapsco River is a major waterway which drains into the Chesapeake Bay. The river’s name comes from the Algonquian word pota-psk-ut which roughly translates to “backwater.” The river is bordered by numerous green features, walking paths and parks, including the Southwest Area Park Model Air Flying Field used to launch model airplanes, the Patapsco Valley State Park, the Belmont Manor & Historic Park, Cascade Falls Trail, the extensive trail system for Patapsco State Park and the famous Soapstone Trailhead.

The Book Thing

This is an extremely unusual store found in Baltimore which resolutely refuses to accept money for it’s products. The Book Thing’s policy allows visitors to choose any book they want (with an additional rule against reselling books) and take it with them for free.

The American Visionary Art Museum

Established as part of a creative urban wonderland, the museum is a singularly strange building with curving walkways, rising stairways and bending gallery walls. The museum specializes in the preservation and exhibition of “outsider” artworks, making it a strange thing to do in Baltimore.

Berger Cookies

While Baltimore has a thriving culinary scene, Berger Cookies are an especially popular signiture food. Widely loved for thick, chocolate frosting on shortbread, the DeBaufre Bakeries of Baltimore create these handmade treats for the people of Baltimore.

George Peabody Library

The George Peabody Library is widely recognized as one of the most beautiful libraries in the United States, with vast columns supporting softly lit shelves of books. The library is connected to the Johns Hopkins University and is available for free to the public.

Grave of John Wilkes Booth

John Wilkes Booth, the infamous gunman assassin of Abraham Lincoln has an unmarked grave in the city of Baltimore, buried in the Booth family plot in Green Mount Cemetery. Visitors traditionally leave pennies on the grave with Lincoln’s head face-up. Supposedly, this is to “lock the assassin in the ground” and ward off the negative intents of the long-departed Booth.

The Horse You Came In On Saloon

This old-school watering hole operating out of a Colonial-era building is a long-standing institution of Baltimore. The bar, which has stood for over 200 years, supposedly served Edgar Allen Poe his last drink.

Mr. Trash Wheel

When visitors look into the Baltimore Harbor, they might see a strange vessel floating around, giant googly-eyes looking out across the water. Mr. Trash Wheel, officially known as the Inner Harbor Water Wheel is a trash interceptor vessel which collects garbage and waste from the bay, powered by solar panels. The enormously successful engineering project and harbor-cleaner has removed up to 38,000 pounds of trash in a single day.

Round Falls

Found in Druid Hill Park, visitors can walk along Jones Fall Stream until reaching this unique, semi-circle ruins with water flowing overtop The final remains of an old grist mill dam create a rather pretty effect in the park.

Emerson Bromo-Seltzer Arts Tower

Easily one of the most recognizable structures in Baltimore, the Emerson Tower (or Bromo Tower) is a 15-story clock tower built in the early 1900s. The protected heritage building has been transformed into artistic studios for creative artists, videographers, photographers, poets and writers.

Graffiti Alley

This outdoor, free-entry art space is filled with high brick-and-concrete walls showcasing some of the best artwork found in Baltimore.

The Owl Bar

The Owl Bar is a long-standing, elegant landmark in Baltimore, operating since 1903. The bar, originally known as the Bar Room, served uncounted numbers of Baltimore citizens, from businessmen to politicians to bankers to gangsters. It continued to serve alcohol as an underground speakeasy during Prohibition in the United States, serving bootleg liquor to in-the-know patrons. The bar is decorated with gorgeous stained-glass windows featuring owls alongside the bar’s iconic nursery rhyme: A wise old owl sat in an oak, the more he saw the less he spoke. The less he spoke the more he heard, why can’t we all be like that wise old bird?

Grove of Remembrance

Found in a quiet corner of Druid Hill Park, this grove contains a small hillock of oak trees and an open pavilion. The grove is quiet and dignified World War I memorial,  dedicated to First Lt. Merrill Rosenfeld, who lost his life during the Battle of Verdun.

Fort McHenry

Fort McHenry is a major historical coastal pentagonal bastion fort which was pivotal in the defense of Baltimore Harbor during an attack by the British Navy in the War of 1812.

Fell’s Point Neighborhood

Fell’s Point is one of the oldest and most beloved neighborhoods in Baltimore. The area was originally built as a major shipbuilding zone before being converted into apartments, shops, clubs and boutiques. The neighborhood was home to notorious Jazz musician Billie Holiday and influential abolitionist, Frederick Douglass. The neighborhood contains many strange things to do in Baltimore, including the Robert Long House, the home of Fredrick Douglass-Isaac Myers Maritime Park Museum, the Broadway Indoor Market and several iconic pubs and eateries.

Inner Harbor and Ships

For those visiting Baltimore, the Inner Harbor is the center of tourism and sightseeing attractions. The Inner Harbor area is lined with shops, walking routes, the Maryland Science Center, the National Aquarium and the Baltimore Waterfront Promenade. Visitors can also frequent the bars, eateries and music venues found at Power Plant Live, a former power station converted into a public recreation venue. The Inner Harbor is also home to the USS Constellation at Pier 1. This sloop-of-war was the last sail-only ship designed by the US Navy. Additionally, the USS Torsk Submarine can be visited as well, a retired Tench-class submarine built during World War II. There are many strange things to do in Baltimore around the Inner Harbor area.

Cylburn Arboretum

This is a free-entry city park with a fantastic arboretum and quaint gardens. It contains hundreds of tree specimens, wooded trails and a nature museum. The centerpiece of the park is a stately Civil War-era mansion.

Edgar Allan Poe House & Museum

Registered as a national Historic Landmark, the Edgar Allen Poe House and Museum is the preserved former home of American writer Edgar Allan Poe.

The Walters Art Museum

This is a prominent public artwork museum with an expansive collection established in the 19th-century.

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