Oh, Say Can You See...
Written: Oct 01 '06
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Interesting historical site, not crowded, reasonably priced, informative guides
Cons: Limited hours of operation, dated film
The Bottom Line: Oh say does that star-spangled banner yet wave?
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| chelledun's Full Review: The Flag House & Star-Spangled Banner Museum, Balt... |
In the course of our wanderings around Baltimore, mr_chelledun and I stumbled across a building painted like a giant U.S. flag. We were, of course, intrigued by this, and decided to check it out. As we entered and begin looking at some of the exhibits, an eager employee hurried us toward a tour group about to depart. “You’re here for the tour, right?” she asked. Being the adventurous tourists that we are, we said sure, and learned that we had arrived at the Flag House & Star-Spangled Banner Museum.
General Information
The Flag House includes a small modern museum and the 1783 home of Mary Pickersgill. Mary was the sewer of the Star-Spangled Banner, the giant 30 X 42 foot flag made famous by Francis Scott Key. This flag flew over Fort McHenry during the War of 1812. You know, it’s the one that was still there after the rocket’s red glare and the bombs bursting in air.
Tours of the Flag House and museum include a short film and a very in-depth look at Mary’s home. Rates are $7.00 for adults and $5.00 for children and college students. The facility sits between the Inner Harbor and Italian Village areas of Baltimore. Tours of the home are given only between 10:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday. It was pure luck that we happened to find the museum at around 1:00 p.m. on a Saturday.
The Pickersgill Home
The museum was virtually empty when we visited. We were put in a tour group with just one other couple and lead to the home’s entrance by our ridiculously enthusiastic guide. He told us some general information about the flag and how it had become so famous as we stood outside the home. We then entered the home and proceeded through a sewing room, dining room, kitchen, main bedrooms, and boarder bedroom, stopping in each to chat. Our excited and well-informed guide told us a lot about the items in each room, Mary’s life, and how she came to sew what is quite possibly history’s most famous flag. I think Mary sounded like a cool and independent lady with a good head for business.
On the day we visited, there were several historical reenactors throughout the home. Each assumed the personality of one of the people in Mary’s inner circle and it was interesting to listen to them talk about the events of the time. Our tour of the Pickersgill Home lasted about forty-five minutes and was much more interesting and thorough than some other historical home tours I have suffered through.
The Museum
After learning about Mary’s home, our group reentered the museum. The other couple we toured with had already viewed the film so they left. Mr_chelledun and I had the whole theater to ourselves to enjoy the show. The film shows a basic overview of the story behind the Star-Spangled Banner flag. Honestly, the film is a little dated, and it probably would have been better to watch this before the tour. After viewing the film we wandered around the small museum gallery and played with some Revolutionary era hand puppets in the kid’s area.
The real Star-Spangled Banner flag is on display in the Smithsonian, or will be after a massive preservation project is completed. However, the Flag House has been allowed to keep three pieces of the flag – one red, one white, and one blue. These squares of cloth are kept reverently on a glass-enclosed podium and only showed to visitors at the end of the film. It was pretty neat to see actual pieces of the flag we had learned so much about.
Overall…
We spent about two hours at the Flag House and really enjoyed it. While I wouldn’t plan a whole trip around this museum, it is a pleasant and affordable way to get a dose of history during your day in Baltimore. Friendly, informative staff and an interesting subject combine to make The Flag House & Star-Spangled Banner Museum a worthwhile attraction.
*Heading to this area? Check out my review of Baltimore!
Recommended:
Yes
Best Suited For: Couples
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