Baltimore was a key city in the fight for Independence. Did you know Edgar Allan Poe's grandparents were famous Revolutionary War patriots in Baltimore?
Join us for an America 250 bus tour through Baltimore’s Revolutionary past, where the fight for independence lives on in headstone, story, and street. Along the way, discover the Edgar Allan Poe family’s Revolutionary roots and the lives of Baltimore’s signers of the Declaration of Independence. Tours meet inside the Baltimore Visitor Center at the Inner Harbor.
The first stop on this special commemorative tour is Westminster Hall & Burying Ground. World-famous as the final resting place of Edgar Allan Poe, this hallowed ground is also home to over 300 patriots of the American Revolution and War of 1812—including Poe’s own family. Immigrants, women, and working-class heroes like David and Elizabeth Poe, who aided The Marquis de Lafayette’s troops, are buried alongside towering figures like General Samuel Smith, James McHenry, and Rev. Patrick Allison, chaplain to the first Continental Congress and an early voice for the separation of church and state.
The tour continues with history of two Baltimore signers of the Declaration of Independence: a visit to Old St. Paul’s Cemetery, where Samuel Chase, the United States’ first impeached Supreme Court Justice, is laid to rest, and then the historic Carroll Mansion where Charles Carroll of Carrollton (the only Catholic signer) spent his final days and where the very bed in which he died remains on display.
Whether you’re a lifelong Marylander or a first-time visitor, “Revolution & Remembrance” invites you to see Baltimore’s Revolutionary roots through fresh eyes, and to reflect on the diverse people who helped shape a nation.