Gary's Baltimore Trip Part 5: Fort McHenry, Flag, Ghosts, and Star Spangled Banner

Gary and a re-enactor soldier of the War of 1812

This is Part 5 of a Baltimore tour! As I mentioned in yesterday's blog our friend Gary visited and we toured him around Baltimore. In today's blog, we'll take you to Fort McHenry and tell you about how the Star Spangled Banner was written.

WHAT IS FORT MC HENRY?
Fort McHenry is a historical American coastal pentagonal bastion fort located in the Locust Point neighborhood of Baltimore, Maryland. It is best known for its role in the War of 1812, when it successfully defended Baltimore Harbor from an attack by the British navy from the Chesapeake Bay on September 13–14, 1814.

FAST FACT: It's also the inspiration and birthplace of the Star Spangled Banner! 

MANAGED BY THE NATIONAL PARK SERVICE - The fort was made a national park in 1925; on August 11, 1939, it was redesignated a "National Monument and Historic Shrine," the only such doubly designated place in the United States.

YES, THERE'S A GHOST OR TWO - Here's a LINK to the Video about 2 GHOSTS I encountered years ago at the fort
https://rob-tom-dolly-franklin.blogspot.com/2013/05/mary-anns-visit-part-3-fort-mc-henry.html

Fort McHenry

ORIGIN OF THE STAR SPANGLED BANNER- On September 14, 1814, U.S. soldiers at Baltimore's Fort McHenry raised a huge American flag to celebrate a crucial victory over British forces during the War of 1812. The sight of those “broad stripes and bright stars” inspired Francis Scott Key to write a song that eventually became the United States national anthem.

Location of the Fort in Baltimore

   On that date, from a ship in Baltimore Harbor, 35-year-old lawyer and amateur poet Francis Scott Key penned a poem which is later set to music and in 1931 becomes America's national anthem, “The Star-Spangled Banner.” The poem, originally titled “The Defence of Fort McHenry,” was written after Key witnessed the Maryland fort being bombarded by the British during the War of 1812.

LEARN ABOUT THE ORIGINAL FLAG, NOW IN THE SMITHSONIAN MUSEUM, WASHINGTON, DC: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/the-story-behind-the-star-spangled-banner-149220970/


WHY FLY 4 DIFFERENT FLAGS?  Different sized flags are flown at the fort all depending on weather conditions.

 
WHAT'S A RAMPART?  A Rampart is the wall of a fort. That word is in the "Star Spangled Banner" song.  


NEXT: LITTLE ITALY AND THE KOREAN MEMORIAL

4 Different Flags Fly, depending on conditions