They?re like breadcrumbs in a forest.
That?s how city history buffs described the new markers embedded in Jonestown and Little Italy sidewalks, ushering tourists through Baltimore?s Heritage Walk in 17 different languages.
Billed as Baltimore?s first pedestrian trail, Heritage Walk, which opened last year, guides tourists through some of the city?s most historic sites, said Simone Ellin, Heritage Walk?s spokeswoman. New this year, the trail includes the new sidewalk markers, colorful flags and interpretive signs describing the historic significance of each site and delineating the three-mile course and allow for self-guided tours.
“We were thinking, ?How can we get people out of the Inner Harbor, where hundreds of thousands of people visit, and into Jonestown??” said Krista Green, assistant director of Historic Jonestown Inc. “Everything went boom, boom, boom from there.”
The walk starts at the Inner Harbor?s Visitor Center and winds through Little Italy and into Jonestown, ending at the Phoenix Shot Tower, where lead shot for rifles was made in the late 19th century. Other stops ? 20 in all ? include the city?s Public Works Museum, U.S.S. Constellation and Carroll Mansion, where the last surviving signer of the Declaration of Independence lived.
The walk was developed by Historic Jonestown, a consortium of local museums and the Baltimore City Heritage Association. The trail highlights the city?s “remarkably rich” history, Ellin said, and emphasizes Baltimore?s role during immigration periods as a safe haven ? also reflected in the new multilingual markers.
The walk also aims to spur economic development in neighborhoods where Ellin said people used to be afraid to venture. Construction of new homes and shops underway in the communities is proof of their success, she said.
“The entire neighborhood is being renovated,” she said. “It looks so much better than it did before, when tourists and even Baltimoreans wouldn?t explore these areas and missed out on these amazing sites.”
