Federal Hill Park, Baltimore, Maryland, USA

Описание: Federal Hill Park, Baltimore, Maryland, USA

Federal Hill Park is a 10.3 acres park located in Baltimore, Maryland on the south shore of the Inner Harbor. The park is a signature Baltimore landmark and offers visitors some of the most noted views in the city often photographed looking north to the downtown skyline of skyscrapers across the Inner Harbor (formerly known as "The Basin") of the Northwest Branch of the Patapsco River / Baltimore Harbor. The Federal Hill surrounding neighborhood to the west and south is named for the prominent hill and is also known as old South Baltimore.

The now graded grass lawn hill and park, was originally a jagged cliffs and bluffs of red clay which was mined in the 18th and 19th centuries after being first sighted and described by Captain John Smith of England on his voyages of exploration of the Chesapeake Bay from the first English colony at Jamestown, Virginia in 1608.

The noted famous site today is bounded by Francis Scott Key Highway (Key Highway / Maryland Route 2) along the waterfront to the north, Battery Avenue to the west, Warren Avenue to the south, and Covington Street to the east.

Baltimore city acquired the hill as public property in 1880 after it was used and fortified as a fort with heavy artillery (Fort Federal Hill) by the Union Army during the American Civil War (1861-1865). It was established then as a city park operated and maintained by the city Department of Recreation and Parks.

The first Anglo Saxon to discover Federal Hill Park was the celebrated English colonial explorer and settler Captain John Smith (1580-1631). In June 1608, Smith sailed from Jamestown up the Chesapeake Bay for a 19-day journey that ended with a voyage up the Patapsco River which he named "Bolus" for "red". It was there that Smith reported seeing "a great red bank of clay flanking a natural harbor basin." Early Baltimore Town settlers originally referred to this area as "John Smith’s Hill".

In May 1788, Baltimoreans paraded through the streets to celebrate the State of Maryland’s ratification of the United States Constitution the seventh state of the first nine required out of the Original 13 to do so. The parade featured a 15-foot scale model of a fully rigged sailing ship named the "Federalist" led by then young naval hero Joshua Barney that was to be installed atop John Smith’s Hill. The day turned into quite a celebration; the thousands of celebrants were treated to "untold quantities" of grog, toddy, beef, ham, and cheese, financed by leading Baltimore business scions. Revelers were having so much fun that they opted to slide the Federalist down the hill and launch it from "The Basin" (today"s Inner Harbor) to be sailed later down the Chesapeake Bay to the state capital at Annapolis, following then up the Potomac River to be presented to retired Continental Army General George Washington at his riverfront Mount Vernon estate plantation. This celebration was so legendary that Baltimoreans renamed ‘John Smith’s Hill’ in tribute to the party boat. Hence the origin of the Park’s name: "Federal Hill".

Federal Hill's views were first put to commercial use in 1795 when, in cooperation with the Maritime Exchange, Captain David Porter established a "marine observatory" and signal tower on the site. The tower provided a panorama that stretched a good 15 miles or more down the Patapsco River. Spotting an incoming ship, the watchman would unfurl the observatory's "house flag" to alert the merchants and ship owners at the Maritime Exchange of an imminent arrival.


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