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What’s Out There® Weekend Baltimore Sept. 21-22 Features Nearly Two Dozen Free, Expert-Led tours of Parks, Gardens, & Open Spaces

Media Contact: Nord Wennerstrom | T: 202.483.0553  | M: 202.255.7076 | E: nord@tclf.org

Part of a nationwide program that reveals the stories of places that are part of our daily lives

Washington, D.C. (July 16, 2024) – The Cultural Landscape Foundation (TCLF), a Washington, D.C.-based education and advocacy non-pofit, announces What’s Out There Weekend Baltimore, September 21-22, 2024, featuring nearly two dozen free, expert-led tours of parks, gardens, and open spaces in the Charm City.  These tours enable people to discover the design history of places they may pass every day but don’t necessarily know about. Expert guides provide rich stories, personal anecdotes, and keen observations about each site, landscape architecture, city shaping, and garden design (all tours are free, but attendance is limited and registration is required). Baltimore’s landscape legacy includes myriad parks, cultural institutions, and historic sites and neighborhoods, including Carroll Park, Druid Hill Park, Fells Point Historic District, Pearlstone Park and Mount Vernon, and many others.

In addition to the tours, TCLF will produce a printed What’s Out There Baltimore guidebook (made possible by The Brick Industry Association) that includes all of the tour sites (available for purchase and free as a downloadable PDF), and has added to the more expansive and ever-growing digital What’s Out There Cultural Landscapes Guide to Baltimore (produced in partnership with the National Park Service and maintained in perpetuity by TCLF). The digital Guide includes an illustrated history of the city’s cultural landscape heritage, 55 individual site entries, and 49 biographies designers who collectively shaped the landscapes that people in Baltimore move through every day.  

“We are thrilled that The Cultural Landscape Foundation will spotlight Baltimore City in their upcoming ‘What’s Out There Weekend’ tour series, which will include some of our most cherished parks like Druid Hill Park, Patterson Park, and Clifton Park, as well as our city’s treasures like Rawlings Conservatory and Cylburn Arboretum. Baltimore City Recreation and Parks looks forward to offering residents and visitors an insider’s look at our city’s beautiful open spaces," said Reginald Moore, Director, Baltimore City Recreation and Parks.

“By making the people and stories behind these landscapes visible and bringing to life their unique value and civic contributions for all, we can better understand where we’ve come from as a community and where we are going,” said Charles A. Birnbaum, TCLF’s President and CEO.

Research gathered for the tours will have a long-lasting legacy, becoming part of TCLF’s permanent What’s Out There database of more than 2,600 sites across North America, 1,200 designer profiles, and 13,000 images. The GPS-enabled database is a go-to resource for everyone from schoolchildren to scholars seeking trustworthy online information.

TOUR SCHEDULE – All tours are free, but attendance is limited and registration is required.

Saturday - September 21

  • Green Mount Cemetery |9:30 am – 11:30 am| Led by Pat Hawthorne (Baltimore Heritage)     
  • Johns Hopkins University |10:00 am – 11:30 am| Led by Michael Vergason (Michael Vergason Landscape Architects, LTD) and Jonathan Ceci (Jonathan Ceci Landscape Architects)     
  • Carroll Park |10:00 am – 12:00 pm | Led by Krista D. Green (Mount Clare Museum)     
  • Fells Point Historic District |10:00 am – 12:00 pm | Led by David Gleason (The Society for the Preservation of Federal Hill and Fell’s Point)     
  • Druid Hill Park: Druid Lake |11am-12:30 pm | Led by Nick Glase (Unknown Studios) and Jennifer Dowdell (Biohabitats)     
  • Druid Hill Park |1:00 pm – 2:00 pm| Led by Larissa Torres (Baltimore City Recreation and Parks)  
  • Druid Hill Park: Howard Peters Rawlings Conservatory |2:00 pm- 3:00 pm| Led by Sandy Simmons (Howard Peters Rawlings Conservatory)  
  • Frederick Douglass-Isaac Myers Maritime Park |1:00 pm – 2:00 pm| Led by Michael Vergason (Michael Vergason Landscape Architects, LTD)     
  • Patterson Park |1:00 pm-2:30 pm| Led by Jennifer Robinson (Friends of Patterson Park)     
  • West Shore Park |1:00 pm – 2:00 pm| Led by Om M. Khurjekar (Hord Coplan Macht)     
  • Jones Falls and Woodberry Historic District |2:00 pm -3:30 pm| Led by Nathan Dennies   

 

Sunday - September 22 

 

  • Federal Hill Park |9:30am-10:30 am| Led by Dave Schenning (Baltimore Heritage)     
  • Cylburn Arboretum |10:00 am-12:00 pm| Led by Brent Figlestahler (Cylburn Arboretum Friends)    
  • Clifton Park |10:30 – 11:30| Led by John Ciekot, Charlie Schlauch, Janet Felsten (Civic Works)      
  • Baltimore Museum of Art: Ryda and Robert H. Levi Sculpture Garden|11:00 am- 12:00 pm| Led by Philip Dugdale (Sasaki)     
  • Latrobe Park |12:00 pm – 1:30 pm| Led by Cheryl Duffey (Parks and Beautification Committee of Locust Point Civic Association)     
  • Wyman Park and Wyman Park Dell |1:00 pm-2:30 PM| Led by Sandy Sparks (Friends of Maryland’s Olmsted Parks & Landscapes)     
  • Roland Park |1:00 pm-3:00 pm| Led by Judy Dobbs (Friends of Maryland’s Olmsted Parks & Landscapes) and Kathy Hudson     
  • Sudbrook Park Historic District |1:00 pm-2:30 pm| Led by Melanie Anson, Deane Rundell and Deana Karras (Sudbrook Park, Inc.)     
  • Pearlstone Park and Mount Vernon - LGBTQ+ History of Baltimore |1:30 pm – 3:00 pm| Led by Max Dickson (OLIN)     
  • Fort McHenry National Monument and Historic Shrine Perimeter |2:00 pm – 3:30| Led by National Park Service Ranger     
  • Historic Sharp Leadenhall Community |2:30 pm – 3:30 pm| Led by Betty Bland Thomas  

What’s Out There Weekend Baltimore dovetails with TCLF’s web based What’s Out There, the nation’s most comprehensive searchable database of historic designed landscapes. The database currently features more than 2,600 sites, 13,000 images, and 1,200 designer profiles. What’s Out There is optimized for iPhones and similar handheld devices, and includes What’s Nearby, a GPS-enabled feature that locates all landscapes within a given distance, customizable by mileage or walking time.

What’s Out There Weekend Baltimore is made possible by Lead Sponsors The Brick Industry Association, and ASLA Maryland; Presenting Sponsors Baltimore Recreation & Parks, Baltimore Heritage, Friends of Patterson Park, JMI Equity, and Nelson Byrd Woltz Landscape Architects; along with many Supporting Sponsors and Friends.

About the Maryland Chapter of the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA)

Founded in 1972, the Maryland Chapter of the ASLA is the professional association for landscape architects, representing more than 335 members within Maryland in 2019. Landscape architecture is a comprehensive discipline of land analysis, planning, design, management, preservation, and rehabilitation. ASLA promotes the landscape architecture profession and advances the practice through advocacy, education, communication, and fellowship.

About The Cultural Landscape Foundation

The Cultural Landscape Foundation (TCLF) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit founded in 1998 with a mission of “connecting people to places.” TCLF educates and engages the public to make our shared landscape heritage more visible, identify its value, and empower its stewards. Through its website, publishing, lectures, and other events, TCLF broadens support and understanding for cultural landscapes. TCLF is also home to the Cornelia Hahn Oberlander International Landscape Architecture Prize.

Editors: Click here for hi-res images.