Monument City » Druid Hill Park

George Washington Statue at Druid Hill Park (Baltimore, MD)

admin — Thu, 28 May 2009 18:53:43 +0000

Location

Hanlon Drive & Mansion House Drive (Street View)

GPS: 39° 19′ 3.00″ N 76° 38′ 33.60″ W

History

This statue was constructed in 1857 in Rome by the American artist Edward Sheffield Bartholomew at the behest of Noah Walker, a Baltimore businessman. Walker had the statue installed in a niche within the facade of his West Baltimore Street clothing business, at what came to be known as the Washington Building. The statue was originally installed on the second floor and was lit at night by a circle of gaslights. An 1871 sketch of its original appearance can be found here. When Walker died the statue was donated by his family to the city and was moved to Druid Hill Park. A new niche for it needed to be constructed as the statue had no back. Enoch Pratt, the philanthropist after whom Baltimore’s library system is named, donated the pedestal upon which it now stands.

Notes

Bartholomew’s Washington statue is one of many monuments dedicated to America’s first president. Aside from the Washington Monument in Mount Vernon, there is also a Washington Bicentennial marker near the Basilica. And compatriots of Washington’s like Lafayette and Pulaski are also memorialized in Baltimore City.

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Links

On Flickr & Panoramio
Images of Baltimore Parks & Squares from the Maryland Historical Society
Smithsonian sculpture entry
Ghosts of Druid Hill Park

Eli Siegel Monument (Baltimore, MD)

admin — Tue, 12 May 2009 16:45:56 +0000

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Location

Swann Drive & Mansion House Drive (Street View – approximate)

GPS: 39° 19′ 1.16″ N 76° 38′ 29.32″ W

History

Eli Siegel was a poet and philosopher during his storied life, creating a body of work that few in his generation can match. He was also an extremely polarizing figure, gaining ardent supporters along with staunch opponents. Born in Baltimore, Siegel, however, spent most of his life in Greenwich Village, New York City. In the 1930s he was master of ceremonies for a popular poetry and jazz night, known for his charged readings of his work. When he was subsequently fired from this job he started the Aesthetic Realism movement, continuing to teach until his 1978 suicide. In 2002, a monument was dedicated in Druid Hill Park in his honor. Martin O’Malley declared August, 16, Eli Siegel day in Charm City and a generous ceremony took place at the stone’s unveiling.

Notes

The famed artist Chaim Koppelman was commissioned to create the monument. Koppelman began studying under Siegel in 1940, and is on the faculty of the Aesthetic Realism Foundation. His work, primarily sketches and drawings, can be found in the Archives of American Art.

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Richard Wagner Memorial Bust (Baltimore, MD)

admin — Mon, 11 May 2009 22:09:12 +0000

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Location

Just off Lake Drive, on the southeast corner of Mansion House lawn, in Druid Hill Park

GPS: 39° 19′ 16.82″ N 76° 38′ 44.51″ W

History

First Prize for winning the 19th Triennial National Saengerfest, a German cultural festival focused on choral performances, in 1900, was a bronze bust of composer Richard Wagner. The United Singers of Baltimore took the title and the trophy at the contest, which was held in Brooklyn, New York, with the song Sheiden (Parting) by D. Melamet. The singers gifted the statue to the city thereafter and in 1901 it was placed on the lawn of Druid Hill Park’s Mansion House where it remains to this day. The house now serves as the main administrative building for the Maryland Zoo in Baltimore. R. P. Golde created the statue as well as the Conradin Kreutzer Memorial in Patterson Park.

Notes

Captain Kidd, the famed Scottish Privateer and Pirate is rumored to have buried a sizable treasure of gold and jewelery near the Mansion House grounds. At one point, so much digging went on that the house’s foundation was in danger and the fortune seekers had to be removed. No treasure was ever located. The Wagner Bust sits on the edge of the road next to an ornate pond only migrating geese can access. The surrounding park is vast and open, making this one of the more tranquil spots within city limits.

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Columbus Monument at Druid Hill Park (Baltimore, MD)

admin — Mon, 11 May 2009 18:43:34 +0000

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Location

Hanlon Drive at the northwest corner of Druid Hill Lake (Street View)

GPS: 39° 19′ 9.60″ N 76° 38′ 30.60″ W

History

The first monument dedicated to Christopher Columbus in the United States is the 44 foot tall obelisk on Hartford Road, just east of Lake Montebello. The structure was erected, in 1792, to commemorate the three-hundred year anniversary of the explorer’s discovery of America. During the 19th century a local legend developed stating that the obelisk was actually a monument to a horse of the same name, not the explorer. The Italian community refused to recognize the obelisk, eventually collecting funds and erecting their own statue on the shore of Druid Hill Lake. On Columbus Day in 1892 the monument was unveiled. The sculpture, carved by Albert Weinert, is a reproduction of artist Achille Canessa’s original. In 1950, Mayor Thomas D’Alesandro, Jr. placed a wreath on the neglected Hartford Road monument, finally putting an end to misconception, and giving equal worth to both memorials.

Notes

A third monument to Chris Columbus stands in the Inner Harbor near the Katyn Memorial and the Public Works Museum. Professor Wayne Schaumburg of Johns Hopkins University states that Mayor William Schaefer planned to move the Weinert Columbus to the Harbor East location but the Druid Hill neighborhood committees protested strongly. Instead, a new statue was created and dedicated, in 1984, with President Reagan attending the ceremony.

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John Cook Memorial Garden & Sundial (Baltimore, MD)

admin — Sat, 09 May 2009 14:19:16 +0000

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Location

3100 Swann Drive (Street View – approximate)

GPS: 39° 19′ 5.40″ N 76° 38′ 43.80″ W

History

The Howard Peter Rawlings Conservatory and Botanic Gardens of Baltimore was established in 1888 on the grounds of Druid Hill Park. Today the greenhouse network continues to thrive with plants from all over the world growing inside the contained environment. in 2004, a $4.8-million renovation took place that linked the main building, or Palm House, with some of the newer structures located behind it. Directly to the right of the Conservatory is the John Cook memorial garden and sundial. Cook was a German-born immigrant that arrived in America in 1853. He came from a long line of florists and continued the family tradition in Baltimore, first tending garden for J. Howard McHenry, the grandson of James McHenry, then opening his own store in 1870. As his career progressed, Cook began performing experiments with his roses, searching for new varieties. His hybrid tea, Radiance, became one of the most popular flowers of the early twentieth century. This garden was dedicated in John Cook’s honor.

Notes

Within the boundaries of the garden rests a strange sundial. From a distance it looks like a piece of modern art, but when you get closer you see the multiple time-telling gnomons jutting out from the structure. The timepiece was created in 1890 by a local stonemason named Peter Hamilton under the direction of the Johns Hopkins mathematics department. It tells the time for numerous places on earth from Cape Cod to Tokyo, but was designed before daylight savings time, and is mostly inaccurate now.

Nearby

Links

On Panoramio & Flickr
Picture of Radiance Rose

William Wallace Monument (Baltimore, MD)

admin — Fri, 08 May 2009 21:04:55 +0000

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Location

Swann Drive & Mansion House Drive (Street View – approximate)

GPS: 39° 19′ 2.48″ N 76° 38′ 28.54″ W

History

William Wallace is one of several monumental figures dedicated within the bounds of Baltimore City to the cause of freedom, independence and the sovereignty of a people. Born around 1270, Wallace was the second son of a Scottish nobleman, Sir Malcolm Wallace, and was a pivotal military leader during the Wars of Scottish Independence waged against the encroaching English monarchs to the south. Wallace’s role in this struggle was dramatized in Mel Gibson’s film, Braveheart, which itself was adapted from a quasi-historical 15th century romantic biographical poem entitled, “The Actes and Deidis of the Illustre and Vallyeant Campioun Schir William Wallace,” by a poet or minstrel (see: Scottish makar) who is known only as Blind Harry. Composed some 170 years after the fact, Blind Harry’s account is at variance with other historical documents, but follows the flow of the traditional folk narratives about Wallace’s life. Various sources have Wallace operating as a petty criminal, brawling with English soldiers and killing a governor’s son around 1291 or 1292. Wallace enters documented history in 1297 with his killing of the English Sheriff of Lanark. Later that year, Wallace’s rebel forces routed the English at the Battle of Stirling Bridge. After the battle, Wallace was knighted and named “Guardian of Scotland and Leader of its armies”. Six months later, he lead a raid into northern England to harry the English forces. Wallace was captured in 1305 and transported to London where, Wikipedia explains, “…he was tried for treason, and the execution of civilians and prisoners, and was crowned with a garland of oak to suggest he was the king of outlaws.” Before being convicted of treason, Wallace is said to have exclaimed, “I could not be a traitor to Edward, for I was never his subject.” Wallace was hanged, drawn, quartered, emasculated, eviscerated, had his bowels burnt, was beheaded and his head placed on a pike on London Bridge. By artist David Watson Stevenson, a member of the Royal Academy of Scotland, this magnificent monument was presented to the City of Baltimore by William Wallace Spence in 1893 and was rededicated one hundred years later by the St. Andrews Society of Baltimore. The base is made of Woodstock granite and the statue is modeled after one atop the Abbey Craig near Stirling in Scotland, where Wallace is said to have watched the battle brewing below.

Notes

This monument is inaccessible by car, though you can park along Swann Drive, or you can approach on foot or by bicycle from Druid Hill Lake. Wallace rests on the west end of the lake, sword raised in the air as if charging off to the Turkish Tower at the east end of the man-made reservoir.

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The Repeal Statue (Baltimore, MD)

admin — Tue, 05 May 2009 20:19:26 +0000

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Location

Madison Avenue & Cloverdale Road (Street View)

GPS: 39° 18′ 54.75″ N 76° 38′ 26.71″ W

History

Once placed high in the wall of the Old Post Office, this Baltimore artifact was purchased by William H Parker when the building was razed in 1930. The relief statue was one of twenty created by English artist John Monroe just after he finished working on the Albert Memorial in London. Monroe was paid $28,523 for his services by Charm City’s government. The stone panel depicts cherubs operating a distillery in unison with the creation of art. Parker donated the sculpture to The Board of Park Commissioners, in 1932, to be erected when the country repealed the 18th amendment. They, in turn , installed it near the main entrance to Druid Hill Park a year later, marking the return of beer to the city. The monument is said to be the only one in the country marking the end of Prohibition.

Notes

Hidden behind the bushes of an under-maintained garden between the Parks and Recreations building and the park’s main entryway, the Repeal Statue is hardly noticeable during spring and summer. Enough moss has formed on the stone that it tends to blend in with its surroundings. A plaque is placed at the foot of the statue.

Nearby

Links

Passage in Maryland: A Guide to the Old Line State
On Flickr & Panoramio