Fell's Point

Images of America: Maryland

by Jacqueline Greff

Fell’s Point, Baltimore’s original deep-water port, was founded in 1726 by William Fell, a shipbuilder from England. The community’s shipyards developed the famed Baltimore Clippers; built two of the first ships in the United States Navy, the USS Constellation and the USS Enterprise; and financed the privateers that helped win the War of 1812. In the late 19th century, Baltimore was second only to Ellis Island as an entry port for European immigrants, many of whom initially settled in Fell’s Point. When the Great Fire of 1904 swept through Baltimore, Fell’s Point was the only historic neighborhood that survived. In the 1960s fight to keep from being demolished for an expressway, Fell’s Point became Maryland’s first district listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Today in Fell’s Point, cultures, lifestyles, and generations mingle in a romantic seaport setting accented by working tugboats, cobblestone streets, tiny brick row houses, and a dazzling variety of bars, restaurants, shops, and coffeehouses.

128 pages, Paperback

First published July 20, 2005

Reviews

[Ligaya · Rating 4 out of 5]

So much fun to read about my new neighborhood! This book is almost 20 years old and so many contemporary stores and buildings that the author mentions are now long gone. I wished those sites had been located by address instead or in addition to. Jimmy's (p 111), mentioned as "Baltimore's finest greasy spoon," is never given a location. It closed sometime around the pandemic, and by then wasn't so fine anymore anyway... But aside from some minor gripes, I loved the format of mainly photos with long captions. How about an update?

[Jeff · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was nice to put a story behind almost every site in my new neighborhood. Now it has a history rather than a collection of random buildings. This was part of Jen's plan to get me to like B'More better and it worked!