A Stroll in Baltimore's Bolton Hill

One sunny day in May Uncle Jack and Mrs. U.J. took their daily walk through a lovely neighborhood just north of downtown called Bolton Hill. From its beginnings back in the late 18th and early 19th centuries Bolton Hill has been an upscale enclave for the monied class who could afford to build large, expensive townhouses designed by the leading architects of the time. While many of them have been converted into small apartment houses the neighborhood retains much of its old charm and elegance. A lot of wealthy people still live in Bolton Hill but the population now includes students from nearby universities, professional people of all kinds who enjoy a very short commute to downtown, and the occasional non-residebt predator. Bolton Hill is almost completely residential with only one restaurant and one sedate bar within its bounds. Lots of churches, though, some of which are architecturally stunning. Many small parks, too, which make walking in the neighborhood a delightful pastime---especially in broad daylight.
Bolton Hill is attractive in many ways but it lacks too many of the amenities Uncle Jack most enjoys in Charles Village, like having Johns Hopkins next door along with Eddie's Supermarket, the Orient Express take-out, Waverly Market, the Normal bookstore and leafy Guilford to walk in. It's a nice place to visit, but.......

Bolton Hill's row houses are a bit classier than most in the city.

This foot scraper has no doubt removed a lot of mud from shoes since 1754.

This atypical mid-eighteenth century house is one of the neighborhood's oldest.

Francis Scott Key is remembered by this elegant monument in Eutaw Place.

These odd structures are in a park near the Key monument. Does anyone know what they are, or were?

The Methodist Church parsonage is one of the wackier structures in Bolton Hill.

Have a narrow lot? Build a narrow house.

The old Masonic Temple looks a little sturdier.

Anybody remember Garry Moore? He lived in Bolton Hill and so did F. Scott Fitzgerald, Gertrude Stein, and Woodrow Wilson when he was a student at Johns Hopkins.