Baltimore is a city of neighborhoods built on strong ethnic foundations. Baseball fans flock to red brick Camden Yards, while football fans come out in force to support the Baltimore Ravens at M&T Bank Stadium. Residents and visitors alike crowd Baltimore’s Inner Harbor to enjoy its museums, restaurants and nightlife. Lying midway between the North and South — and enjoying a rich cultural mixture of both — Baltimore is one of the nation’s oldest cities. When British troops threatened Philadelphia during the Revolutionary War, the Continental Congress fled to Baltimore, which served as the nation’s capital for a little more than two months. In October 1814, a British fleet attacked the city by land and sea. The defenders of Fort McHenry withstood the naval bombardment for 25 hours until the British gave up. Francis Scott Key saw the huge American flag still flying above the fort and was inspired to pen “The Star-Spangled Banner.” In the 1950s and early 1960s, Baltimore was a victim of the apathy and general urban decay that struck the industrial Northeast. But the city fought back, replacing hundreds of acres of slums, rotting wharves and warehouses with gleaming new office plazas, parks and public buildings. The Inner Harbor was transformed into a huge public area with shops, museums, restaurants and frequent concerts and festivals.
