Your Maryland

On January 16, 1920, The Volstead Act ushered in Prohibition, as well as a lot of creative methods for getting around the law in "The Free State of Maryland." 

In the 1920s, two extraordinary students attended the Colored High and Training School in Baltimore. After graduation, their lives took very different paths, but each shared his particular talents with the world, arguably making it a better place for all of us.

In the early years of the 20th century, "Diamond Jim" Brady was a man of enormous appetites, for food, entertainment, and, of course, diamonds.

From the beginning, the state of Maryland, and Baltimore, in particular, has had a passionate relationship with its writers. Here, we celebrate some of the best.

Legend and lore about the ghosts and ghouls said to haunt the rolling hills and lonely valleys of Western Maryland.

During the 1950s, a 300 pound former Marine from the Bronx and his teammates led the Baltimore Colts to thrilling victories and a league championship in 1958.

Baltimore lived up to the nickname "Mobtown" during the election of 1856.

Abolitionist “Captain” John Brown made quite an impression on Frederick Douglass when they first met, but, while bound by the same passion, the two men went on to fight to end slavery by very different means.

The story of the bombardment at Fort McHenry and the defense of Baltimore in 1814. 

Baseball phenom Jimmie Foxx got his start playing with the Easton Farmers in Queen Anne's County before breaking into the big leagues in the late 1920s with Connie Mack in Philadelphia.

On August 24, 1813, during the Battle of Bladensburg, Commodore Joshua Barney, along with 360 sailors and 120 Marines, defended Washington—fighting against the British hand-to-hand with cutlasses and pikes.

In August 1934, two young boys found a treasure trove of gold coins buried in the basement of a home located at 132 South Eden Street in East Baltimore. Their lives were never the same. 

In July, 1877, the overworked and underpaid railroad men of the B&O went on strike. The strike began in Western Maryland, and rolled east, picking up steam as it headed toward Baltimore.

In the summer of 1925, H. L. Mencken traveled to the small town of Dayton, Tennessee, to cover the trial of John Scopes, who challenged the law against teaching evolution in schools.

In 1836, a young aspiring doctor from the colony of Maryland in Liberia came to Baltimore to study medicine, only to be met with prejudice and intolerance. 

In the spring of 1700, the pirate ship "La Paix" terrorized merchant ships in the Chesapeake region under an impressive blood red flag.

In February 1848, Chesapeake Bay boat captain Daniel Drayton was offered a few hundred dollars to go to Washington and pick up 76 people escaping from slavery and take them to freedom in Pennsylvania. Things did not go well.

In 1840, William Gilmor held a tournament, replete with jousting, a quintain, and guests clad in Medieval garb, at his Vineyard estate in Baltimore, which was located near 29th Street and Greenmount in the Waverly neighborhood in Baltimore.

Before he would be forever associated with the 1857 Dred Scott Supreme Court decision, Roger B. Taney defended outspoken Hagerstown abolitionist Jacob Gruber.

The story of William Othello Wilson, a native of Hagerstown who served as a "Buffalo Soldier" with the Ninth US Calvary fighting the Sioux at Pine Ridge before retiring to a "quiet life" back home in Maryland.

A little known story of one of the brave souls who helped to battle the Great Baltimore Fire of 1904.

During the War of 1812, Maryland militiamen, led by Joseph Stewart, captured the long boat belonging to the HMS Dauntless as it lay trapped in ice.

In 1906, Upton Sinclair causes an uproar when he publishes his book "The Jungle," a shocking expose of the conditions in the meat packing industry.

On January 30, 1956, a devastating fire broke out at Arundel Park during a church fundraiser and oyster roast.

During the Civil War, Hetty Cary, known as "the most beautiful girl in the South," supported the Southern cause with her fellow "Monument Street Girls" in Baltimore, moved to Richmond, and had a tragic, brief marriage to a Confederate general.

A little known story behind the scenes of the making of the Hollywood blockbuster "King Kong" and its ties to Maryland.

Before he made a name for himself in the vaudeville scene in New York, Eubie “Mouse” Blake got his start playing honkytonk music in the pool halls, saloons, and brothels of East Baltimore.

During the Revolutionary War, Charles Wilson Peale served with, and painted portraits of, many great leaders fighting for independence from England, including George Washington and Alexander Hamilton.