Mount Vernon Cultural District / Downtown

Mount Vernon in downtown Baltimore has been closely associated with the arts since the founding of the Peabody Institute in 1857, realizing George Peabody's vision of citizens attending lectures, listening to music, viewing art, and using a research library. The district brings together nationally and internationally renowned museums, theaters, colleges, libraries, concert halls, symphony orchestras, religious shrines, restaurants, shops, and galleries within one of the nation's most beautiful urban settings. At its center, George Washington stands atop the nation's first monument to him, a 178-foot marble pillar begun in 1815 at Mount Vernon Place, flanked by four European-style parks and surrounded by 19th-century townhouses built by Baltimore's elite. Behind these mansions stand alley houses where freed black and immigrant servants lived and back houses that often housed slaves before the Civil War, reflecting the area's long social diversity. The neighborhood remains a diverse community and includes such institutions as the Walters Art Museum, the Maryland Historical Society, the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, Baltimore Opera Company, Center Stage, the Peabody Institute, and the Maryland Institute College of Art, while nearby sites on walking and African American tours connect Mount Vernon with Baltimore's architectural, cultural, and African American history.

Baltimore, Maryland · United States