Cherry Hill is one of the southernmost

neighborhood A neighbourhood (British English, Irish English, Australian English and Canadian English) or neighborhood (American English; see spelling differences) is a geographically localised community within a larger city, town, suburb or rural area, ...

s in

Baltimore Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic, and the 30th most populous city in the United States with a population of 585,708 in 2020. Baltimore was ...

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean ...

Geography

Its southern geographic location from the city's center, bounded by the Middle Branch of the

Patapsco River The Patapsco River mainstem is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map , accessed April 1, 2011 river in central Maryland that flows into the Chesapeake Bay. The river's tidal po ...

to the north, the river's main channel to the east, and railroad tracks, including the tracks of the

Baltimore Light Rail Baltimore Light RailLink (formerly Baltimore Light Rail, and also known simply as the "Light Rail") is a light rail system serving Baltimore, Maryland, United States, as well as its surrounding suburbs. It is operated by the Maryland Transit A ...

system, to the west and

Baltimore Highlands, Maryland Baltimore Highlands is a census-designated place (CDP) in Baltimore County, Maryland, United States, directly south of the city of Baltimore. The population was 7,019 at the 2010 census. At the 2000 census and earlier, the area was delineated as p ...

to the south. Cherry Hill is home to Baltimore's largest

public housing Public housing is a form of housing tenure in which the property is usually owned by a government authority, either central or local. Although the common goal of public housing is to provide affordable housing, the details, terminology, de ...

project, Cherry Hill Homes, with over 1000 units, private homes and several other low-income apartments throughout the community. In 2014,

Baltimore City Public Schools Baltimore City Public Schools (BCPS), also referred to as Baltimore City Public School System (BCPSS) or City Schools, is a public school district in the city of Baltimore, state of Maryland, United States. It serves the youth of Baltimore ...

announced that Maritime Industries Academy, a high school in northeast Baltimore, was moving to Cherry Hill. This was done in part to revamp the Herring Run recreational center in Frankford, the school's neighborhood. Most Cherry Hill residents agreed with the decision to move the high school to the area, as they needed a high school for teenage residents to attend, so they can avoid long transportation hours. The high school moving took action for the start of the 2015–2016 school year.

Transportation

The only roads leading in or out of the neighborhood are Hanover Street, Potee Street, Cherry Hill Road and Waterview Avenue. The

Maryland Transit Administration The Maryland Transit Administration (MTA) is a state-operated mass transit administration in Maryland, and is part of the Maryland Department of Transportation. The MTA operates a comprehensive transit system throughout the Baltimore-Washingto ...

(MTA) serves the highly populated area with the need for public transportation by bus routes 26, 71, and the already noted Baltimore Light Rail at the Cherry Hill light rail stop located on the northwest edge of the neighborhood.

History

The Cherry Hill neighborhood was developed fairly recently in Baltimore's history. Like Armistead Gardens the community was founded as a home for

African-American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ensla ...

veterans returning from both World War II and the

Korean War {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Korean War , partof = the Cold War and the Korean conflict , image = Korean War Montage 2.png , image_size = 300px , caption = Clockwise from top:{ ...

. Cherry Hill was originally planned to be located in the area now known as " Armsteady Gardens", the first section of public housing was built in 1948... . In the early and mid-1900s, Cherry Hill was home to an encampment of Roma of Romanian descent. The Roma settled in Cherry Hill because it was undeveloped and on the outskirts of the city. Many of the Roma were in fortune telling and traveled up and down the East Coast, with Baltimore as a central location on the carnival circuit. Due to a series of

antiziganist Anti-Romani sentiment (also antigypsyism, anti-Romanyism, Romaphobia, or Antiziganism) is hostility, prejudice, discrimination or racism which is specifically directed at Romani people (Roma, Sinti, Iberian Kale, Welsh Kale, Finnish Kale, Ho ...

laws passed in the 1920s and 1930s that banned

fortune-telling Fortune telling is the practice of predicting information about a person's life. Melton, J. Gordon. (2008). ''The Encyclopedia of Religious Phenomena''. Visible Ink Press. pp. 115-116. The scope of fortune telling is in principle identical w ...

and required a $1,000 fee for nomads to enter the city of Baltimore, the Roma community left Cherry Hill, but soon returned because the laws were rarely enforced.

Economy

Harbor Hospital is based in the eastern edge of the neighborhood. Cherry Hill is also home to DeBaufre Bakeries, the maker of local icon

Berger Cookies Berger Cookies are a handmade cookie made and marketed by DeBaufre Bakeries of Baltimore, Maryland. The cookies are widely known for their thick, chocolate frosting on an imperfectly-shaped shortbread cookie. Not unlike a black and white cook ...

References

External links

Cherry Hill Homes

Harbor Hospital
{{authority control Historic Romani communities Neighborhoods in Baltimore Maryland populated places on the Chesapeake Bay Poverty in Maryland Romanian-American history Romani in the United States Working-class culture in Baltimore