Druid Hill Park is a

urban park An urban park or metropolitan park, also known as a municipal park (North America) or a public park, public open space, or municipal gardens ( UK), is a park in cities and other incorporated places that offer recreation and green space to r ...

in northwest

Baltimore, Maryland 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 wa ...

. Its boundaries are marked by

Druid Park Drive This is a list of notable streets in the city of Baltimore, Maryland, United States. A B C D E F G H Heath St. Route 64. (MTA Maryland) K L M N O P R Ramsay st S U W Y Numbered streets In Balt ...

(north), Swann Drive and

Reisterstown Road Maryland Route 140 (MD 140) is a state highway in the U.S. state of Maryland. The route runs from U.S. Route 1 (US 1) and US 40 Truck in Baltimore northwest to the Pennsylvania border, where the road continues into that state as Pennsylvania Ro ...

(west and south), and the Jones Falls Expressway /

Interstate 83 Interstate 83 (I-83) is an Interstate Highway in the Eastern United States. Its southern terminus is at a signalized intersection with Fayette Street in Baltimore, Maryland; its northern terminus is at I-81 near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Mo ...

(east)."Druid Hill Park"
Baltimore City Department of Recreation and Parks. Retrieved 2010-10-04 Inaugurated in 1860, under the administration of city

Mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well ...

Thomas Swann Thomas Swann (February 3, 1809 – July 24, 1883) was an American lawyer and politician who also was President of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad as it completed track to Wheeling and gained access to the Ohio River Valley. Initially a Know-N ...

, Druid Hill Park ranks with

Central Park Central Park is an urban park in New York City located between the Upper West and Upper East Sides of Manhattan. It is the fifth-largest park in the city, covering . It is the most visited urban park in the United States, with an estimated ...

(begun in 1858) in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

Fairmount Park Fairmount Park is the largest municipal park in Philadelphia and the historic name for a group of parks located throughout the city. Fairmount Park consists of two park sections named East Park and West Park, divided by the Schuylkill River, wit ...

(1812) in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Since ...

and

Golden Gate Park Golden Gate Park, located in San Francisco, California, United States, is a large urban park consisting of of public grounds. It is administered by the San Francisco Recreation & Parks Department, which began in 1871 to oversee the developm ...

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17t ...

as the oldest landscaped public parks in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

History

The land was originally part of "Auchentorlie", the estate of Dr George Buchanan (1696–1750), one of the seven commissioners responsible for the 1729 establishment of Baltimore Town, which was laid out by the commissioners the following year. Buchanan's country estate northwest of the town, and on the west bank and overlooking the Jones Falls stream running south to "The Basin" (today's Inner Harbor) of the Northwest 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 port ...

and future Port of Baltimore, included 579 of the that comprise Druid Hill Park today. Renamed "Druid Hill" by Col. Nicholas Rogers, who married Eleanor Buchanan, it was purchased in 1860 by the City of Baltimore from family descendant Lloyd Rogers with municipal funds raised by the revenue derived from a one-cent park tax on the nickel

horsecar A horsecar, horse-drawn tram, horse-drawn streetcar (U.S.), or horse-drawn railway (historical), is an animal-powered (usually horse) tram or streetcar. Summary The horse-drawn tram (horsecar) was an early form of public rail transport, w ...

fares, put through by 19th Mayor

, (1809–1883; served 1856–1860) - (later 33rd

Governor of Maryland The Governor of the State of Maryland is the head of government of Maryland, and is the commander-in-chief of the state's National Guard units. The Governor is the highest-ranking official in the state and has a broad range of appointive powers ...

- served 1866–1869). After its purchase, Druid Hill Park was inaugurated by Swann on October 19, 1860. It is listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

. Local residents often refer to the park as "Dru Hill" Park, a "

Baltimorese A Baltimore accent, also known as Baltimorese (sometimes jokingly written Bawlmerese

" (local dialect) corruption of its given name, itself the inspiration for the name of the popular local R&B group Dru Hill. The park was designed by Howard Daniels, landscape designer retained by the newly created and appointed Board of Park Commissioners, and John H. B. Latrobe, (1803–1891), who designed the gateways to the Park and the alterations made to the early-19th-century Nicholas Rogers mansion that already stood in the site, later known as the "Mansion House".

George A. Frederick George Aloysius Frederick (December 16, 1842 – August 17, 1924) was a German-American architect with a practice in Baltimore, Maryland, where his most prominent commission was the Baltimore City Hall (1867–1875), awarded him when he was o ...

, (1842–1924), the 21-year-old Baltimore municipal architect who later won the commission for

Baltimore City Hall Baltimore City Hall is the official seat of government of the City of Baltimore, in the State of Maryland. The City Hall houses the offices of the Mayor and those of the City Council of Baltimore. The building also hosts the city Comptroller, so ...

in 1860, (constructed 1867–1875), provided designs for architectural features in the park. Among Frederick's playful structures for Druid Hill in Moorish and Chinese styles is the Chinese Station erected in 1864 and the Moorish Station, which were stops on a narrow-gauge railroad that once wound through the park. The "Mansion House" now functions as the main administration building of the Baltimore City Zoo (founded 1876, later renamed Maryland Zoo in Baltimore). The Park served as an attractive hill for winter sledding during the 1940s, particularly for boys attending the nearby Talmudical Academy of Baltimore. Like

's central urban

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

of the 1850s designed by

Frederick Law Olmsted Frederick Law Olmsted (April 26, 1822August 28, 1903) was an American landscape architect, journalist, social critic, and public administrator. He is considered to be the father of landscape architecture in the USA. Olmsted was famous for co- ...

, (1822–1903), Druid Hill was at the northern edges of urban development at the time of its establishment. The northern end of the park, which contains some of the oldest forest growth in the state of Maryland, has never been landscaped, but rather left as a natural wooded habitat. Roadways through this section of the park have been closed to vehicular traffic since the late 1970s or early 1980s, but have always been open for hikers and bicyclists. A well-known Osage Orange tree, said to be hundreds of years old, was brought down by Storm Sandy in October 2012. The southern end of the park was a popular destination for city dwellers for a number of decades. Druid Lake, the park's most notable waterway, was constructed in 1863 and remains one of the largest earthen dammed lakes in the country. Through 2024, it serves as a reservoir for the Baltimore metropolitan area public water system, after which that function will be replaced by two large underground tanks installed in the western end of the lake. The dam was designated as a National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark by the

American Society of Civil Engineers American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, p ...

in 1971. With the advent of

automobile A car or automobile is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of ''cars'' say that they run primarily on roads, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport people instead of goods. The year 1886 is regarded ...

s, the park's many winding roadways became popular with car dealers who took potential buyers there to teach them to drive. Many of the park's older fountains and man-made ponds have been drained, allowing nature to reclaim those areas. However, many of their structures remain partially or completely intact.Unsung Monuments in the "Monument City"
''Odds & Ends: Druid Hill Park''. Retrieved 2010-10-04 Druid Hill Park was listed on the

on May 22, 1973. The Park is also included in the newly organized

Baltimore National Heritage Area Baltimore National Heritage Area is a federally designated National Heritage Area encompassing portions of Baltimore, Maryland, USA. The designated area includes the central portion of the city, waterfront, inner neighborhoods and portions of the ...

in the 2010s in cooperation with the

National Park Service The National Park Service (NPS) is an agency of the United States federal government within the U.S. Department of the Interior that manages all national parks, most national monuments, and other natural, historical, and recreational properti ...

of the U.S. Department of the Interior.

Racial segregation

When the Park first opened in 1860 - a few months before the outbreak of the American Civil War - recreation facilities such as pools and

tennis courts A tennis court is the venue where the sport of tennis is played. It is a firm rectangular surface with a low net stretched across the centre. The same surface can be used to play both Types of tennis match, doubles and singles matches. A variet ...

were racially segregated. By the early 1890s, tennis had become popular in clubs around Baltimore and Washington, D.C., and at

Howard University Howard University (Howard) is a Private university, private, University charter#Federal, federally chartered historically black research university in Washington, D.C. It is Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education, classifie ...

. An organization dedicated to developing black tennis players, the American Tennis Association held its first ATA National Championships in Druid Hill Park in August 1917. The events were men's and women's singles, and men's doubles.American Tennis Association History
. Accessed June 28, 2017. The practice of segregation was definitively challenged on July 11, 1948, when 24 black tennis players, protesting the city's discriminatory policies, were arrested for playing on the park's "white-only" tennis courts. The names of the protestors are commemorated on the Baltimore Tennis Club marker, located adjacent to the Rawlings Conservatory glasshouse along Druid Park Lake Drive. The incident was the subject of the last public column and editorial of the famed Baltimore editor, reporter, columnist and author, H.L. Mencken, who, writing in ''

The Baltimore Sun ''The Baltimore Sun'' is the largest general-circulation daily newspaper based in the U.S. state of Maryland and provides coverage of local and regional news, events, issues, people, and industries. Founded in 1837, it is currently owned by T ...

'' in 1948, condemned the city's segregationist policies.

Festivities

The Druid Hill Farmers' Market is located at the Howard P. Rawlings Conservatory in Druid Hill Park. When open, it offers free programming each week, including concerts, children's activities, yoga classes, plant workshops, art workshops, hay rides, hula hoops, 4-H Workshops, and more. The market runs weekly from June through September. The Park also is the venue for the annual Charm City Cyclocross bicycle race in mid-September, which is one of the major cyclocross bicycle races on the East Coast of the United States. Since 2014 the annual Charm City Folk and Bluegrass Festival is held each April, next to the H.P. Rawlings Conservatory and Botanical Gardens.

Health

In 2007, the city of Baltimore spent $50,000 on exercise equipment for the park. The park consists of three workout stations around the park reservoir. The workout machines in the park are free for the public. These stations have rowing machines, elliptical, and leg presses. Many of the exercise machines are manually operated. By the end of 2010, the city of Baltimore plans to install more outdoor exercise equipment for other parks in the city.

Monuments

There are many different monuments in Druid Hill Park. The Wallace Monument, standing at 30 feet tall, honors fourteenth-century Scottish hero and rebellion chieftain

William Wallace Sir William Wallace ( gd, Uilleam Uallas, ; Norman French: ; 23 August 1305) was a Scottish knight who became one of the main leaders during the First War of Scottish Independence. Along with Andrew Moray, Wallace defeated an English army ...

. The

Wagner Wilhelm Richard Wagner ( ; ; 22 May 181313 February 1883) was a German composer, theatre director, polemicist, and conductor who is chiefly known for his operas (or, as some of his mature works were later known, "music dramas"). Unlike most op ...

Monument, dedicated to the German composer, stands on the lawn near the Mansion House ("Druid Hill" mansion). The monument in honor of

Christopher Columbus Christopher Columbus * lij, Cristoffa C(or)ombo * es, link=no, Cristóbal Colón * pt, Cristóvão Colombo * ca, Cristòfor (or ) * la, Christophorus Columbus. (; born between 25 August and 31 October 1451, died 20 May 1506) was a ...

lies within a view of the main South Driveway, and looks out upon the reservoir. The statue of

George Washington George Washington (February 22, 1732, 1799) was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Father who served as the first president of the United States from 1789 to 1797. Appointed by the Continental Congress as commander of ...

(removed from old Carroll Hall building from the mid-19th century at the southwest corner of Calvert and Baltimore Streets in downtown) is placed at an intersection near the Rotunda driveway.

Housing

Druid Hill Park is not home to any private residences, according to the official neighborhood boundaries by the city government of Baltimore. However, the Mansion House, located in The Maryland Zoo, which was built in 1801, served as the estate for Colonel Nicholas Rogers and his family until it was converted into a public pavilion in 1863. The only privately owned properties that are somewhat within the general park outline are at the northeastern corner of the park. This small enclave is the Brick Hill historic district dating to 1877, made of small masonry as well as stone duplexes, where those who worked at the Meadow Mill of the Woodberry Manufacturing Company lived. However, this is considered to be a part of the Woodberry neighborhood. Many homes face the park in the neighborhoods of Hampden, Liberty Square, Park Circle, Parkview Woodbrook, Reservoir Hill, and Woodberry. The Auchentoroly Terrace, which faces the neighborhood in the Parkview Woodbrook neighborhood, is a historic district of nine blocks built between 1876 and the 1920s in the Victorian style.

Gallery

Madison Avenue Entrance (1867-1868; George A. Frederick, attributed architect), Druid Hill Park, Madison Avenue and Druid Park Lake Drive, Baltimore, MD 21217 (33213795478).jpg, Original entrance from Madison Avenue Former entrance markers for Druid Hill Park, W. North Avenue and Mount Royal Avenue, Baltimore, MD (36604449594).jpg, Former entrance from North Avenue Detail of stone post for historic Druid Hill Park gateway, Eutaw Place at Druid Park Lake Drive, Baltimore, MD 21217 (47285143261).jpg, Eutaw Place gateway View from north side of Druid Lake towards Reservoir Hill, Druid Hill Park, 900 Druid Park Lake Drive, Baltimore, MD 21217 (36403063636).jpg, Druid Lake Building in park - Baltimore.jpg, Moorish Tower at the southeast corner Latrobe Pavilion (1864), Druid Hill Park, East Drive, Baltimore, MD 21217 (33503337911).jpg, Latrobe Pavilion Sundial Pavilion, Druid Hill Park, Swann Drive, Baltimore, MD 21217 (33475503852).jpg, Sundial Pavilion Chinese Pavilion, Druid Hill Park, Swann Drive, Baltimore, MD 21217 (33475504602).jpg, Chinese Pavilion Mansion House, Druid Hill Park, Baltimore, Maryland, circa 1907-1914.jpg, Mansion House circa 1910 George Washington Sculpture (1857, Edward Sheffield Bartholomew, sculptor; George Mann and Son, niche-base), Druid Hill Park, Swann Drive, Baltimore, MD 21217 (33632065775).jpg, George Washington Monument William Wallace Monument (1893, D.W. Stevenson, sculptor), Druid Hill Park, Lake Drive, Baltimore, MD 21217 (32789742704).jpg, William Wallace Monument Columbus Monument (1892; Achille Canessa, sculptor; L. Hilgartner & Sons, fabricator), Druid Hill Park, Lake Drive, Baltimore, MD (33591477546).jpg, Christopher Columbus Monument Druid sculpture carved from tree stump, Druid Hill Park, Lake Drive, Baltimore, MD (33503380131).jpg, Druid Sculpture Druid Hill Park Memorial Pool entrance.jpg, Memorial Pool Conservatory in Druid Hill Park.JPG, Rawlings Conservatory Edmunds Well in Druid Hill Park, Baltimore Maryland, circa 1907.jpg, Edmunds Well Island House, Druid Hill Park (NBY 8919).jpg, Island House in Boat Lake Memorial Cherry Tree Grove, Druid Hill Park, 900 Druid Park Lake Drive, Baltimore, MD 21217 (36403059306).jpg, Cherry Tree Grove Eli Siegel Stone, Druid Hill Park, Baltimore, MD (32818661153).jpg, Eli Siegel Stone Zebra maryland balt.jpg, Maryland Zoo

Features

Today, the park is home to a number of attractions. These include: * The Maryland Zoo, (formerly the Baltimore City Zoo) home to over 2,000 animals and is considered the third oldest zoo in the United States opening in 1876 *The

Howard Peters Rawlings Conservatory and Botanic Gardens of Baltimore The Howard Peters Rawlings Conservatory and Botanic Gardens of Baltimore, often known as the Baltimore City Conservatory, is a historic conservatory / greenhouse and botanical garden located in Druid Hill Park at 3100 Swann Drive, in the nort ...

, with its historic Palm House and Orchid Room, built in 1888 *The Baltimore Model Safety City (where school children learn how to be safe pedestrians by walking in a miniaturized model of downtown Baltimore) *An 18-hole

disc golf Disc golf, also known as frisbee golf, is a flying disc sport in which players throw a disc at a target; it is played using rules similar to golf. Most disc golf discs are made out of polypropylene plastic, otherwise known as polypropene, which ...

course with 15 additional holes in the woods and another 18-hole wooded course under construction *Almost a dozen historic shelters and exotic pavilionshttps://www.baltogreenmap.org/pdf/druidhill_mapside_2010.pdf *Recreational facilities including swimming pools, tennis courts, and ballfields *

Jones Falls Trail Jones Falls Trail (typically abbreviated JFT) is a hiking and bicycling trail in Baltimore, Maryland. It mostly runs along the length of the namesake Jones Falls, a major north–south stream in and north of the city that has long acted as a m ...

, a hiking and bicycling trail, leaves the Jones Falls at the Woodberry Light Rail Station to enter the north end of Druid Hill Park. It then runs along the west side of the park, before it circles Druid Hill Lake and exits at the southeast corner, where to continues to follow the Jones Falls south.

Additional buildings

Druid Hill Park is home to 22 structures protected under the

. Some of the main structures are highlighted below: *Engineer's House (1894/1955) home to the Baltimore City Department of Recreation and Parks at 2600 Madison Avenue near the arched entrance *Forestry Building/Wagon Shed (ca 1903–1914) home to the Baltimore City Forestry Division and TreeBaltimore's nursery at 3100 Shop Road *High Service Reservoir Pumping Station/Aquarium/Reptile House (ca. 1914-1921/1938/1948) originally built as a pumping station, but is mostly remembered for housing the Baltimore Zoo's reptile collection from 1948 until 2004, and was previously Baltimore's first aquarium from 1938 until 1948. The building at Greenspring Avenue and Beechwood Drive is now vacant. *Mansion House (1801) the only remaining building from the original Rogers estate (now part of the Maryland Zoo) *Maryland House (1876) built for the 1876 Exposition in Philadelphia and reassembled in the park (now part of the Maryland Zoo) *Superintendent's House (1872) "Stone House" now home to the Parks and People Foundation at 2100 Liberty Heights Avenue *Western Pumping Station/Bath and Field House (1873/1924) now home to the Baltimore City Department of Recreation and Parks Headquarters at 3100 East Drive.

Notes

External links

Druid Hill Park Partnership
*, including photo dated 1996, at Maryland Historical Trust, an
accompanying mapDruid Hill Park listing at CHAP
includes map
Druid Hill Park (lake) on Google Street View

George A Frederick website
{{Authority control Parks in Baltimore Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Baltimore Baltimore National Heritage Area 1860 establishments in Maryland Baltimore City Landmarks