Where to begin? The city is packed full of history. I’ve been to Baltimore probably a half dozen times, and have only hit a the tip of the iceberg. Most visit the Inner harbor, and I won’t even touch upon it because, there is enough information out there about it. I will say if you have never been to the aquarium there make the time, it’s great.
The Mount Vernon section of Baltimore is just a pretty neighborhood. There is the Washington Monument and Museum, an art museum, old churches and libraries. Washington Monument is the nation’s first monument created for George Washington. Also in this neighborhood is the Maryland Historical Society. It will get it’s own blog, but suffice to say for a genealogist it’s really a find.
Fort McHenry
Quick ride from the inner-harbor, certainly worth a trip. Upon entering the visitor’s center, there is an introduction film to the right. Pay your entrance fee and stay for the film. It’s from the standpoint of a gentleman that was with Francis Scott Key during the battle of 1814, at the end, the National Anthem is played and curtains pull back to display the fort, and Old Glory. The Fort takes anywhere from 20 mins to probably and hour to tour. It’s a very significant spot in our nation’s history, if the fort didn’t hold out during that evening, I’m not sure we would still be the United States of America, and we certainly wouldn’t have had our National Anthem.
Not all family history is ancient. Today’s trip was only a few generations back on my husband’s side of the family. My husband’s Great Aunts Mary and Josephine were very important to our family. We had more time with Aunt Mary than Aunt Jo. Aunt Mary and my daughter seemed to share a bond from a very early age. My daughter Kaitlyn marches by the beat of her own drum, from the day she came home from the hospital to a teen she has made our lives more interesting. I recall when she was about 3 and coloring on walls Aunt Mary was convinced her personality was the same as her two Uncles Benny, and Remo Bufano. She told quite a few stories about them.
The Bufano family immigrated to the United states Benny and Remo were younger brothers of her father, Pasquale. They were “artistic” and it drover their father crazy that they weren’t “working” for a living, it also drove her own father crazy as well. It sounds as if her Uncles would come for a visit and and everyone’s world was turned upside down (in a good way). Sadly Remo was killed in a plane accident while he was returning to Hollywood, Beniamino (Benny) Bufano had a colorful career as a sculpture. I had given Aunt Mary the biography of Benny Bufano, and a book published by Remo on puppetry, they have been returned to me on her passing.
There is a Bufano sculpture garden located in Baltimore which contains about 10 of his works. It was donated to John Hopkins University by his son Erskine Bufano. We took a ride, and brought our daughter Kaitlyn, so she could see his works. It was a fun field trip, the day was lovely, and we got to see some artwork. I thought of Aunt Mary today, and how she would have been so proud to be there. I do miss her.
Bufano Owl, and our Kate.
