MOUNT VERNON 

Charles Street and The Historic Mount Vernon District

Designed in 1831, the neighborhood is one of the most fashionable in Baltimore. The streets of Mt. Vernon are lined with 18th century brownstones, historic churches, antique shops, distinguished art galleries, and modern skyscrapers. Mt. Vernon is the cultural center of Baltimore, as the neighborhood is home to a wide array of ethnic restaurants.

Located in Mount Vernon are some of Baltimore’s most interesting attractions, the Maryland Historical Society (201 W. Monument Street - 410/685-3750), and Antique Row (800 Block of N. Howard Street - 410/383-2881), which consists of a cluster of Baltimore’s finest antique stores. At Charles and Mt. Vernon Place lies Baltimore’s famous Mt. Vernon Square, site of the towering Washington Monument (609 Washington Place- 410/369-0929).

This neighborhood also has a renowned literary history. Every September the district hosts the Baltimore Book Festival, a two-day event that celebrates everything there is to celebrate about literature. On the corner of East Mt. Vernon Place and South Washington Place is the Mt. Vernon Place Methodist Church, built in 1873. The church sits on the grounds where Francis Scott Key died in 1843, A plaque on the outside of the church commemorates the poet. For those unfamiliar with his work, Key penned America’s National Anthem. Directly across Mt. Vernon Place is the Peabody Library, which holds more than 250,000 books, some dating back to the 15^th century. Another famous author who resided in Mt. Vernon is F. Scott Fitzgerald. Fitzgerald stayed in the Stafford Hotel at 716 North Washington Place while his wife, Zelda, was being treated for mental illness at Johns Hopkins University. A plaque outside the hotel notes his residence. The author would later move into a town house at 1307 Park Avenue, and there he would complete his novel Tender Is The Night. To the west is the home of 19^th-century best-selling author John Pendleton Kennedy, who resided at 12 Madison Street.

In addition to these authors, the famous journalist, H.L. Mencken, also known as "the sage of Baltimore," lived just outside of Mt. Vernon at 704 Cathedral Street. Mencken, one of the most influential writers of the early to mid 20th century, attributed these words to the neighborhood: "A walk down Charles Street on a fine autumn afternoon is still a romantic and stimulating event. To these old eyes the girls are ever pretty, and the shops are ever charming, and the gaunt monument to the northward is ever a thing of beauty. This is my home, my stomping ground, my roost. Here I can stretch my legs and feel at ease."

Mt. Vernon is just north of the Inner Harbor and makes for a hardy walk or a very quick drive from the seaport. This neighborhood, especially Charles Street, has some of the City’s hottest nightclubs and bars, and is home to Restaurant Row, a plethora of intriguing places to dine, located on Charles Street between Saratoga. -- Michael Rando