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The story goes
something like this......After the siege of Jamestown,
Virginia in 1607, Pocahontas convinced her Chieftain father
to free English Colonial Settler Captain John Smith. Shortly
after his release, John Smith sailed up the Patapsco River
where he spotted “a great red bank of clay flanking a
natural harbor basin” To early Baltimore settlers, this
landmark became known as John Smith’s Hill
Nearly 200 years later, in May of 1788, a spectacular parade
was flowing through the streets of Baltimore in celebration
of Maryland’s ratification of the United States
Constitution. Included in the procession was a 15-foot fully
rigged replica of a sailing ship called The Federalist that
was set on wheels and pulled through the city and then to
the top of the hill by horse-drawn carriage where a giant
gala was underway. After consuming reportedly large amounts
of beer and peach brandy, the city’s navel hero, Captain
Joshua Barney sailed the small ship through the Chesapeake
Bay to Mt. Vernon where he presented the vessel to George
Washington as a gift from citizens of Baltimore. In
commemoration of these monumentous festivities, John Smith’s
Hill was renamed Federal Hill.
Over the years, the hill has served a variety of purposes,
It’s sides were once walled to enclose what was known as
Fort Federal Hill. Its peak was once topped with a maritime
observatory allowing merchants in the harbor to prepare for
the arriving vessels lending it to be referred to as Signal
Hill. Its core was once mined for its red clay and fine
white sand leaving excavated tunnels to store barrels of
beer from the local brewers and some say even to house
prisoners. |
Federal Hill
Observatory |
