Baltimore: My overlooked new hometown

BUTCHER’S HILL: In a city with such a murderous reputation as Baltimore, a place named Butcher’s Hill must evoke macabre images from local author Edgar Allen Poe. Rest assured though, the community does not live up to its name. The area was historically the base for many German & Jewish butchers but now is home to many professionals who work at the nearby Johns Hopkins Hospital campus (maybe some work in its morgue though!) I discovered this neighborhood when I visited lovely Patterson Park in East Baltimore for the first time on a February Spring day. I thought I might be making a blog entry for Upper Fells Point but mistakenly explored too far north. One of the grand entrances to the park led me right into Butcher’s Hill, a community of lovingly restored brick rowhomes much like nearby Canton. Signs on the streetlamps informed me of my mistake so I decided to change which neighborhood is next featured on this blog. Besides its proximity to the park two things about this neighborhood stood out to me. The first was the view of the working harbor that can be seen by looking down any of the north south streets in the community. It really is a hill, but didn’t feel like one. Perhaps this was because I arrived from the park where I did do a hilly nature walk. The other thing was that many blocks were canopied by wires of incandescent bulbs. I had never seen this in a residential area before and not so widespread either. In the evening it gives the neighborhood a warm friendly glow that feels a little magical, a bit like Christmas or a scene from an overly romantic movie. I found out that crime plaguing communities north had started to invade this quiet area. The community banded together and started stringing lights from trees to houses illuminating sidewalks and taking back the evenings. The new feeling of security has facilitated the mingling of neighbors and a further strengthening of community. Other communities are starting to follow suit but not yet to the extent of Butchers Hill. Adjacent Canton and Fells Point rely on their extensive commercial districts to light up their centers to give a festival atmosphere. Residents of Butchers Hill can now take that bright party vibe back home with them, nothing like what Mr. Poe would expect from Butchers Hill.

BREWER’S HILL: Brewer’s Hill may sound like a version of Heaven to many people, me included, whereas nearby Butchers Hill, as I have previously written on this blog, sounds like a Hellish scene out of the Baltimore Bard’s (Poe) stories. In reality the two are not that very different. Its name comes from the fact that this really was the center of the city’s beer production. Baltimore Icon National Bohemian, or Natty B’oh as it is called here, Colt 45 and Stag were all produced in this little community. Although Natty B’oh is now made outside of Maryland and shipped here to satisfy the local’s bizarre affinity for the beer (honestly there are so many better locally brewed ones here people!) and the other two are defunct, the impressive industrial relics remain, repurposed for the modern economy with Mr. B’oh still overseeing everything from his tower with his one eye. However, it is not solely an industrial community. Obviously brewers, like butchers, needed a place to live and blocks of handsome modest rowhomes fit the bill. After the brewers left the community was all but forgotten. Recently, the renewed vigor from adjacent Canton has spilled its energy northward to make Brewers Hill an affordable nirvana to live in, within close proximity to all that Canton has to offer, and also not far from “Hell”. Heaven & Hell really aren’t that different after all, both are great places to call home.