You know how many New Yorkers have never visited the Statue of Liberty? I’m the same way about some of Baltimore’s most famous literary landmarks. I know they’re here, I’d love to pay a visit, but I somehow keep putting it off. That’s why I’m grateful for this thorough and useful “literary guide to Baltimore” by Book Riot. Sure, it features the usual suspects (the Poe gravestone; the H.L. Mencken house), but there are also a few hidden gems (the Dorothy Parker Memorial Garden at NAACP headquarters — who knew!?).
All in all, it’s a great round-up of Baltimore’s best writer’s houses (some of which are open to the public, others which aren’t), bookstores, libraries, and other bookish sites. Here are a few things we’d add, to make the list complete:
- Gertrude Stein’s several Baltimore residences
- The Ivy Bookshop — both for browsing, and for their regular readings and other literary events
- The Book Thing — free books! ’nuff said.
- For the mystery lovers out there, a tour of Baltimore inspired by Laura Lippman’s Tess Monaghan novels
- The special collections at Johns Hopkins’ Milton S. Eisenhower library – they have some real treasures
Book-loving readers: What would you add to the list?
How could you leave out Anne Tyler, whose many books are set in Baltimore? Or Ogden Nash, who preferred Baltimore to New York? And of course, F. Scott Fitzgerald, who lived in Bolton Hill and in Towson?
The only reason I didn’t mention Tyler + Fitzgerald was because they were taken care of in the Book Riot “literary tour of Baltimore” that I linked to. But you’re correct that we both neglected poor Mr. Nash — thanks for the reminder!