America’s national anthem was born on this 43-acre Baltimore peninsula in 1814

America’s anthem was born here

There’s a 43-acre peninsula jutting into Baltimore’s Inner Harbor where a flag has flown every hour of every day since Congress ordered it to.

The fort beneath that flag is the only site in the entire National Park System designated as both a National Monument and a Historic Shrine.

One September night in 1814, a British fleet opened fire and kept firing for 25 hours straight. The flag was still up in the morning, and a lawyer on a ship offshore started writing.

Built to guard a young nation’s third-largest city

Baltimore needed protection, and in 1798, French designer Jean Foncin drew up the plans. The star shape wasn’t just for looks.

Five pointed bastions meant defenders could sweep cannon fire across every approach without leaving a blind spot.

Workers built it on the spot where Fort Whetstone had stood since 1776, and named it after James McHenry, a Constitution signer who served as Secretary of War under both Washington and Adams.

For more than a century, it was all that stood between the harbor and an enemy fleet.

The flag was so big the British couldn’t miss it

In 1813, Major George Armistead had a very specific request.

He wanted a flag large enough that the British would have no trouble seeing it from a distance at sea.

Baltimore seamstress Mary Pickersgill took the job along with her daughter Caroline, two nieces, and a young indentured servant named Grace Wisher.

Six to eight weeks later, they delivered two flags, a 30-by-42-foot garrison flag and a smaller storm flag, using over 400 yards of fabric between them. Fifteen stars, fifteen stripes.

The night 19 British ships opened fire

The British burned Washington, D.C. in August 1814, then turned north toward Baltimore. On Sept. 13, a fleet of about 19 ships lined up and began launching Congreve rockets and mortar shells at the fort.

About 1,000 American soldiers held their positions inside while sunken merchant ships blocked the harbor entrance so the British couldn’t sail past. The bombardment ran 25 straight hours.

When it stopped on the morning of Sept. 14, the damage to the fort was light, and the British withdrew.

A lawyer on a ship watched the whole thing

Francis Scott Key hadn’t come to watch a battle. The Washington lawyer had sailed to the British fleet to negotiate the release of Dr. William Beanes, a civilian they’d taken prisoner.

The British agreed to let Beanes go, but they kept Key aboard during the bombardment so he couldn’t carry word back to shore. He stood on that ship and watched the rockets hit through the night.

When dawn came and the garrison flag went up over the fort, Key pulled out paper and started writing “Defence of Fort M’Henry.” Congress made it the national anthem in 1931.

The fort held prisoners and healed soldiers too

After the Civil War broke out, the fort’s role shifted hard.

The cannons turned to face Baltimore itself, not the harbor, keeping a divided city under Union control.

Thousands of Confederate soldiers and Maryland political figures suspected of Confederate sympathies ended up imprisoned there.

Then, from 1917 to 1923, it became U.S. Army General Hospital No. 2, the largest military receiving hospital in the country during World War I. Over 20,000 wounded soldiers came through, and the rehabilitation programs there taught veterans carpentry, typing and farming as they recovered.

How a battlefield became a national park

The last active garrison packed up and left in 1912. The fort briefly became a city park before the Army reclaimed it for the World War I hospital.

Congress made it a national park in 1925. The Army restored it to its mid-1800s appearance, then handed it to the National Park Service in 1933.

Six years later, Congress added the Historic Shrine designation, the only time that’s happened anywhere in the park system.

During World War II, the Coast Guard ran training there while the grounds stayed open to visitors.

Walk inside the five-pointed walls

Step through the wooden gates and the pentagonal layout lays out in front of you. The shape that made it defensible in 1800 still defines every sight line you have from inside.

Barracks and officers’ quarters now hold exhibits on the War of 1812, the Battle of Baltimore, and the night Key sat on that ship. Along the outer battery, a row of Civil War-era Rodman cannons lines the wall.

Walk up to the ramparts and you get a wide sweep of the harbor and the Baltimore skyline beyond it.

The film is short and worth your time

Before you walk into the fort, stop at the Paul S. Sarbanes Visitor and Education Center. The museum inside covers Francis Scott Key, the Star-Spangled Banner, and the war that produced both.

A 10-minute orientation film on the battle and the writing of the anthem runs throughout the day, and it sets up everything you’re about to see inside the walls. The visitor center, film, and museum all come at no charge.

There’s also a gift shop if you want to leave with something.

Join the flag ceremony before you leave

The ranger-led flag ceremonies are the part most people remember longest.

Rangers invite visitors to help raise or lower the full-size flag, and they talk through the battle and what Key saw from the deck of that ship.

In summer, the Fort McHenry Guard shows up in period gear to fire cannons and muskets and play fife and drum music.

Kids can work through an activity book, earn a Junior Ranger badge, and get sworn in by a park ranger on the spot.

The sea wall gives you a mile of harbor views

The Sea Wall Trail runs about a mile around the tip of the peninsula, paved and flat the whole way. You’ll pass a Civil War-era powder magazine, a picnic area, and a grove of memorial trees.

A statue of Orpheus stands along the path, dedicated in 1922 to Key and the fort’s defenders.

In spring, cherry blossom trees along the trail bloom, and the crowds that come for them are some of the biggest the park sees all year. The grounds open earlier and close later than the fort itself during summer.

Baltimore’s oldest holiday happens right here

Every September, Baltimore marks Defenders’ Day at the fort, and the city has been doing it since 1815, which makes it the oldest continuously observed holiday in Baltimore.

The weekend packs in living history encampments, ranger programs, fife and drum performances, cannon firings and fireworks.

It’s the biggest event the fort hosts all year, and if your calendar puts you in Baltimore in September, the timing is worth planning around. The battle happened on a September night 200 years ago.

The city hasn’t let anyone forget it.

Visit Fort McHenry National Monument in Baltimore

Fort McHenry sits at 2400 East Fort Ave. in Baltimore’s Locust Point neighborhood, about three miles from the Inner Harbor.

You can get there by car with free parking, by public bus, or by the Baltimore Water Taxi if you’re coming from the harbor.

Admission to the historic fort runs $15 per adult, ages 16 and older, and children 15 and under get in free. The pass covers seven consecutive days.

The park is cashless, so bring a card. America the Beautiful, Senior, Military and Access passes are all accepted.

This article was created with AI assistance and human editing.

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