Catonsville, MD

Sites on this tour are located in or near Catonsville, Maryland.

Horse Racing at Hilton

Like many Baltimore County plantations in the mid-19th century, the grounds of the Hilton estate were well acquainted with the sound of beating horse hooves. In 1842, future U.S. Fourth District Court Judge, John Glenn, bought Hilton to raise…

Hilton Mansion of the Community College of Baltimore County

"Hilton," the present-day site of the Community College of Baltimore County, Catonsville, was previously known as “Taylor’s Forest.” The land was identified as “Taylor’s Forest” by a merchant named Thomas Taylor.  The  “Forest” was an…

Nicholas Smith

Born on his father’s farm on Rolling Road on the 25th of January in the year 1798, Nicholas Smith was a white man who helped hide and transport enslaved runaways. He was the son of Lakin Smith and Ann Dunn. By profession, Smith was a freight hauler,…

The Emmart-Pierpont Safe House

"It's phenomenal that it's right here...it's too bad it isn't a little more well-known," Mia Woods, a 39-year-old social worker, noted in a 2011 Baltimore Sun article on the Emmart-Pierpont Safe House, a landmark of…

Mount Gilboa Chapel

According to Baltimore County historian, Louis S. Diggs, Baltimore County has 31 historically African American churches, both active and inactive, of which Mount Gilboa African Methodist Episcopal Church is the oldest. The famous black historic…

Spring Grove Cottage For Colored Women

The Spring Grove Cottage for “Colored Women” is believed to be the first mental hospital built specifically to house African American psychiatric patients in the state of Maryland. This two-story historic building was first created in March of…

The Catonsville Colored School

According to a segment from WBAL-TV and historian Louis Diggs, The Catonsville Colored School was established in 1868 at the intersection of Edmondson Avenue and Winters Lane as an elementary school for black children. Winters Lane was the center of…

Remus Adams

Remus Adams was a free African American blacksmith in mid 19th century Catonsville who was an unconventional figure for his time and a significant contributor to the African American community. As a business owner of his own blacksmith shop located…

Benjamin Banneker

Benjamin Banneker was born a free African American on November 9th, 1731, in Baltimore County, Maryland. Banneker was a Maryland tobacco farmer and later became a mathematician and astronomer. He was the only son of Robert Bannaky and Mary Bannaky,…