New Inner Harbor historical boat tour to be offered

Starting this spring, Baltimore residents and visitors will be able to board chartered water taxis for a new historical tour of the Inner Harbor.

The public tours will be offered twice a month beginning in the spring and continuing throughout the summer, said Johns Hopkins, executive director of Baltimore Heritage. If demand is high, the history-focused nonprofit may offer more slots, Hopkins said.

The tours, which will be about a half-hour long and led by a historian aboard each vessel, will focus on the history of diverse groups in Baltimore, including immigrants and enslaved people, and their connections to the harbor’s ecology, Hopkins said.

They will include mentions of Frederick Douglass and his escape from slavery in Baltimore in 1838, of immigrants who arrived in America at Locust Point and of modern ecological improvements in the harbor, such as the National Aquarium’s recently installed floating wetland.

“We like to say that America’s history unfolded on Baltimore’s water,” said Hopkins, who said he is likely a very distant relative of the famed Baltimore philanthropist by the same name.

Thanks to $25,000 from a National Park Service grant program and a contribution from PNC Bank, the tours will cost $25 a person or less, Hopkins said. The final ticket cost hasn’t been determined, and Hopkins said children’s tickets will likely come at a lower price.

In a news release Tuesday, Maryland’s Democratic Congressional delegation touted the funding through the Park Service’s Chesapeake Bay Gateways grant program.

Four other Maryland-based projects received funding alongside the Inner Harbor boat tour, including a plan for an education center at Anne Arundel County’s Elktonia Beach, a beach for Black Marylanders during the times of segregation.

“These federal investments will help protect the Bay and provide Maryland residents and visitors alike with new opportunities to explore the watershed’s natural beauty while honoring the cultural heritage that has shaped our region,” read the statement.

The delegation is working to reauthorize the grant program for fiscal year 2026 through 2030, through America’s Conservation Enhancement Act.

Once they begin next year, the boat tours will depart from the water taxi terminal near the USS Constellation, Hopkins said. The dates have yet to be determined, but interested individuals can sign up to be notified on the Baltimore Heritage website.

It’s the first time the nonprofit has offered tours by boat, Hopkins said. But by the end of this year, Baltimore Heritage will have delivered about 140 tours by bus, bike and on-foot, Hopkins added.

When creating the boat tour, Baltimore Heritage sought scenic destinations that would illustrate historical events, Hopkins said.

For instance, the boat may stop by the Frederick Douglass-Isaac Myers Maritime Park and Museum, for the historian to discuss the famous orator’s life in Baltimore, working in a shipyard, and that of Myers, a free Black Baltimorean who became a ship caulker and union leader.

The tour guide could also point out the Baltimore Immigration Museum in Locust Point, or make mention of known sites of the slave trade near the Inner Harbor, Hopkins added.

“We’re trying to point out places of historical interest but also places downtown where people can go after they get off the boat and learn more,” he said.

Hopkins said the tour will also endeavor to highlight the harbor’s transformation from an industrial port to a tourist attraction, where swimming events are often possible, as long as there hasn’t been rainfall within the past 48 hours.

“We’re just thrilled to be able to take people out on water taxis and help them get a different look at Baltimore than you do on dry land,” Hopkins said. “You realize we have a gorgeous city.”

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