Good Defenses Make Good Neighbors—Fort McHenry and the Locust Point Civic Association

The Locust Point Civic Association annual festival helps connect Fort McHenry National Monument and Historic Shrine with its neighbors.

NPS Photo

On September 7, 2019, rangers and volunteers from Fort McHenry National Monument and Historic Shrine helped kick off the annual neighborhood festival organized by the Locust Point Civic Association with a fife and drum performance of The Star-Spangled Banner and some tunes from the War of 1812 as a reminder not only of the fort’s 1814 defense of Baltimore, but of the longstanding relationship between Fort McHenry and the neighborhood that saved it from ruin. In 1972, when the Baltimore City Council announced plans to build an eight-lane suspension bridge over Fort McHenry NM&HS, the citizens of Locust Point rallied to the defense of their park. Forming the Locust Point Civic Association, the 1,000-member organization organized protests and pressured City and State officials to abandon the project. Through dedication and an indefatigable community spirit, Locust Point’s residents succeeded in their preservation efforts.


To this day, Fort McHenry NM&HS benefits from the generosity of its neighbors on Locust Point. Residents serve in the Volunteers-In-Parks Program and regularly support park events. Later this week as Defenders’ Day is commemorated at Fort McHenry, Locust Point residents will again line the streets and hang their star-spangled banners on their rowhomes. Friday evening they will gather on their stoops awaiting the sound of the Fort McHenry Guard fifes and drums, and the sight of Fort McHenry’s rangers and living history volunteers marching through the neighborhood, tipping chapeaus and flat-hats in gratitude to the neighbors who continue to defend and support their national park next door.

A bumper sticker reads, "Stop Fort McHenry By-Pass; Save Our National Shrine."

NPS Photo