On Butcher's Hill

New-comers who discover the grand old houses on Butcher's Hill may be curious about this Baltimore City neighborhood.

It's definitely on a hill, and looks down on the river below, and the houses are tall and wide and grand, compared to the tiny houses on blocks close to the water.

I

Its site for butchers came about when the city's Eastern border left the hill outside the city limits.  It was on the old Philadelphia Road that led to the farms that fanned out east of the city.  The destination for market wagons that traveled the road loaded with fresh foods was at the foot of Broadway, below the hill.  Housewives who insisted on buying freshly slaughtered meat, could tell when animals were killed the night before on farms, and they insisted on fresh-killed meat, so the farmers needed a slaughtering location close to the market.
II
Since the city prohibited the killing of animals inside the city limits,  the hill's location was Excellent:

1. It was close to the market and on the route the farmers traveled into the city.

2. Skilled German butchers who settled in Baltimore brought with them implements made in Germany, the finest chef's knives

3. In particular, Lamley Alley, known for years as Blood Alley, that slanted downward, carried blood away from the hill. So butchers set up shop there.

III

Germans who chose to settle in Baltimore City prospered quickly, mainly because they were literate, skilled at a trade that was needed, and had been middle and upper class in the old country.  So they lived on the hill in grand 3 story homes with full dug-out basements, parlors, huge dining rooms, grand fireplaces, front steps made of marble that led into wide double entrances and formal hallways. The Germans who chose Baltimore as a destination were also bankers, grocers, and builders. And they had the largest park in the city for their playground, for maids to walk prams, children to play, couples to spoon and families to picnic.  That many of the Germans were Jewish, accounts for the houses of worship that still stand in the neighborhood. 

So many Germans, both Christian and Jews, settled in 19th century Baltimore that the city council meetings were recorded in German, there was a German Street, and the closest church to City Hall is Zion, whose services are still in German today.  It was not until 1914, when the first world war started against Germany, that the city changed its City Council meetings to English. 


Winner: Best Tours of BALTIMORE by Baltimore Magazine - 1989

Winner: Best Tour Guide in BALTIMORE by CITY PAPER - 2005

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