Tag: Baltimore secret tunnels

Dowgin's Travels

A Viking in Baltimore Finds Fleet of Dragon Ships, Tunnels, and Hill Forts…

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Hostels and Fudge

Baltimore was a popular travel location while I was a kid. My family stayed in the Inner Harbor several times throughout the years. We would go to the malls and get to our favorite Jelly Beans (root beer, green apple, and cinnamon) from the wall dispensers before Jelly Belly took over the market, fresh roasted cashews, and fudge. There were great shows at the Maryland Science Center to see and I got to see my first person standing on the soapbox claiming the world was going to end in front of the World Trade Center. We even got to stay in the same hotel as the band Krokus…

So I went back. Instead of staying in the Inner Harbor area I got a room in the Cloudbunk hostel in the Charles Neighborhood for a mere $24 a night. The room I shared with 5 others. One of which just showed up once a day just to step in the room and step back out. One was traveling, one was looking for an apartment, and one was here for work. The last just woke us all up in the middle of the night confused about the process. It was in a row house with three floors with their own bathrooms. On the main floor was a large TV and couch, a communal table, and an eat-in kitchen in which we shared foods donated by local companies. The front door locked after 8pm, but there was a back door with a code open 24hrs. Most of the people who gather in these hostels are out looking to meet new people and experiences. Few of us traveled to one of the many art museums in the city together.

The thing I found interesting was behind the building was an alley that ran parallel to the street. It was the service corridor where the garbage was put out and the garages were kept for each building. I grew up with a similar alley in behind my house, but it was cut out in the 20s and left to become overgrown by the time they started building houses in the neighborhood in the 70s with only deer traveling through it. Joseph Parisi, a mobster who controlled the garbage for NYC, had plans to develop a new city within the NJ Pines at the intersection of three railroad lines. Similar to Baltimore, but he only sold a few houses after cutting out all of the roads. One was to a nudist colony.

So when you return to a strange town, you search out the familiar. So I started out with in the Inner Harbor. Across the harbor, I had seen the old Federal Hill fort that reminded me of Fort Pickering in Salem MA. A fort built on Smith Hill during the Civil War. From where I was standing looking at the fort was the USS Constellation.  She was commissioned during the war to help the British attack slave ships leaving Africa to the Confederate states. Up to the point that Lincoln declared the Emancipation Proclamation the British were hemming and hawing which side to support. Prior Laird’s shipyard was producing screw-sloops for the South, one of which, the CSS Alabama, escaped before George Peabody bribed the English Prime Minister to stop the delivery of the other two to the South. Which is strange since he was profiting from the sales of southern cotton from Baltimore to acquire armaments for the South. The Constellation and Alabama both sailed the waters around Africa.

 

 


Then believe it or not, behind me was this sea monster. Next to it was Bubba Shrimp which pumped out out brine and the smell of fresh fish at all hours of the night. I was looking for Forrest to run by…In the same building up to three years ago was the Fudgery. As a kid I got to see it’s opening year watching these singing and dancing fudge chefs bring joy to large crowds singing ‘time to make the fudge’ and handing out free samples all day. The dancing security guard Terry told me of their demise over a dropped bologna sandwich. I got to meet him and his friend, Manuel, after I got done playing some flute in front of the Constellation. The band Dru Hill started at the Fudgery and I missed out hearing them and all the other staff at the Fudgery.

 

 

Then I walked to my right a little toward the Maryland Science Center. A top-notch science museum where I saw a movie prop show years ago with an animated full-size King Kong head and a Ripley model in a cargo lifting exoskeleton fighting the Alien. That night it was closed so I only got to see this monster in the window. So I ventured on and seen the coolest Barnes and Noble, the World Trade Center (without the doomsday preacher), the Domino Sugar plant lit up, and a beached lighthouse. Probably the coolest thing I found was my own dragon ship fleet. What good is a Viking without his own dragon ship fleet?

 

 

The next day I walked around Fellspoint historic district with its railroad tracks and sets. Cobblestones are round and sets are square… In this neighborhood, I had seen many signs of possible smuggling tunnels. Many service entrances and basement dwellings could of been converted sections of the tunnels in the city. George Peabody from Salem frequented this area and he utilized the tunnels in every city in which he lived in. He was a friend of Alexander Bown of Brown’s Wharf in which I passed.  The Horse You Rode In On, the oldest tavern in the country seemed to have signs of tunnels out front. Its location has been a tavern since 1775 and was the last bar Edgar Allan Poe drank in on the night he died. For something a little more spicy, but safer I headed to the Saffron Grill for a mix of Yemeni and Pakistani food. They had the best lamb shawarma Sandwich with a nan wrap which was head and shoulders above any other traditional wrap I ever had. Plus I found Sound Garden celebrating 25 years filled with some really cool choices of music with new and used vinyl. Many musicians played here including Motorhead!

Then as I walked further along the waterfront I found a statue of Frederick Douglass and realized I had walked through his old neighborhood. Douglass left Baltimore for Lynn MA where he ventured to Salem from and met the Remonds who taught him how to speak on the abolitionist circuit. Sarah, the sister, probably gave him his signature haircut. The brother Charles, she coifed his style as well. I also found some homes with exterior chimneys. Exterior chimneys allow easier access for tunnels to enter the basements without any flashing problems and creates a draw system to bring fresh air into the tunnels. Plus I found some very nice views.

As I headed back to the Inner Harbor I passed the National Aquarium and its dolphins. Continuing on I had seen the harbor’s several attempts to create mini wetlands and other ways to clean the water. One was this snail that picked out the garbage of the river as the tide went out.

Then I headed back to the Cloudbunks for a good night’s sleep and took a picture of the garage behind the shelter. Then I left that morning for Frederick, MD, but I need to come back and enjoy the live music scene, the art museums, Poe’s House, and much more. So I might just be continuing my tradition of visiting this city for years to come.

 

Now here is the video of me playing the flute in front of the USS Constellation:

Salem Tunnel Report in Baltimore and Washington DC

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George Peabody, Alexander Brown, and Charles Bulfinch

So on my travels looking for community in America, I stumbled on some possible tunnels; well I knew they had to be there, but I still had to find them. Well, at least I found the tell-tale signs; everywhere but Washington D.C. There I walked into a new one.

It all starts in 1795 when Harrison Gray Otis gives architect Charles Bulfinch the contract to build a new statehouse in Boston in the pasture of John Hancock’s house. This was most likely in the area that the tunnels extended from Hancock’s wine cellar. They just had to tap into an old tunnel system and stretch it through the Beacon Hill neighborhood they just purchased from the painter John Singleton Copley who was living in England at the time. The governor and Bulfinch saw the lack of proximity to their advantage and refused to pay the painter for years. To prepare the ground for the new State House Bulfinch erected a funicular railroad to take down the Tremont Hill and dump the dirt within Mill Pond and the mudflats of the Charles River.  While he was doing this, he was digging new tunnels and connecting them to the new manors he was building also. All he had to do was sneak the tunnel dirt into the dirt coming down from the hill.

Did you know Hancock was our 4th and 13th president? Both terms he served before Washington…He was president when he signed the Declaration.

He copied this plan in Salem MA, Newburyport MA, and Washington D.C. The difference in Washington was that there was no water to hide the dirt in front of the Capitol he was hired by President Monroe to rebuild after the War of 1812. So they dug a canal leading to the Capitol so he could hide the dirt in the piles being carted away, then filled in the ditch with water. The canal has since been removed. Maybe while they were creating new tunnels.

Now did you know, that between the Jefferson and Adams wings of the Library of Congress there are 4 layers of tunnels the public is welcome to walk through? Also, you can leave the Library of Congress and head to the Capitol. Once in the Capitol, you can continue to the Hart Senate Office Building. Here are some pictures.

 

Now besides Bulfinch who resided in Salem for a period, there was George Peabody. He and his brother utilized tunnels in Newburyport, MA that Bulfinch built for their dry good store. Then George followed an uncle to the Georgetown section of Washington. Another location rumored to have tunnels. Then Peabody followed a friend he served with during the War of 1812 to Baltimore in 1816 moving their company Riggs& Peabody they formed a year prior in Georgetown.  They moved to Baltimore because it was closer to the slave and cotton markets they were participating in.  In 1829 Riggs retired to NYC and in time his home was incorporated into the US Customs House. The Customs House in Salem Ma was connected to the tunnels, and I will assume the one in NYC was too.

Before moving to New York, Elisha funded the bank of Corcoran & Riggs in Washington, DC, which was organized by his son George Washington Riggs. When the United States sought a loan to finance the Mexican–American War, the Riggs bank was the only institution to bid for the full amount and lent the government $34 million in 1847 and 1848. After the retirement of William Corcoran, Elisha’s son George Washington Riggs and his grandson Elisha Francis Riggs took over the business as Riggs & Co. in Washington. It was successfully run as such until July 1896 when it assumed its present name as the Riggs National Bank. The bank still stands at its original location as PNC Bank. Riggs Bank was the bank of choice for the CIA and the dictators they supported. Corcoran & Riggs had many US politicians and presidents under their influence through their time in operation. Peabody kept close ties to his business partner’s son’s bank.

Peabody also was close to Alexander Brown who founded the B&O railroad in Baltimore. Peabody secured loans from Joshua Bates of Baring Brothers Bank for the railroad. Bates was from Salem as well and his uncle was Thomas Perkins who started the opium empire that grew the Forbes fortune. Baring Brother’s was one of the English banks that profited from loans it secured for the First and Second National Bank after the Revolutionary War and The War of 1812. After both wars with the English, we sold 70% of the debt we incurred to the enemy.

Alexander and Henry Baring married the daughters of William Bingham. William Bingham married Thomas Willing’s daughter. Willing was president of The First National Bank. Bingham was the man who Alexander Hamilton sought advice from to make the First National Bank. The First National Bank lost its charter in 1811 for selling the majority of the loans that congress needed to the British who we defeated in a war. Samuel Ward was Baring’s agent who secured several bribes to many of Salem’s wealthy and politicians so that at the close of The War of 1812 they would ensure a Second National Bank. In which they did and they all became directors of the new bank. So in 1836 Jackson closes the bank for selling 70% of Congress’ debt to England once more after a war with them. So when Peabody secured the loan for B&O, two of Thomas Perkins’ nephews were controlling partners in Baring Brothers Bank.

Also in response to Jackson’s Bank Wars Peabody engineered the 1837 Panic with Lionel Rothschild and created the first bank bailout when he bailed out the Brown Brothers Bank in Liverpool, Alexander’s son’s bank. This was the first of a series of panics, depressions, and great recessions that happen on a 20-year timetable. Peabody & Co. Bank is now known as JP Morgan Bank. JP Morgan and Morgan Stanely were fined for creating the 2008 Finacial Collapse.

Now when I walked around Brown’s Wharf in Baltimore I had seen plenty of tell-tale signs of tunnel activity. First, there were delivery entrances in the sidewalk everywhere in the area. These are created when you remove the roof of a section of a tunnel to give access through the foundation to the basement. Then you block off the tunnel from going any further. Tunnels usually run in front of a store under the sidewalks. Also in the Hats in the Belfry shop, they had a trapdoor. Many times that was an access point to get into those smuggling tunnels. Also, there were locations where they had steps leading to doors under the sidewalk. In some places, these are points in which the tunnel ran into the building that was later converted to a basement entrance by removing the top of the tunnel and blocking it by a staircase and utilizing the tunnel entrance to the basement. Why put a second hole in your foundation if you do not need to?

Peabody and Baltimore are also connected by the library he built which is now part of John Hopkins Univesity. There are many stories of tunnels under the university. Also, there is Hutzler’s department store shoppers’ tunnel under Saratoga Street. It linked the main store with another set of buildings that housed the toy department, garage, and a soda fountain. It is similar to Daniel Low in Salem that has a tunnel that led to its warehouse. Another passage under Calvert Street at Lexington connected the old Federal Reserve Bank with the old Post Office. Through Peabody’s bank, JP Morgan was able to create the Federal Reserve, The Third National Bank. Then there was the tunnel under Federal Hill. Rumors of tunnels exist under Salem’s Colonial hill fort as well. Plus many of the B&O trains had tunnels to run through hiding them from those walking through the city. Then a quick search found tunnels under Lexington Market, The Washington Monument, Westminister Hall, and the Baltimore Basilica.  Here are a few pictures I had found online.

So there are a few connections between Salem and Baltimore that run deep below the surface. Some of them appear even in the game Monopoly that was developed in Salem. Because of George Peabody, Rich Uncle Pennybags is modeled after JP Morgan and the game reflects Peabody’s investment in the B&O Railroad and the Boston and Maine which bought his Eastern Railroad. Also, Peabody dug the first train tunnel in the nation that was attached to an underground train station used by the smugglers in Salem. Alexander Brown seemed to be a good student of his.

If you have any information about the tunnels in Baltimore let us know below in the comment section. If you want to find out more about the tunnels in Salem MA read Salem Secret Underground: The History of the Tunnels in Salem and Sub Rosa.