7 Best Sights in Baltimore, Maryland

This plain brick row house, three blocks from Oriole Park at Camden Yards, was the birthplace of "the Bambino." Although Ruth was born here in 1895, his family never lived here; they lived in a nearby apartment, above a tavern run by Ruth's father. The row house and the adjoining buildings make up a museum devoted to Ruth's life and to the local Orioles baseball club. Film clips and props, rare photos of Ruth, Yankees payroll checks, a score book from Ruth's first professional game, and many other artifacts can be found here.

Baltimore was the headquarters of the Bromo Seltzer antacid company, which modeled this tower after Florence’s Palazzo Vecchio in 1911. A five-story, rotating blue bottle once sat at its top

and could be seen at night as far as 20 miles away (it was removed in 1936). Today the tower has been converted into artist studios, which you can visit for free on Fridays and Saturdays. As a special treat, you can even tour the clock tower and learn about its century-old mechanics.

Built in 1812 for $40,000, this green-dome structure has been used for teaching medicine for nearly two centuries. Part of the downtown campus of the University of Maryland at Baltimore, Davidge Hall is a relic of the days when dissection was illegal; the acoustically perfect anatomy theater was lighted by skylights instead of windows so that passersby would not witness students working on cadavers. Register for tours via the website.

This unusual museum, which has a set of George Washington's dentures, is on the Baltimore campus of the University of Maryland, the world's first dental school. Housed in a Renaissance Revival–style building, the museum has exhibits on the anatomy and physiology of human and animal teeth and the history of dentistry; you can also play a tune on the "Tooth Jukebox." One popular exhibit displays the dental instruments used in treating Queen Victoria in the mid-19th century. Tours available by appointment.

The NFL Baltimore Ravens team hosts home games in this state-of-the-art stadium from August to January.

One of the oldest houses in Baltimore, this elegant mansion was begun in 1754. It was the home of Charles Carroll, author of the Maryland Declaration of Independence, member of the Continental Congress, and one of Maryland's major landowners. The state's first historic museum house has been carefully restored to its Georgian elegance; more than 80% of the 18th-century furniture and artifacts, including rare pieces of Chippendale and Hepplewhite silver, crystal, and Chinese export porcelain, were owned and used by the Carroll family. Washington, Lafayette, and John Adams were all guests here. The greenhouses are famous in their own right: they provided rare trees and plants for Mount Vernon.

Though the "Master of the Macabre" lived in this tiny row house only three years, he wrote "MS Found in a Bottle" and his first horror story, "Berenice," in the tiny garret chamber that's now furnished in an early-19th-century style. Besides visiting this room, you can view changing exhibits and a video presentation about Poe's short, tempestuous life. Because of the possibility of crime, it's best to visit this neighborhood during daylight hours as part of a group.