Baltimore!

In 2003, I went to the inaugural meeting of the Hereditary Order of the Signers of the Bush Declaration. Uncle Edward Prall had been one of the signers of the document, also called the Harford Resolves. Local Harford County Patriots had sworn their support for the actions of the 2nd Continental Congress on 23 March 1775. After the dinner, I hung around for a few days to do some research in near-by Baltimore.

I was focusing on my Rhodes-Cunningham family. Early 1800s City directories were my big success. I was able to find nearly all of the Cunningham family [6 girls & 1 boy] through about 1815. Zachariah Rhodes stopped appearing about 1813/4 and his wife Harriet about 1818. That narrowed the range of death for both. [I hadn't been to Boston yet!] I also found some info on Edward Prall.

Yet, the highlight of the trip was Fort McHenry [think Francis Scott Key]. I wandered around the fort and took pictures. The visitor's center offered a 15-20 minute film on the siege of Fort McHenry and Key's authoring the Star Spangled Banner. At the end of the film, the National Anthem began playing, and the curtains of the theater opened onto the fort's parade ground and the replica of the 1814 flag flapping in the breeze. GO USA!