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Baltimore Goes Experiential for Groups

SALEM, Ohio — Baltimore has designed a new series of experiential tour programs, including a collection of 14 immersive and behind-the-scenes tours for groups. Groups returning to Baltimore can experience the city’s top attractions from a new and different point of view.

The Baltimore tours were designed to accommodate group tours and family reunions of all sizes and price ranges.

“We wanted to introduce new programs to showcase our wealth of attractions and museums to new and returning visitors,” said Tom Noonan, president and CEO of Visit Baltimore. “We look forward to offering customizable experiences that are easy for group tour operators and group leaders to plan and book and for their guests to enjoy.”

The National Aquarium offers groups three opportunities for experiential tours. Groups can take the Veterinarian Tour, a behind-the-scenes program led by a staff veterinarian where guests learn firsthand how aquarium vets provide medical care to animals. In Dolphins 101, guests join the aquarium for an exclusive teaching session with its dolphins before the building opens to the public. In the aquarium’s Insider’s Tour, groups get a head start and see some of its most popular exhibits before doors open to the public.

Fort McHenry National Monument and Historic Shrine offers groups two opportunities for experiential tours. During The Key Story! at Fort McHenry, participants learn about the soldiers, sailors and regular citizens who became the unsung heroes of the War of 1812. During the interactive Flag Talk, participants join a National Park Service ranger in unrolling the 30-by-42-foot replica Star-Spangled Banner flag on the site where it flew 200 years ago.

Terrapin Adventures offers groups three opportunities for experiential tours. Put your teamwork skills to the ultimate test with the Team-Building Adventure Package. After some icebreaker activities, participants are divided into groups and led through a series of low-ropes-course challenges. These mentally and physically stimulating games and exercises take place no more than two feet off the ground and are meant to develop trust and improve communication.

A new experience at the Maryland Historical Society, In Full Glory Reflected: Maryland in the War of 1812, teaches participants about the heroes and symbols that emerged during the War of 1812. Participants travel back 200 years and explore the area where the war was fought; hear gripping stories of devastating raids, heroic defense, gallant privateers, fugitive slaves and threatened lands; and see firsthand one of America’s greatest national treasures, the original manuscript of Francis Scott Key’s “The Star-Spangled Banner.”

At the B&O Railroad Museum, groups can journey back to 1827 to see how a small group of Baltimore businessmen came together to fund a new type of transportation — the American railroad — in America Transformed: A Journey From Roads to Rails. The highlight of this experience is a behind-the-scenes tour of the B&O Office Car No. 908, a private railcar that was used by railroad executives, businessmen and even former U.S. presidents.

Travelers discover the secrets of Edgar Allan Poe’s life in Baltimore at the Enoch Pratt Free Library and the Edgar Allan Poe House and Museum. Participants get an exclusive look at the library’s exciting Poe collection, which features rarely seen artifacts. The Edgar Allan Poe House and Museum, an important National Historic Landmark where Poe lived in the 1830s, gives visitors the opportunity to walk on the same floors and stairs as Poe and see more one-of-a-kind artifacts.

In Science of Wine Uncorked at the Maryland Science Center, novices and connoisseurs alike learn the basics of wine production and consumption. The interactive program includes a sit-down learning session, a tasting and time for the group to socialize.

At the Reginald F. Lewis Museum of Maryland African American History and Culture, groups immerse themselves in the African-American experience. Through dramatic interpretation, visitors discover pivotal moments in history as guides lead them on a journey through Jim Crow Maryland.

Tour operators and group tour leaders may plan and book experiences through Visit Baltimore’s director of group tour sales, Eric Masterton, at emasterton@baltimore.org or 410-659-7090.

Visit Baltimore is planning on developing more experiential tours with additional partner attractions.

www.baltimore.org/experiential