Baltimore’s Star-Spangled Banner Flag House
The city of Baltimore is peppered with historic national sites. One the most important is the Star-Spangled Banner Flag House located on Pratt Street near Little Italy. Founded in 1927 the museum is the home of Mary Pickersgill, who sewed the 30 X 42 foot American flag that flew over Fort McHenry during the September 1814 Battle of Baltimore.
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- This is an overall view of the Flag House and Star-Spangled Banner Museum, where Mary Pickersgill sewed the flag that flew over Fort McHenry and inspired the national anthem. (Barbara Haddock Taylor/Baltimore Sun)
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- Roses grow in a small garden in front of Flag House with the Star Spangled Banner Museum in the background. (Barbara Haddock Taylor/Baltimore Sun)
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- Mike Watts, who is visiting from Electra TX, looks at a display at the Flag House and Star-Spangled Banner Museum, where Mary Pickersgill sewed the flag that flew over Fort McHenry and inspired the national anthem. (Barbara Haddock Taylor/Baltimore Sun)
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- This is the front room in Mary Pickersgill’s house, where she conducted her flag making business. It is part of the Star Spangled Banner Museum and Flag House. The flag is a replica of the one she made which inspired the national anthem. (Barbara Haddock Taylor/Baltimore Sun)
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- These are period replicas of sewing items in Mary Pickersgill’s bedroom at the Star Spangled Banner Museum and Flag House. (Barbara Haddock Taylor/Baltimore Sun)
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- These are items from Mary Pickersgill’s bedroom at the Star Spangled Banner Museum and Flag House. There is a mixture of period replicas and actual period objects at the museum. The wash basin and pitcher are from the period when Mary lived there between 1807 and 1857. The bonnet is a living history replica bonnet. (Barbara Haddock Taylor/Baltimore Sun)
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- Mike Watts, who is visiting from Electra TX, looks at a display at the Flag House and Star-Spangled Banner Museum, where Mary Pickersgill sewed the flag that flew over Fort McHenry and inspired the national anthem. (Barbara Haddock Taylor/Baltimore Sun)
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- A replica of the flag that flew over Fort McHenry and inspired the national anthem is seen through a star on one of the windows at the Flag House and Star-Spangled Banner Museum. (Barbara Haddock Taylor/Baltimore Sun)
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- Visitors from Lambertsville Public School in Lambertsville NJ stand outside the Flag House and Star-Spangled Banner Museum. (Barbara Haddock Taylor/Baltimore Sun)
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- Brian Kehoe, right, a docent at the Flag House and Star-Spangled Banner Museum, speaks to a group of 6th graders from New Jersey. They are standing in the front room of Flag House, where Mary Pickersgill sewed the flag that flew over Fort McHenry and inspired the national anthem. (Barbara Haddock Taylor/Baltimore Sun)
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- This is the drum that 16 year old Henry Lightner, known as the “Drummer Boy of Fort McHenry” played as he marched from downtown to Fort McHenry. It is on display at the Star Spangled Banner Flag House Museum. (Barbara Haddock Taylor/Baltimore Sun)
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- The Flag House, where Mary Pickersgill sewed the flag that inspired the national anthem, is visible through the upstairs window of the The Star Spangled Banner Museum. (Barbara Haddock Taylor/Baltimore Sun)
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- Mike Watts and his wife Devyon of Electra, TX try one of the displays, which raises and lowers a flag, at the Flag House and Star-Spangled Banner Museum. (Barbara Haddock Taylor/Baltimore Sun)
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- This is a detail of kitchen items, which are period replicas, in the kitchen of Mary Pickersgill’s house at the Star Spangled Banner Museum and Flag House. (Barbara Haddock Taylor/Baltimore Sun)
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- This is a view of the front gate at the Star Spangled Banner Museum and Flag House as seen from the garden gates. (Barbara Haddock Taylor/Baltimore Sun)
The United States was at war with Great Britain, and American commanders, anticipating an attack on Baltimore, wanted a flag that could fly over the Fort and be seen for miles around. In about six weeks, Ms. Pickersgill and her assistants made the flag out of 400 yards of woolen bunting.
Francis Scott Key saw the flag flying over the fort while he was imprisoned on a British Ship in the Baltimore harbor. The profound sight of it inspired him to write a poem that later became the national anthem of the United States.
The flag is now on display at the Smithsonian Museum of American History but the house is preserved as Mary Pickersgill would have experienced it.
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