ellicott’s mills

Explore there area west of Baltimore where the Banneker’s farm was located during Benjamin Banneker’s childhood, before beginning his travels and geographic movements during his formative education, which began in rural Harford County, Maryland.

joppatowne

In Harford County, Maryland, this place is hard to beat when searching for a portal of entry into Benjamin Banneker’s world. It takes you a bit further away from metropolitan sprawl than Ellicott’s Mills, so this is a good opportunity to stretch the legs and take a little walk while absorbing the physical and natural world that aided Benjamin Banneker’s formative and developmental years. During this time he had access to various private libraries and book collections, including Quakers who farmed the area and specialized in collecting literature about abolition and the anti-slavery movement. This physical and natural space is an important setting for understanding the early history of civil rights in colonial America.

Baltimore

This is a great place to set as your home-base for this trip. Baltimore is an amazing city. It deserves days on its own just to explore the plethora of inspiring settings, not to mention plenty of literary connections for those inspired by artists’ hometowns. Remember that during Benjamin Banneker’s lifetime Baltimore was one of America’s largest cities, and certainly the largest city Benjamin Banneker called home. This was Banneker’s first cosmopolitan center - the first major city he would become familiar with and call his home before rising into his stories career that culminated with his being counted as a close friend and advisor to America’s founding generation, as well as surveying many cities (including D.C. and Philadelphia) and inventing a visionary almanac that compiled knowledge of the natural world.