Gallows Hill (39.303051,-76.602310)

Gallows Hill served as the place of public hangings for Baltimore from at least 1830 until 1842 according to a librarian at the Pratt Library in 1937 (Baltimore Sun, August 22, 1937). It is not known how early Gallows Hill was the scene of public executions, symbolic or otherwise, but it was a place name as early as 1802. The first description of a Maryland execution came from John Duncan, a visitor to Baltimore in 1818, who witnessed the hanging of two mail robbers from outside the prison court yard along with numerous other spectators: "I had in my pocket a small perspective glass which I offered to two young ladies who happened to stand near me; they seemed quite pleased with the accommodation and continued to use it alternately till the whole melancholy scene was over. The bodies on being cut down were immediately buried in the corner of the prison yard." (Travels through the U.S. and Canada, 1823, I, 232). For the place to be known as Gallows Hill from as early as 1802, suggests that at some point prior to that year executions, public or symbolic, occurred there. In 1807 a symbolic execution did occur on Gallows Hill with the hanging and burning of Arron Burr, Chief Justice John Marshall, Luther Martin and Harmon Blennerhassett in effigy. See: Aaron Burr Hanged and Burned in Effigy on Gallows Hill, Baltimore, November 3, 1807.

Location: Intersection of East Chase Street, Harford Road, and Aisquith Street (39.303051,-76.602310)

The 1802 reference to Gallows Hill appeared in the Democratic Republican, 1802-08-09: