Heritage Frederick – The Historical Society of Frederick County

Exhibit Tour
2025-11-14 13:00 - 14:00, 2025-11-21 13:00 - 14:00, 2025-12-05 13:00 - 14:00, 2025-12-12 13:00 - 14:00 (America/New_York)
Heritage Frederick is pleased to offer guided tours of our exhibits every Friday at 1pm. Topics rotate depending on guide and participants interest. Join Archivist Jody Brumage, Curator Amy Hunt, or Director Doug Propheter as they explore our 2025 exhibits: Two of A Kind, Melodic Memories, Bartering to Banking, Timeless Toys; and permanent exhibits: 24 E Church Street, Frederick County Decorative Arts, and Etchison Connections.

Frosty Friday
2025-11-28 13:00 - 15:00 (America/New_York)
Join us the day after Thanksgiving for FREE children’s activities! Sip on a warm beverage while you play games in our garden or create a keepsake ornament. The Museum will be decked out for the holidays!

HF’s Frosty Friday activities coincide with special events in Downtown Frederick including live music, marshmallow roasting, and specials at local shops and restaurants to kick off the holiday season.

Museums By Candlelight
2025-12-13 10:00 - 19:00 UTC | Heritage Frederick, 24 East Church Street, Frederick, MD, 21701, United States
Join us at the Museum of Frederick County History for some holiday cheer! All are welcome to partake in seasonal treats, crafts and games. The event and activities are free to all participants. This is your last chance to see our 2025 exhibits before we switch them out in 2026!

Parsons Newman Lecture: Connecting Sites and Stories, New Insights on African American History Research in Frederick County
2026-02-26 17:30 - 19:00 (America/New_York)
Building relationships through the sharing of cultural memory, research collections, and personal experiences creates a more complete and compelling understanding of our history. In recent years, such relationships between local organizations have been crucial to helping our historical sites and museums discover and share more of their own stories and their interconnectedness through the lives of the people that once inhabited them.

Particularly, this collaboration has expanded our understanding of how enslaved people experienced different living and labor conditions among Frederick County’s domestic, industrial, and agricultural settings. In the midst of such challenging circumstances, we are introduced to stories of courageous people who risked everything to seek the promises of equality, justice, and freedom that inspired our nation’s founding, for which we celebrate the 250th anniversary in 2026. We are discovering how they navigated emancipation and established new lives as free people, and how communities were formed, moved, and in some cases, lost as time went on.

This program will feature representatives from several history organizations, including Heritage Frederick, Rose Hill Manor Parks and Museum, and the Catoctin Furnace Historical Society, in conversation about our shared research initiatives and how these new insights are being shared with our visitors and local communities.

These lectures are FREE, but RSVPs are appreciated! https://www.cognitoforms.com/HeritageFrederick1/ParsonsNewmanLectureSeries2026February

Guided Tour: House History and New Exhibits
2026-03-20 13:00 - 14:00 (America/New_York)
Experience the Museum of Frederick County History through a guided tour. Heritage Frederick Curator Amy Hunt will lead visitors to discover the unique architectural character and history of the historic Dr. Baltzell House and highlight newly opened exhibitions throughout the museum.

Included in museum admission. Please note, this tour involves ascending stairs, no elevator available.

3rd Annual Trivia Night *CANCELED* due to unforeseen circumstances
2026-03-25 17:00 - 20:00 (America/New_York)
We invite you to participate in our THIRD ANNUAL trivia night, a fundraiser benefiting Heritage Frederick, at Union Mills Public House in downtown Frederick! This event is hosted by master trivia host Chris Clemons and his side-kick Chaz Remus. All proceeds from this fundraiser will benefit Heritage Frederick.

Tickets here: https://www.cognitoforms.com/HeritageFrederick1/_2026TriviaNight

Guided Tour: 24 East Church Street
2026-03-27 13:00 - 14:00 (America/New_York)
Experience the Museum of Frederick County History through a guided tour. Heritage Frederick Executive Director Doug Propheter will lead visitors to discover the unique architectural character and history of the historic Dr. Baltzell House and highlight the museum’s research efforts to learn more about the women who lived on the property during its operation as a female orphanage.

Included in museum admission. Please note, this tour involves ascending stairs, no elevator available.

Guided Tour: All Saints Street
2026-04-03 13:00 - 14:00 (America/New_York)
Experience the Museum of Frederick County History through a guided tour. Heritage Frederick Curator Amy Hunt will lead visitors to discover the unique architectural character and history of the historic Dr. Baltzell House and highlight our recently-opened exhibit All Saints Street: An Avenue to the History of Frederick and its African American Community.

Included in museum admission. Please note, this tour involves ascending stairs, no elevator available.

Foundations of Frederick Walking Tour
2026-04-04 10:30 - 12:00, 2026-04-25 10:30 - 12:00, 2026-05-02 10:30 - 12:00, 2026-05-30 10:30 - 12:00 (America/New_York)
Experience the history and beauty of downtown as knowledgeable guides share the fascinating stories that make up historic Frederick, Maryland.

*Tour starts at the Museum of Frederick County History, 24 East Church Street, Frederick, MD 21701

Length: 90 minutes

https://www.cognitoforms.com/HeritageFrederick1/WalkingTourTicketReservation

Guided Tour: Witnessing Revolution
2026-04-10 13:00 - 14:00 (America/New_York)
Experience the Museum of Frederick County History through a guided tour. Heritage Frederick Archivist Jody Brumage will lead visitors to discover the unique architectural character and history of the historic Dr. Baltzell House and explore how the diaries of Jacob Engelbrecht help reveal Frederick County’s role in shaping America’s story throughout its first century.

Included in museum admission. Please note, this tour involves ascending stairs, no elevator available.

Civil War Walking Tour
2026-04-11 10:30 - 12:00, 2026-05-16 10:30 - 12:00 (America/New_York)
Explore what it was like to live in Frederick during the Civil War. Stories include the last Confederate invasion of the North, the ransom of Frederick, and the Battle of Monocacy.

Purchase tickets: https://www.cognitoforms.com/HeritageFrederick1/WalkingTourTicketReservation

Guided Tour: Growing Gold
2026-04-17 13:00 - 14:00 (America/New_York)
Experience the Museum of Frederick County History through a guided tour. Heritage Frederick Executive Director Doug Propheter will lead visitors to discover the unique architectural character and history of the historic Dr. Baltzell House and the intriguing story of Frederick County’s goldfish industry, once responsible for 80% of the United States’ domestic production.

Included in museum admission. Please note, this tour involves ascending stairs, no elevator available.

Frederick’s Black Heritage Walking Tour
2026-04-18 10:30 - 12:00, 2026-05-23 10:30 - 12:00 (America/New_York)
Visit landmarks and hear stories revealing Frederick’s Black heritage from the early-19th century to the present day. This tour features sites associated with enslavement and segregation and highlights the achievements of a diverse and vibrant Black community in the pursuit of equality and freedom.

*Tour starts at the Museum of Frederick County History, 24 East Church Street, Frederick, MD 21701

Length: 90 minutes

https://www.cognitoforms.com/HeritageFrederick1/WalkingTourTicketReservation

Guided Tour: Etchison Connections
2026-04-24 13:00 - 14:00 (America/New_York)
Experience the Museum of Frederick County History through a guided tour. Heritage Frederick Archivist Jody Brumage will lead visitors to discover the unique architectural character and history of the historic Dr. Baltzell House and share the story of several generations of the Etchison family and their role in shaping Frederick’s story and the memory of its past.

Included in museum admission. Please note, this tour involves ascending stairs, no elevator available.

Art & Architecture Walking Tour
2026-05-09 10:30 - 12:00 (America/New_York)
Look at Frederick with new eyes. Experience the history and beauty of downtown as we explore some of the popular architectural styles, local art, and history.

*Tour starts at the Museum of Frederick County History, 24 East Church Street, Frederick, MD 21701

Length: 90 minutes

https://www.cognitoforms.com/HeritageFrederick1/WalkingTourTicketReservation

Parsons Newman Lecture: Presidential Sites Within Two Hours of Frederick That You Have Probably Never Heard Of with Tom Slater
2026-05-28 18:00 - 19:00 (America/New_York)
This program will discuss sites related to our Presidents’ lives, from birthplaces to burial sites. Tom Slater will share his best itineraries for your own travels. A part of our 250th Anniversary celebration, what a great time to connect to US history in and near our own home of Frederick County!

Tom Slater is a retired attorney and educator. He taught U.S. History at high schools in Frederick County and at Frederick Community College. He obtained an M.A. in History from The George Washington University and wrote a thesis entitled “Frederick County Politics 1950-1970: A Study in Rural Conservatism.” He has served as the Historian for the Frederick County Bar Association and the Frederick County Democratic Party. He writes a monthly column for the local Democratic Party where he focuses on history. Since his retirement a few years ago, he has been researching local and state history and hopes to write books about the history of the Maryland Democratic Party and Frederick County politics from 1970 to 2000. He has an extensive collection of obituaries of local and state leaders as well as newspaper clippings collected over the past sixty years. As a student of United States History, he has a special interest in U.S. Presidents and is on a quest to visit the birthplace, death site, and burial site of every U.S. President. He has seven more sites to visit in order to complete his quest (Trump’s birth site, Obama’s birth site, Ford’s birth site, Nixon’s burial site, Harding’s death site, and Reagan’s death and burial sites.

These lectures are FREE, but RSVPs are appreciated!

Patio Music: The Long Way Home
2026-06-24 17:30 - 19:00 (America/New_York)
Bring a lawn chair or blanket and come ready to eat, drink, and jam! Pack some snacks and take advantage of local vineyards and breweries who will be selling on site (BYOB also allowed!)

Gate opens at 5, music 5:30-7

*Depends on weather, NOT a rain or shine event

RSVPs not required, but appreciated!

Parsons Newman Lecture: "Witnessing Revolution" and "Cultivating Independence": An expanded tour with Heritage Frederick’s Archivist Jody Brumage
2026-07-30 18:00 - 19:00 (America/New_York)
Join Heritage Frederick’s Archivist Jody Brumage on an in-depth, small group tour of our 250th focused exhibits! These connected exhibitions explore Frederick County’s role in the Revolutionary War and its place in an emerging nation, ranging from the colonial settlement of the county to the nation’s centennial celebration in 1876. Highlights include items from the family of Maryland’s first elected governor Thomas Johnson; the journals of prolific Frederick diarist Jacob Engelbrecht; and handwritten letters from John Adams, James Madison, Thomas Jefferson, and Charles Carroll of Carrollton, Frederick’s own signer of the Declaration of Independence. Participants will have an up-close view of additional artifacts that reveal even more about the people and stories featured in the exhibits. Take advantage of this opportunity to be guided through these stories by the person who conceptualized, researched, and designed the exhibit!

An overview of the exhibits featured on this tour:

In Cultivating Independence, discover Frederick County’s indigenous and colonial history and learn how its position in the backcountry during the French and Indian War planted the first seeds of resistance that unified a diverse population in the build up to the Revolution. The leaders among the founding generation who hailed from Frederick County will be featured alongside the everyday farmers, merchants, and laborers, free and enslaved, who worked to feed, supply, and serve the Continental Army throughout the war.

Witnessing Revolution examines how the struggle for liberty and equality that galvanized the fight for independence continued in the century after the founding of the United States. Visitors will discover lives and stories that have been overlooked in traditional treatments of Frederick County’s history as well as reexaminations of the complex legacies of more well-known figures who played consequential roles in shaping the idea of who possesses the rights promised in our nation’s founding documents. Witnessing Revolution reveals these stories through the perspective of an ordinary man, Jacob Engelbrecht, using entries from the voluminous diary he maintained over two-thirds of the 19th century. Together, these words and stories reveal the local context to a national story and witness the ongoing revolutions that continue to define the American experience.

These lectures are FREE, but RSVPs are appreciated!

Parsons Newman Lecture: Charles Carroll of Carrollton
2026-10-08 18:00 - 19:00 (America/New_York)
Dr. John George will present, “Charles Carroll of Carrollton,” Frederick’s own Signer to commemorate the 250th Anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. Attendees will hear about Carroll’s life and legacy to The Bill of Rights, transportation, agriculture, commerce, and his descendants with a side note on the impact of the enslaved on 18th Century Frederick County.

John George was raised with sisters Mary and Sara on a sheep farm north of Libertytown in a fieldstone house (ca. 1750) and attended local schools (FHS “Cadet” 1964). His degrees are from Georgetown (1968), Johns Hopkins (1972), and American University (1980). John retired from a 47-year career in education, both public (FCPS 33 years) and private (Professor Emeritus Hood College 14 years). He is proud cofounder of the high school Academic Tournament (1982).

John was nominated to membership to the Historic Society by Theresa Mathias and Elizabeth Peters in 1971. Currently, John enjoys reading, caring for his garden, and walking in Baker Park. He has traveled extensively and won a Fulbright Scholarship to Egypt in 1988. Since 1990, John has made 15 presentations to the Torch Club of Frederick; is essay coordinator to the Sgt. Lawrence Everhart Chapter, Sons of the American Revolution (since 1989); is member of the Rotary of Frederick; and last year named “Farm Advocate for 2025” by the Great Frederick Fair (he was the Chair of the 150th Anniversary of the GFF several years ago); and creator of “A Frederick County History Map” for sale exclusively by Heritage Frederick. As a former principal of Carroll Manor E.S. (1982-1984) John became an enthusiastic fan of Charles Carroll of Carrollton.

These lectures are FREE, but RSVPs are appreciated!
