Fort McHenry in the context of "Baltimore"

The Helen Delich Bentley Port of Baltimore is a shipping port along the tidal basins of the three branches of the Patapsco River in Baltimore, Maryland, on the upper northwest shore of the Chesapeake Bay. It is the nation's largest port facility for specialized cargo (roll-on/roll-off ships) and passenger facilities. It is operated by the Maryland Port Administration (MPA), a unit of the Maryland Department of Transportation.

Founded in 1706, the port was renamed in 2006 for Helen Delich Bentley (1923–2016), who represented Baltimore as a U.S. Representative for a decade and who had also been a maritime reporter and editor for The Baltimore Sun daily newspaper.

Francis Scott Key (August 1, 1779 – January 11, 1843) was an American lawyer, author, and poet from Frederick, Maryland, best known as the author of the poem "Defence of Fort M'Henry", which was set to a popular British tune and eventually became the American national anthem "The Star-Spangled Banner". In 1814 Key observed the British bombardment of Fort McHenry in Baltimore during the War of 1812. He was inspired upon seeing an American flag flying over the fort at dawn: his poem was published within a week with the suggested tune of the popular song "To Anacreon in Heaven". The song with Key's lyrics became known as "The Star-Spangled Banner" and slowly gained in popularity as an unofficial anthem, finally achieving official status as the national anthem more than a century later under President Herbert Hoover.

Key was a lawyer in Maryland and Washington, D.C., for four decades and worked on important cases, including the Burr conspiracy trial, and he argued numerous times before the Supreme Court. He was nominated for District Attorney for the District of Columbia by President Andrew Jackson, where he served from 1833 to 1841. He was a devout Episcopalian.

"The Star-Spangled Banner" is the national anthem of the United States. The lyrics come from the "Defence of Fort M'Henry", a poem written by American lawyer Francis Scott Key on September 14, 1814, after he witnessed the bombardment of Fort McHenry by the British Royal Navy during the Battle of Baltimore in the War of 1812. Key was inspired by the large U.S. flag, with 15 stars and 15 stripes, known as the Star-Spangled Banner, flying triumphantly above the fort after the battle.

The poem was set to the music of a popular British song written by John Stafford Smith for the Anacreontic Society, a social club in London. Smith's song, "To Anacreon in Heaven" (or "The Anacreontic Song"), with various lyrics, was already popular in the United States. This setting, renamed "The Star-Spangled Banner", soon became a popular patriotic song. With a range of 19 semitones, it is known for being very difficult to sing, in part because the melody sung today is the soprano part. Although the poem has four stanzas, typically only the first is performed with the other three being rarely sung.

James McHenry (November 16, 1753 – May 3, 1816) was an Irish American military surgeon, statesman, and a Founding Father of the United States. McHenry was a signer of the United States Constitution from Maryland, initiated the recommendation for Congress to form the Navy, and was the eponym of Fort McHenry. He represented Maryland in the Continental Congress. He was a delegate to the Maryland State Convention of 1788, to vote whether Maryland should ratify the proposed Constitution of the United States. He served as United States Secretary of War from 1796 to 1800, bridging the administrations of George Washington and John Adams. At the time of his death, McHenry owned 10 slaves, most of whom either worked as household servants or maintained his estate.

A ravelin is a triangular fortification or detached outwork, located in front of the innerworks of a fortress (the curtain walls and bastions). Originally called a demi-lune, after the lunette, the ravelin is placed outside a castle and opposite a fortification curtain wall.

The ravelin is the oldest and at the same time the most important outer work of the bastion fortification system. It originated from small forts that were supposed to cover the bridge that led across the moat to the city or fortress gate from a direct attack. From this original function, to protect the gate bridge, also comes its original Italian name "rivellino" (which means small bank work or with the German expression common for it: Brückenkopf – "bridge head"). Therefore, the ravelin was at first only a small work, which should only make the access to the bridge in front of the fortress gates more difficult. When it was realized in the 16th century that this would generally provide better protection for the courtine, ravelins were also built in front of other courtines and these were gradually enlarged. However, it was not until the German fortress builder Daniel Specklin (1536–1589) recognized the principal importance of ravelins (which he still called "ledige Wehr" or "revelin"). He demanded that they be made as large as possible so that they fully covered the courtine and the flanks of the bastions and could place a flanking fire in front of the bastion tops. In the following period, ravelins can be found in practically all fortresses built according to the bastion fortification system.

The Inner Harbor is a historic seaport, tourist attraction, and landmark in Baltimore, Maryland. It was described by the Urban Land Institute in 2009 as "the model for post-industrial waterfront redevelopment around the world". The Inner Harbor is located at the mouth of Jones Falls, creating the wide and short northwest branch of the Patapsco River. The district includes any water west of a line drawn between the foot of President Street and the American Visionary Art Museum.

The name "Inner Harbor" is used not just for the water but for the surrounding area of the city, with approximate street boundaries of President Street to the east, Lombard Street to the north, Greene Street to the west, and Key Highway on the south. The harbor is within walking distance of Oriole Park at Camden Yards and M&T Bank Stadium – as well as the city's prominent Federal Hill Park and the adjacent pocket park, Robert Baker Park. A water taxi connects passengers to Fells Point, Canton, and Fort McHenry.

Locust Point is a peninsular neighborhood in Baltimore, Maryland. Located in South Baltimore, the neighborhood is entirely surrounded by the Locust Point Industrial Area; the traditional boundaries are Lawrence street to the west and the Patapsco River to the north, south, and east. It once served as a center of Baltimore's Polish-American, Irish-American and Italian-American communities; in more recent years Locust Point has seen gradual gentrification with the rehabilitation of Tide Point and Silo Point. The neighborhood is also noted as being the home of Fort McHenry and the western end of its namesake tunnel that carries eight lanes of Interstate 95 under the river.

Locust Point has been called "Baltimore's Ellis Island" because the neighborhood was once the third largest point of entry for immigrants to the United States after Ellis Island and the Port of Philadelphia. From 1868 until the closure of the Locust Point piers in 1914, 1.2 million European immigrants entered Baltimore through Locust Point.

The Star-Spangled Banner, or the Great Garrison Flag, was the garrison flag that flew over Fort McHenry in Baltimore Harbor during the naval portion of the Battle of Baltimore during the War of 1812. It is on exhibit at the National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution. Seeing the flag flying over Fort McHenry on the morning of September 14, 1814, after the battle ended, Francis Scott Key was inspired to write the poem "Defence of Fort M'Henry". These words were written by Key and set to the tune of "To Anacreon in Heaven", a popular song at the time, by John Stafford Smith. In 1931, the song became the national anthem of the United States.

More broadly, a garrison flag is a U.S. Army term for an extra-large national flag that is flown on Sundays, holidays, and special occasions. The U.S. Navy term is "holiday colors".