A small trip into Baltimore City to discover local architecture and plants.

It had been a cold, rainy week, and so when my sister suggested going to Sherwood Gardens, a small garden completely run by donations in Baltimore City, her, me, and my mother all jumped at the opportunity to leave the house.

We ate Cava, a Mediterranean version of Chipotle, for lunch (I highly recommend the lemon meatballs, lentils, pickled onions, and pita crisps. They’re so good!) and then hopped into my sister’s car to drive into Baltimore City. We’re not too far from there, so it didn’t take long, but before we knew it we were in the city!

Or, well, it didn’t look like the city at all. It’s near Roland Park, but it seriously didn’t resemble Baltimore City. The architecture was nuts y’all. I genuinely thought it looked distinctly European in some houses, but others were very much old Americana, plantation style homes. I was snapping more shots of the houses (am I a stalker?) than I was of the plants in the garden. Oops!

The park was insanely crowded, and not everyone was wearing masks, which is a bit surprising, considering, well, COVID. We went for the tulips specifically, and you can only go during this time of the year for about a week before everything in the park starts to die. There were a lot of families having picnics on the grass, people playing frisbee, casual dog walkers roaming the sidewalks.

It really didn’t feel like a city. We wandered around the park for twenty-minutes, peering at the different colors of tulips, then went to the real treasure of the day: the homes surrounding the park.

They were so stunning with their architectural detail. We knew immediately that these people living around here were rich, because owning a home in Baltimore City is expensive, especially in regards to property taxes, and these homes were nice.

My sister immediately started Googling the addresses of the homes and found out the majority of them were in the $500,000 to $900,000 USD range. That wasn’t too bad, especially considering their location. And the fact that they all had these nice sunrooms, gardens, and details. I was in love (swoons).

All in all, this was a short day trip, only took about an hour or two, but it was worth seeing the tulips and the homes! Don’t know if I’d go back, but it was worth going once to visit. We don’t live in the near vicinity, so it’s not worth the trip, but if you lived within a relatively close distance, it might be a nice picnic spot or place to take your kids.