If you’re going to write an ongoing series of feature articles on historic Maryland and Washingotn, DC bars and taverns, you absolutely cannot leave off The Waterfront Hotel Bar in Baltimore’s Fells Point neighborhood. The iconic property dates back to 1771 and, over the decades, has been everything from a tavern that housed Civil War troops to the main bar and restaurant set for NBC’s 1990s crime drama, “Homicide: Life on the Street.”
Ann Giles, wife of Fells Point settler Edward Fell, leased the site to Thomas Long, who had the original structure built. His brother, Robert, had erected the first brick home in Baltimore city at 812 S. Ann Street. It was a private residence for much of the 19th century until it was indeed converted into a hotel and tavern to house Union soldiers during the Civil War.