A tour in historic Downtown Frederick is reaching out to other local communities with the goal of sharing the beauty of historic Frederick, MD. 

On a weekend in September, I had some free time, so I decided to visit the local Downtown Frederick area and do a walking tour. There were a few guided tours available, but I ended up choosing to do a self-guided tour. I chose this option since it costs no money, and one can get all the information on each of the locations from the website. 

There were a few different walking tours including a Frederick history tour, art tour and an architecture tour. 

I chose the art tour because I love the different pieces; each has a history and tells a story. I started my walking tour in the afternoon, to take advantage of the light. In this tour, there were nineteen sites downtown and two in the uptown area. I was able to include all the downtown sites in my self-guded tour, but I did not get a chance to view the last two sites uptown. 

The sites downtown were varied and quite interesting, featuring historical figures, homages to the past, and biblical old (1700s-1940s) art.  

One of my favorite stops on the tour was the statue “Charity.” This statue of a Newfoundland dog was originally created sometime in the 1820s. It was believed to be a remembrance of the family who once lived there. However, the statue itself took its name from the non-profit organization Federated Charities, which now owns and operates within the building.

Earlier this year in January, the statue was vandalized and broken, but the community came together to raise nearly four thousand dollars to fix the dog. 

A close second favorite is the statue “Becky the Calf.” While I do deeply love the calf for simply being an animal, it was made as an homage to the dairy cows that once grazed along Carroll Creek sometime in 1960’s to a more recent 2010.

Another art piece I really enjoyed was the “Earthbound Mural.” This mural is of two windows. In one, an earthbound angel sits staring off into what one could assume is his own thoughts, while in the other window, a pheasant sleeps. The mural is a part of a multi-creation artwork collection known as Angels in Architecture. 

Overall, the experience was quite fun and enjoyable. For anyone interested in the self-guided Frederick art tour, I do recommend going on a day that is cooler since there is a lot of walking involved to get from one location to another. Do not let the extra steps deter you. Making the trip to check out these beautiful art structures and murals is definitely worth it and highly recommended. I would give it a 10/10.