Francis Scott Key penned “The Star Spangled Banner” at nearby Fort McHenry and the actual flag wavering over the fort on that historic day was sewn in this very house. The country’s national anthem

Built in 1793, Mary Pickersgill started living here in 1806 and sewed the famous flag in 1813. When the city fended off the British Royal Navy in 1814’s Battle of Baltimore, it was Pickersgill’s flag that was “still there”, glowing in the light of the “rocket’s red glare” and the “bombs bursting in air”.

After Mary’s death in 1857, the home served as a saloon, warehouse, post office, and bank, before finally becoming a museum that pays tribute to this important piece of American history.