Federal Hill Park

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Federal Hill Park
Type	Public park
Location	Baltimore, Maryland
Coordinates	39°16′47″N 76°36′31″W / 39.2798°N 76.6086°W / 39.2798; -76.6086
Created	1880

Federal Hill Park is a 10.3 acres park located in Baltimore, Maryland, on the south shore of the Inner Harbor. The park is a signature Baltimore landmark and offers visitors some of the most noted views in the city often photographed looking north to the downtown skyline of skyscrapers across the Inner Harbor (formerly known as "The Basin") of the Northwest Branch of the Patapsco River / Baltimore Harbor.^[1] The Federal Hill surrounding neighborhood to the west and south is named for the prominent hill and is also known as old South Baltimore. The now graded grass lawn hill and park, was originally a jagged cliffs and bluffs of red clay which was mined in the 18th and 19th centuries after being first sighted and described by Captain John Smith of England on his voyages of exploration of the Chesapeake Bay from the first English colony at Jamestown, Virginia, in 1608. The noted famous site today is bounded by Francis Scott Key Highway (Key Highway / Maryland Route 2) along the waterfront to the north, Battery Avenue to the west, Warren Avenue to the south, and Covington Street to the east. Baltimore city acquired the hill as public property in 1880 after it was used and fortified as a fort with heavy artillery (Fort Federal Hill) by the Union Army during the American Civil War (1861–1865). It was established then as a city park operated and maintained by the city Department of Recreation and Parks.^[2]