Star Spangled Banner Flag House

Built in 1793, the Star-Spangled Banner Flag House was the home and place of business of Mary Pickersgill, maker of the flag that inspired Francis Scott Key’s famous poem that later became our national anthem. Mary and her daughter Caroline moved into the house in 1806, along with Mary’s mother, Rebecca Young, who began the flag-making business in Philadelphia during the Revolutionary War. In 1927, the house was sold to the city of Baltimore and the Star-Spangled Banner Flag House Association established a museum inside the historic home. Today, visitors encounter the interior of the Flag House much as Mary and her household would have seen it. The house is filled with original early 19th century objects, many of them possessions of the Young-Pickersgill family. Throughout their professionally guided tour, visitors explore aspects of business and daily life in the Flag House by interacting with a variety of touchable objects and live characters.