On my list of places to visit when I first got here included a trip to historic Fort McHenry. Fort McHenry is a star-shaped fort best known for its role in the war of 1812 when its soldiers successfully defended Baltimore Harbor from an attack by the British navy in the Chesapeake Bay. It was during this bombardment of the fort that Washington lawyer Francis Scott Key was inspired to write "The Defense of Fort McHenry," a poem that was eventually set to the tune of an English drinking song and which then became the Star Spangled Banner. The song was adopted as the national anthem of the United States in 1931.
The fort was named after James McHenry, an immigrant and soldier-surgeon who became Secretary of War under President George Washington.
Fort McHenry was made a national park in 1925 and in 1939 was designated a National Monument and Historic Shrine. It was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1966. When a new flag was designed it flew first over Fort McHenry, so the 49 and 50 star flags were flown at the fort and are still located on the premises. The original Fort McHenry flag deteriorated to an extremely fragile condition and was restored at the National Museum of Natural History in Washington, DC. It is now on display there in a special exhibit where it lies at an angle in dim light.
