The iconic streetcar is a relic of the past in most American cities, having given way to the automobile in the latter half of the 20th century. The fanciful era of the streetcar lives on, however, at the Baltimore Streetcar Museum. This unique museum, just ten minutes from the Sheraton Inner Harbor Hotel, features an impressive collection of authentic antique streetcars on display, ranging from an open-sided nine-bench car that the Brownell company created in 1896 to a 1944 Pullman Standard car, which was one of the last streetcars ordered for Baltimore until the city began introducing the kind of new light rail cars that are beginning to emerge in some of the country's more environmentally-conscious cities. While it's interesting to walk around and look at vintage streetcars, it's much more fun to ride in one, which is why the museum has a short section of track so you can take a streetcar ride like they did in old Baltimore of a century ago. Ride the rails as much as you like, and enjoy an era that might be coming back into fashion after all. All aboard!
