Helen Delich Bentley Port of Baltimore
| Port of Baltimore | |
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| Details | |
| Owned by | Maryland Port Administration |
| Draft depth | 50 feet |
| Air draft | 185 feet, restricted by Francis Scott Key Bridge |
Helen Delich Bentley Port of Baltimore is a shipping port along the shores and branches of the Patapsco River in Baltimore, Maryland. The port includes facilities for cargo, especially roll-on/roll-off ships; and passenger facilities operated by the Maryland Port Administration (MPA), a unit of the Maryland Department of Transportation.
The port was renamed for Helen Delich Bentley during a 2006 celebration of the port's 300th birthday.
In 1608, Captain John Smith traveled 170 miles from Jamestown to the upper Chesapeake Bay, leading the first European expedition to the Patapsco River, named after the native Algonquians who fished shellfish and hunted.
English land grants 1661 were combined 1702 by James Carroll who named it Whetstone Point (now known as the residential and industrial area of Locust Point). The port was founded on this site in 1706 by the Maryland Colonial Assembly as a Port of Entry for the tobacco trade with England. In 1729 the point was incorporated into BaltimoreTown.
Starting in 1776 local citizenry erected earthworks named Fort Whetstone for port defense during the American Revolutionary War, which was replaced in 1798 by Fort McHenry.
Fells Point, first named Long Island Point in 1670, the deepest point in the natural harbor, soon became the colony's main ship building center, with many shipyards, famed for the construction of Baltimore clippers. These were notorious as raiders and privateers, which led to the British attack in September 1814 in the Battle of Baltimore, with the famous bombardment of Fort McHenry and land attack to the east at the Battle of North Point with fortifications also on the east side at Loudenschlager's Hill (today's Hampstead Hill/Patterson Park). Fells Point was incorporated into Baltimore Town in 1773. The Continental Navy ordered their first frigate, USS Virginia, from George Wells in Fells Point in 1775. The first ship named the USF Constellation were produced at the Harris Creek Shipyard here, and the third USS Enterprise at Henry Spencer's shipyard. Over 800 ships were commissioned from Fells Point shipyards from 1784 to 1821. The California Gold Rush lead to many orders for fast vessels; many overland pioneers also relied upon canned goods from Baltimore.
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