Recommended Books & Films

Books

A number of books about the Chesapeake Bay region will give you historical and cultural perspective for your trip.

James Michener wrote his historical novel Chesapeake (Random House, 1978) while living on the Eastern Shore. It offers a good history of the area and the watermen who make their living on the bay.

Anne Tyler's novels are usually set in and around Baltimore -- The Accidental Tourist (Knopf, 1985) was made into a film with William Hurt and Geena Davis.

Sports writer Frank Deford set his novel An American Summer in hometown Baltimore in 1954 (Sourcebooks, 2002).

Alex Haley's Roots (Doubleday, 1976) begins in Annapolis -- and is remembered with a charming sculpture on City Dock.

William H. Warner's Beautiful Swimmers (Little, Brown, 1976) is a Pulitzer Prize-winning study of the blue crab and the culture around the prized crustacean.

Tom Horton's An Island Out of Time (Norton, 1996), chronicles his 3 years living on remote Smith Island.

Films

Baltimore has been the backdrop of quite a few movies, notably by Baltimoreans Barry Levinson and John Waters, who still maintains a home here. For a look at Baltimore in the 1950s and 1960s, check out Levinson's Diner, Tin Men, or Avalon. Waters's view of Baltimore is a bit more twisted, but Hairspray has some memorable moments; Serial Mom stars Kathleen Turner (who graduated from the University of Maryland-Baltimore County).

Local firefighters appeared with John Travolta in Ladder 49, also set in Baltimore. The Eastern Shore is featured in Runaway Bride, which takes place in the town of Berlin, and in Wedding Crashers, which was filmed in Talbot County.

Gettysburg is the backdrop for Gods and Generals. In 2005, movie crews were in Baltimore filming Nicole Kidman in The Visiting and in Annapolis filming Matthew McConaughey and Sarah Jessica Parker in Failure to Launch.

On the small screen, you can still catch repeats of Homicide: Life on the Street, a television series based on the nonfiction book by David Simon and shot on location in Baltimore. HBO's The Wire is also shot here.