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Photo: via Wikimedia Commons, Public domain
While not really a place to visit, unless you are sick or injured, the administrative center, the Billings Building, is a beautiful work of architecture, and a principal East Baltimore landmark. Its prestige is likewise enormous, almost always named the United States' premiere hospital, and by extension, many consider it the best in the world.
Johns Hopkins Hospital (JHH) is the teaching hospital and biomedical research facility of Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in Baltimore, Maryland. Incorporated in 1867 and opened in 1889, Johns Hopkins Hospital and its school of medicine are considered to be the founding institutions of modern American medicine and the birthplace of numerous famed medical traditions, including rounds, residents, and house staff. Several medical specialties were founded at the hospital, including neurosurgery by Harvey Cushing and Walter Dandy, cardiac surgery by Alfred Blalock and Vivien Thomas, and child psychiatry by Leo Kanner. Johns Hopkins Children's Center, which serves infants, children, teens, and young adults aged 0–21, is attached to the hospital.
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Only the American Visionary Arts Museum could claim to be more unique than this very off-the-beaten-path museum, and it might be wrong. The catchy name betrays the extremely disturbing content (make sure your kids are prepared). It's appropriately disturbing, though, as much of African American history is horrifying even without seeing it reproduced with life-sized wax figures. The first room you enter sets the tone: a cramped slave ship, packed with brutalized slaves watched over by a sadistic slavemaster. The lynching scene is in a separate room downstairs, so you can get through the museum without getting those particular nightmares. It's not all doom and gloom, though, as the story of African Americans is full of personal triumphs and huge contributions to the society of not just this country, but of the world.
Greenmount Cemetery is Baltimore's most interesting after Westminster Hall downtown, with beautiful, tranquil, rolling hills, and interesting Gothic chapels and statuary. Among the most famous interred are a long list of Maryland governors, John Wilkes Booth and a few of his co-conspirators, Johns Hopkins himself, as well as William Thompson Walters and his son Henry Walters, the famous art collectors and founders of the Walters Art Museum. Fans of the HBO series, The Wire should recognize this as the location for several important scenes. Pick up a map from the office to the right of the gates at Oliver St. In May and October, you can take guided tours—check the website for details.
Open year round, this indoor ice rink is too far away for your average city visitor, unless they have a car, but it's a good escape for a family from touring the sights.
Similarly remote, and a similarly fun escape from the city center. It is Maryland style duck-pin bowling, so it's especially great for kids who aren't yet ready to wield the big balls. They also have a video arcade, pizza and beer, and easy parking.