About Wyman Park Dell
Park History
The Wyman Park Dell is a 16-acre public park that is a landmark in Central Baltimore. Located south of Johns Hopkins University and the Baltimore Museum of Art, it is surrounded by two neighborhoods: Charles Village to the east and south, and Remington to the west.
The Dell is noted for its steep enclosing slopes and a large, sweeping lower lawn. It is one of the few parks in Baltimore fully conceived and designed by the Olmsted Brothers, the landscape architecture firm responsible for the City’s first comprehensive park system plan in 1904.
Wyman Park Dell
Master Plan
Early 2000s
Developing the Master Plan
The Wyman Park Dell Master Plan Steering Committee engaged local landscape architecture firm Mahan Rykiel Associates to lead the local community in developing a Master Plan for the Dell. The master plan process was grounded in community-based planning with involvement from the surrounding communities and institutions.
August 2006
Plan Approved
The plan was presented by the Baltimore City Department of Recreation and Parks to the Baltimore City Commission for Historical and Architectural Preservation (CHAP) and approved with the exception of two items.
2010
Dry Stone Wall Restored
Restoration of the dry stone wall in the Lower Dell, an important Dell icon
2013
Park Information Board Installed
Welcome signs with message boards at the main entrances to the park are installed to orient visitors and provide space to market community events.
2015
Playground Constructed
Baltimore City Department of Recreation and Parks constructs a new playground in the Dell. Ping Pong Baltimore partners with FWPD to install a ping pong table nearby.
2016
Shade Sail Installed
As an extension of the playground project, a shade sail is installed with support from the Homewood Community Partners Initiative.
2017
Tree Pruning
A grant from the Johns Hopkins Neighborhood Fund helps prune trees to improve safety and visibility.
2020
Slope Clearing
The FWPD crowdfunds money to hire Eco-Goats to clear the “BMA Slope” of invasive vegetation.
What improvements would you like to see at the park?
The Wyman Park Dell Master Plan process was underwritten through a generous grant from the Goldseker Foundation with additional contributions from the Baltimore Museum of Art, Johns Hopkins University, the Friends of Wyman Park Dell, Remington community members, the Charles Village Civic Association, the Friends of Maryland’s Olmsted Parks and Landscapes, the Baltimore City Department of Recreation and Parks, and the Baltimore Community Foundation.
The Friends of Wyman Park Dell continue to implement the Master Plan with the support of volunteers and Baltimore’s philanthropic community.
Harriet Tubman Grove
The grove on the western plateau of the Dell is now named in honor of Harriet Tubman, an abolitionist and “conductor” on the Underground Railroad. At a community celebration on March 10, 2018, Tubman’s living descendants joined community residents, local activists, and City and State officials to rededicate the area of Wyman Park Dell where a Confederate monument once stood. The monument base remains.
The Lee and Jackson Monument was removed from the Dell on August 16, 2017, as national debate around Confederate monuments intensified after deadly white supremacist violence in Charlottesville, Virginia. More information is available through the Baltimore Commission on Historical and Architectural Preservation and the Special Commission to Review Baltimore’s Confederate Monuments.
In 2020, placemaking and interpretive signage was installed in the grove in collaboration with Baltimore City Department of Recreation and Parks and the Commission for Historical and Architectural Preservation. This project was made possible by the Baltimore National Heritage Area.
“Great little slice of nature in the middle of Charles Village.”
– Park Visitor