Tours

Important things to know about tours:

AGM registrants in the Attendee and Companion categories may purchase tours as part of AGM registration. If space remains, tours may be opened to Attendees’ non-registered traveling partners in late summer.

Tours must meet minimum headcounts in order to run. If a tour is canceled due to low enrollment, you will be given a full refund.

Tour prices include transportation where specified, meals where specified, guide services, destination entry fees, all taxes, and gratuities. All prices are in U.S. dollars.

Times shown for bus tours are times the buses arrive for loading. Please arrive at the assembly point no later than the times shown to allow for check-in and boarding.

We are offering a variety of tours, but every tour may not be suitable for every person. Please read descriptions and accessibility notes carefully.

Shuttles for Self-Guided Tours, on JASNA-Chartered Buses

Cost: $25
Thursday, 9:15 am to 5:00 pm

Includes: Shuttle bus wristband only. Entrance fees to destinations at the stops are not included in the shuttle fee.

Buses will run on two loops from the hotel. Registered participants will be issued a wristband that will allow them to hop on and off the buses on either route at any of the stops. The “Sense” route will stop at Frederick Douglass-Isaac Myers Park, the Sagamore Pendry Hotel, the Reginald F. Lewis Museum, Flag House, Mount Vernon Place (Washington Monument, Walters Art Museum, and the Maryland Center for History and Culture), and the Enoch Pratt Free Library. The “Sensibility” route will stop at the American Visionary Art Museum, Fort McHenry, and the National Aquarium.

Accessibility notes:

The bus has “kneeling” capacity at the curb to facilitate boarding.
If required, please request a wheelchair-accessible bus during registration.
Check with specific sites you plan to visit on the routes if you need accessibility options or contact the AGM Coordinator for assistance prior to September 1.

Winterthur Museum, Garden & Library Tour

Cost: $120
Wednesday, 8:15 am to 4:30 pm
Thursday, 8:15 am to 4:30 pm

Includes: Bus transportation, museum admission, lunch

The Winterthur Museum collection contains more than 90,000 works of art, pieces of furniture, and objects collected by Henry Francis du Pont. The 60-acre naturalistic garden, which can be explored on foot or by tram, focuses on color and design. The library contains rare books, ephemera, and photographs, including the 1816 Philadelphia edition of Emma. A box lunch will be included in the tour.

Accessibility notes:

The bus has “kneeling” capacity at the curb to facilitate boarding.
If required, please request a wheelchair-accessible bus during registration.
All of Winterthur’s exhibition galleries are wheelchair accessible. The Introductory Tour and most other tours of rooms in the house are also accessible. The shuttles, garden trams, and most walking paths are wheelchair accessible. For more information, visit https://www.winterthur.org/visit/plan-your-visit/transportation-and-special-needs-access/

Nevermore Poe Guided Tour

Cost: $65
Wednesday, 1:15 pm to 4:15 pm
Thursday, 8:45 am to 11:45 am
Thursday, 1:15 pm to 4:15 pm
Sunday, 12:45 pm to 3:45 pm
Monday, 9:15 am to 12:15 pm

Includes: Bus transportation, museum admission

This bus tour focuses on the life and legacy of Edgar Allan Poe. Stops at the Edgar Allan Poe House & Museum and the Westminster Burying Ground, site of his tomb, will be featured.

Accessibility notes:

The bus has “kneeling” capacity at the curb to facilitate boarding.
The Poe House is not wheelchair accessible.
The terrain at Westminster Burying Ground is uneven and could be challenging for those with mobility issues.

Walking Tours in Fells Point

Fells Point, located about ½ mile from the hotel, is an historic waterfront neighborhood featuring cobblestone streets, historic architecture, and a multitude of restaurants and bars.

Fells Point Pub Crawl

Cost: $70
Wednesday, 6:45 pm to 10:00 pm
Thursday, 6:45 pm to 10:00 pm
Friday, 5:45 pm to 9:00 pm

Includes: Professional guide, tastings

This walking tour will fill participants with the area’s history and tastings at three drinking establishments. The tour will start and end at the hotel.

Accessibility notes:

This is a nighttime, walking-only tour through historic cobblestone streets with possibly uneven pavements.

Fells Point Ghost Tour

Cost: $38
Thursday, 6:45 pm to 9:15 pm
Friday, 6:15 pm to 8:45 pm
Friday, 7:15 pm to 9:45 pm

Includes: Professional guide

This walking tour, which will start and end at the hotel, will take participants through the ghostly past—and present—of Fells Point.

Accessibility notes:

This is a nighttime, walking-only tour through historic cobblestone streets with possibly uneven pavements.

Homewood Museum and Baltimore Museum of Art 1, With Lunch

Cost: $120
Thursday, 9:15 am to 2:30 pm

Includes: Bus transportation, museum admissions, lunch

The Homewood Museum, built as a home in 1801, is an outstanding example of Federal-style Palladian architecture. The tour features 11 rooms and intertwines the histories of both its past owners and the enslaved people on the estate. The Baltimore Museum of Art’s comprehensive collection contains 18th-, 19th-, and 20th-century American art, the largest collection of Matisse works in a public institution, and objects from ancient Egypt, Oceania, the ancient Americas, and Europe. The Thursday tour includes lunch at Gertrude’s Chesapeake Kitchen.

Accessibility notes:

The bus has “kneeling” capacity at the curb to facilitate boarding.
Due to the historical nature of the building, Homewood Museum is not accessible to those with impaired mobility, including those using walkers or wheelchairs. Canes can be accommodated, but please be advised that the regular tour requires climbing stairs and being able to stand for the duration of the tour.
The Baltimore Museum of Art is fully accessible.

Homewood Museum and Baltimore Museum of Art 2

Cost: $90
Sunday, 12:45 pm to 5:00 pm

Includes: Bus transportation, museum admissions

Accessibility notes:

The bus has “kneeling” capacity at the curb to facilitate boarding.
Due to the historical nature of the building, Homewood Museum is not accessible to those with impaired mobility, including those using walkers or wheelchairs. Canes can be accommodated, but please be advised that the regular tour requires climbing stairs and being able to stand for the duration of the tour.
The Baltimore Museum of Art is fully accessible.

Black History Guided Bus Tour

Cost: $38
Thursday, 9:45 am to 12:00 pm
Sunday, 12:45 pm to 3:00 pm

Includes: Bus transportation, professional guide

This bus-only tour features Baltimore’s rich Black history, including the Orchard Street Church, the Eubie Blake National Museum and Cultural Center, Billie Holiday Park, and sites important to Thurgood Marshall and Frederick Douglass. Note that the guide will speak and participants will view sites from the bus, with no admission to the sites.

Accessibility notes:

This is a bus-only tour.
The bus has “kneeling” capacity at the curb to facilitate boarding.
If required, please request a wheelchair-accessible bus during registration.

Ladew Topiary Gardens

Cost: $75
Sunday, 12:45 pm to 6:00 pm

Includes: Bus transportation, admission, afternoon snack

Across 22 acres of gardens, Ladew has more than 100 topiaries as well as “rooms” that feature a wide variety of plants and flowers. The 18th-century Manor House showcases hunting enthusiast Henry Ladew’s extensive collection of equestrian art and English antiques—and more items shaped like foxes than you can imagine.

Accessibility notes:

The bus has “kneeling” capacity at the curb to facilitate boarding.
Some of the formal gardens are accessible by paved and/or hard packed surfaces. The rest are lawn, mulched, or gravel paths. Please note that wet ground conditions can make the gardens more challenging to navigate. Only two of the rooms in the Manor House are wheelchair accessible. For more information, visit https://ladewgardens.com/Visit-Ladew/Accessibility

Goucher College’s Jane Austen Collection

Cost: Morning, $50
Cost: Afternoon with play, $75
Monday 9:15 am to 12:30 pm
Monday 1:15 pm to 7:00 pm (with play)

Includes: Bus transportation, snacks, access to Goucher exhibit
Afternoon tour also includes play.

Goucher College is the home of JASNA’s archives and has many rare, first, and translated editions of Austen’s novels. Visitors will be able to view selections from the rich collection, as well as the scrapbooks of Alberta Burke, whose bequest founded the college’s Austen collection. Burke collected a wide variety of Austen books and ephemera in both England and the United States. Her husband, Henry, was one of the founding members of JASNA.

Visitors will rotate among four exhibit and display areas, all located on the fourth floor of the Athenaeum building. On hand to answer questions will be Professor Juliette Wells and Kristen Welzenbach, Curator of Special Collections & Archives. A light morning or afternoon snack will be provided.

Treasures From the Jane Austen Collection

On view in the Special Collections Reading Room will be first and rare editions of Austen's novels, as well as publications from the author's lifetime relating to fashion, landscape design, and more. Additional highlights include selections from Goucher's unparalleled holdings of Austen novels in translation plus original archival material amassed by Alberta Burke.

New Austen-Themed Art Installation by Artists-in-Residence Lauren Adams and Victoria Pass

Professors Lauren Adams and Victoria Pass, faculty members at the Maryland Institute College of Art, are the Goucher Library's 2024-2025 Artists-in-Residence. Their explorations in the Jane Austen Collection will culminate in an art installation hung outside the entrance to the Reading Room.

By a Lady: Alberta H. Burke, Jane Austen, and the Art of Collecting

Developed by students in Professor Juliette Wells's "Jane Austen Archives Practicum" course, this exhibit introduces Alberta Burke, celebrates her achievement, and commemorates the 50th anniversary of the bequest that founded Goucher's Jane Austen Collection. Student curators will be present to speak with visitors.

Celebrating 1995: The Year That Made Jane Austen a Star

A senior project by Kaylee Ray-Williams, Goucher class of 2025, this exhibit invites viewers to consider the enduring appeal of beloved adaptations that debuted in 1995.

Play: The Complete Works of Jane Austen, Abridged (afternoon tour only)

Participants in the afternoon tour will also attend a staged reading of Tiny Dynamite’s hilarious play The Complete Works of Jane Austen, Abridged, performed by actors Jessica Bedford, Charlotte Northeast, and Shannon Michael Wamser.

Accessibility notes:

The bus has “kneeling” capacity at the curb to facilitate boarding.
If required, please request a wheelchair-accessible bus and accommodation during registration.