The Horse You Came In On Saloon

The Horse You Came In On is the quintessential Baltimore bar — dark, historic, unpretentious, and loud. Located on Thames Street in the heart of Fells Point, it has been serving drinks since 1775, making it one of the oldest continuously operating bars in the United States. The interior has the accumulated patina of 250 years of use, and the crowd on any given night is a genuinely democratic mix of locals, visitors, and people who simply materialised there.

Live music most nights, cheap drinks always, and the kind of atmosphere that cannot be manufactured. The Poe connection is more legend than history, but everything else about this bar is real.

bars and cafes bar fells point
A story
Edgar Allan Poe is said to have had his last drink at this location in October 1849 before being found delirious on the street a day or two later. Whether the story is true is unverifiable, but the bar has been operating continuously since 1775, making it the oldest continuously operating tavern in Baltimore. It has survived the Revolution, the War of 1812, Prohibition (somehow), and several centuries of Fells Point rowdiness.