Baltimore Peninsula is pointless | READER COMMENTARY

Why rename Port Covington to “Baltimore Peninsula?” What’s the point? Fell’s Point, Locust Point, Sparrow’s Point, and North Point are all peninsulas. They all have points, more or less. How is it that Port Covington rates as Baltimore’s peninsula?

That’s just one point. There’s also this: Port Covington has a history (”Port Covington’s rebranding: How remarkably generic and boring is ‘Baltimore Peninsula’?” Nov. 16). During the War of 1812, it was Fort Covington. Its cannons joined those of Fort McHenry in holding off the British invasion fleet. The next evening, it turned its guns on a collection of British barges and prevented them from landing the troops who were supposed to circumvent Fort McHenry and attack Baltimore from the West.

Fort Covington was named after Brigadier General Leonard Covington, a Maryland native who was killed in 1813 at a battle in upstate New York, part of an ill-advised American attempt to invade Canada. The Fort became a Port when the Western Maryland Railroad located its waterfront terminal there. Port Covington’s name is an allusion to history. Baltimore Peninsula is an allusion to nothing in particular. It’s pointless

— Matthew Crenson, Towson

Add your voice: Respond to this piece or other Sun content by submitting your own letter.