With Ghost Rivers, the designer Bruce Willen calls attention to Baltimore?s buried streams.
By Timothy A. Schuler
Ghost Rivers memorializes Sumwalt Run, a stream in Baltimore that was buried in the early 20th century. Image © Public Mechanics.
 ?What would a monument to [a] river look like"? This was the question that Bruce Willen asked himself in the summer of 2020. The artist and founder of Baltimore?s Public Mechanics design studio was, like a lot of people during the pandemic, spending an unusual amount of time outside, and one day he heard water running below the street. It jogged a memory of a historic map and a river called the Sumwalt Run that no longer existed. ?There was a lot of conversation about monuments going on, and I was thinking about, how do you not just memorialize an event or person but a place"? Willen says.  That question now has an answer. Ghost Rivers is a permanent public art installation that visualizes the now-buried waterway known as Sumwalt Run, a tributary of Baltimore?s Jones Falls that was encapsulated in the city?s storm-sewer pipe in the early 20th century. Installed in multiple locations throughout the city?s Remington neighborhood?the first nine opened in October 2023; another three are planned for 2024?the artwork consists of a meandering blue stripe that traces the river?s original path. Adjacent signage in the same powder blue interprets various aspects of the stream?s history, including memories shared by area residents ...