When people walk out to the waterfront pier behind the Baltimore Marine Center in Canton, they’ll find a small shack labeled “Charm City Helicopters.” At the front desk inside is 28-year-old Caitlin Shipley, who generally gets asked the same question.

“People will ask, ‘So, what do you do here?’” she says. “And when I say I’m the owner, they act surprised. Then when they find out I’m a pilot as well, they’re even more so. I’m not going to lie, it feels good to overcome that stereotype.”

Going against the grain is characteristic for Shipley, who moved to Maryland and noticed there were no helicopter tours being offered in Baltimore like in her native Nevada. So she decided to start her own.

Located on Pier 7 owned by Scott Plank just off of Clinton Street in Canton, Charm City Helicopters was founded nearly two years ago. Shipley’s fiance, Freddie Ephraim, a pilot who flies the Johns Hopkins Hospital medevac chopper, is a back-up tour pilot and assists with marketing.

“I came to this pier every day to visit Freddie and saw how busy it was between news choppers and medevacs fueling up,” Shipley says. “I couldn’t believe no one was offering tours from the only civilian heliport in the city.”

The company fills that void with custom packages that range from a 15-minute downtown Baltimore tour that features a flyover of Patterson Park and the stadiums ($139/person) all the way up to an engagement/anniversary package that includes a helicopter tour and six-course dinner with wine pairings at La Cuchara ($369/person).

Charm City Helicopter pilots operate a four-passenger Bell 206 aircraft equipped with large bubble windows for optimum views. Despite her fear of heights, Shipley went to flight school at the prestigious Bristow Academy near Cape Canaveral in Florida after meeting a friend who was passionate about aviation.

“I fell in love with the freedom of flying,” Shipley says. “It was liberating to be so close to the earth and see everything but be able to go wherever you want. The lack of traffic was nice, too.”

She has lived about a dozen places over the years and says that she has fallen in love with Baltimore’s supportive community and the gorgeous views from 2,000 feet in the air.

“Maybe it’s because I’m from the desert, but there is something about that water,” she says. “I am also blown away by the amount of greenery in a city, too, and when you combine that with the water view, it really is astounding.”

Besides preparing for their October wedding, Shipley and Ephraim are looking to expand the business into more events and festivals, where attendees can take quick, 10-minute helicopter rides. Eventually, they’d like one full-time aircraft for tours and a second for events.

“Everyone’s reaction when they first fly is very similar,” Shipley says. “There is fear in the moment right before you take off. But as soon as you’re up and over the water, and see Ft. McHenry and the John W. Brown ship, you let that go. Distraction takes your fear away.”

BLACK HISTORY MONTH AT THE B&O
2/1-28. B&O Railroad Museum, 901 W. Pratt St. Mon.-Sat. 10 a.m.-4 p.m., Sun. 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Free-$20. Learn about the historic contributions of African Americans to the United States railroad industry.

FREEDOM: EMANCIPATION QUILTED & STITCHED
TO 2/28. Reginald F. Lewis Museum, 830 E. Pratt St. Wed.-Sat. 10 a.m.-5 p.m., Sun. 12-5 p.m. Free-$8. This new exhibit features documentary-style story quilts that honor the lives and legacies of people of color in Maryland.

AFRICAN AMERICANS WHO SERVED DURING WARTIME
2/10. Benjamin Banneker Historical Park & Museum, 300 Oella Ave., Catonsville. 1:30-3 p.m. Free. Celebrate two decades of the park and commemorate Banneker relatives who served during times of war.

JOHNS HOPKINS BLACK HISTORY MONTH STUDENT COMPETITION & EXHIBITION
2/24-3/4. Creative Alliance, 3134 Eastern Ave. Tues.-Sat. 11 a.m.-7 p.m. Free. Southeast Baltimore students showcase artworks inspired by and featuring historical black figures.

VISIONARY ARTISTS OF COLOR
2/14. American Visionary Art Museum, 800 Key Hwy. 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Free-$15.95. In honor of Frederick Douglass’ 200th birthday, enjoy a self-guided tour through the art museum’s collection to view works by African Americans and other artists of color.

BLACK HISTORY MONTH TEEN LISTENING PARTY
2/6-27. Enoch Pratt Free Library, 3601 Eastern Ave. Tues. 3-4 p.m. Free. Throughout the month, young adults can listen to the works of celebrated black authors.

CIRQUE ZUMA ZUMA WITH TRADITIONAL AFRICAN DANCE
2/15. Goucher College, 1021 Dulaney Valley Rd., Towson. 10:15 a.m. & 12 p.m. $9. This lively performance includes music, dance, and acrobatics to create an African-style Cirque du Soleil.

TELL THEM WE ARE RISING
2/18. Reginald F. Lewis Museum, 830 E. Pratt St. 2 p.m. Free. During this documentary film screening, learn about the pivotal role historically black colleges and universities have played in American history.

I HAVE A DREAM: THE LIFE & TIMES OF DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING JR.
2/22. Goucher College, 1021 Dulaney Valley Rd., Towson. 10:15 a.m. & 12 p.m. $9. Performance artists present this biographical dramatization about the legendary civil rights leader.

ANNAPOLIS AFRICAN-AMERICAN HERITAGE TOUR
2/17. City Dock, Annapolis. 1-3 p.m. Free-$20. Explore the history and culture of Maryland’s African-American community through this guided walking tour.

FREDERICK DOUGLASS PATH TO FREEDOM WALKING TOURS
TO 9/3. 800 S. Broadway. Times vary. $7-15. These guided walking tours take history buffs through the iconic abolitionist’s life in Fells Point.

ANNAPOLIS

Two companies lead ghost tours here: Tours & Crawls of Annapolis and Watermark. The former offers a 90-minute walking tour of the downtown, detailing creepy characters from an undead gravedigger to a headless man. A pub-crawl version of the tour exists, too, as does a “Twisted History” bar hop that revels in tales of “murder, mayhem, sex, and scandal.” Watermark’s Historic Ghost Walk runs on Fridays, Saturdays, and some Sundays and traffics in unnerving anecdotes about drowned watermen, apparitions , and uncanny coincidences.

ELLICOTT CITY

The old EC bills itself as “perhaps the most haunted town in America,” a place where “spiritual energy somehow pockets.” Decide for yourself by taking Ye Haunted History of Olde Ellicott City Ghost Tour, where guides relate both recent and ancient accounts of paranormal activity at area establishments. For those interested in both alcoholic and etheral spirits, there’s the Spirits of Ellicott City Tour with stops at watering holes such as Ellicott Mills Brewing Company and the Diamondback Tavern, said to be haunted by the ghost of a woman with flowing hair.

FREDERICK

Fredrick possesses some pretty powerful local lore. There’s the one about a mysterious man in black who was executed for his loyalty to the British crown in 1781, and a yarn about staunch Unionist Barbara Fritchie, who is said to haunt her historic district home. These tales and more can be heard on the Candlelight Historic District Ghost Tour, while the Evening Cemetery Tour takes intrepid interlopers through the graves, crypts, and monuments of Mt. Olivet Cemetery, the resting place of Francis Scott Key, Fritchie, and other famous Marylanders.

FELLS POINT

From shanghaied sailors to bloodcurdling bordellos, Fells Point has a colorful—and sometimes creepy—past. Several tours recount the madness, including the Original Fells Point Ghostwalk, the Original Fells Point Haunted PubWalk, and two different “Wicked History” pub tours, all run by the venerable (since 2001) Baltimore Ghost Tours. Tours and Crawls of Baltimore is a more recent arrival on the scene, but also offers a ghost tour and a pub crawl that indulge in terrifying tales of a spectral boot maker and the so-called “Night Nurse” who haunts the Admiral Fell Inn.

MT. VERNON

An offshoot of the Original Fells Point GhostWalk, the Mt. Vernon GhostWalk introduces tour-takers to the timeless phantoms inhabiting the city’s cultural district. Between guests that never checked out of The Belvedere Hotel, séances-gone-wrong, and bygone society matrons who refuse to leave their historic mansions, Mt. Vernon is full of odd happenings, sure to rattle even the bravest of souls.

SAVAGE MILL

Once a textile mill that wove canvas for clipper ships, Civil War tents, and silent-movie screens, Historic Savage Mill has been reinvigorated as an upscale shopping center. But that doesn’t mean the past is gone. Store owners have reported whispers coming from empty rooms, sightings of mischievous child spirit known to trip shoppers, and even a literal ghost in the machine, said to emerge sporadically from an office computer. And don’t get locals started on the bell in the tower that seems to ring by itself. Hear these stories and more during Ghost Walks at Historic Savage Mill.