BALTIMORE — For the 42nd year, a very patriotic marker is now bobbing in the waters at the edge of the Baltimore Harbor.
A Coast Guard cutter formally set a historic star-spangled buoy, known as the Francis Scott Key Memorial Buoy, in the Patapsco River on Wednesday, announced the Coast Guard.
The special buoy is between Fort McHenry and the Francis Scott Key Bridge, and marks the approximate site where Francis Scott Key watched the bombardment of Fort McHenry in 1814.
Lt. Corey Engle, commanding officer of the USCGC William Tate cutter, said the buoy also "commemorates the citizens and soldiers who endured the siege of Baltimore." The Coast Guard notes the buoy "has been an attraction for boaters and tourists for decades."
It's set each summer and removed just before the winter. The Coast Guard maintains 262 buoys along the Atlantic Coast, Delaware Bay and upper Chesapeake Bay.
