BALTIMORE, Md. — They're called ghost rivers. You can't see them. Sometimes, you can hear them. But they're flowing right beneath your feet all throughout the city of Baltimore.
"I was looking at an old map of Baltimore and Remington and I noticed there was this creek running right through the middle of where Remington is now. It's obviously no longer here now, looking around it's roads, rowhouses, buildings," said local artist Bruce Willen.
That map piqued Willen's curiosity. And once he started painting these blue lines, marking where the streams are hiding, it got neighbors who live in this area curious too.
"Personally I love walking down the sidewalk and seeing something and not really knowing what it is and wanting to get closer."
Once you get closer, and discover there's a buried stream below you, you'll likely want to know: Why was it buried? And, are there more? Bruce has done his research.
"Most of these rivers were buried primarily for real estate developments. I mean, the city was growing very very rapidly in the early 20th century. And right where we're standing was a 40 foot valley. Obviously, you can't build houses or factories on these steep drop-offs so the land was flattened and cleared to build."
He says there are dozens of waterways like this one in Remington. He's marked 10 of them as part of this public art project. At least two more are in the works. And maybe in the future, the painted lines can be replaced with the real thing once again.
"There's actually a growing movement called 'daylighting,' bringing these buried streams back to daylight. And it helps restore some of the ecology and the landscape but it also creates these amazing amenities for people who live here."
Willen has teamed up with nonprofit Blue Water Baltimore to show people around the hidden web of water through a walking tour.
"I just want people to be able to look at their neighborhood and the urban landscape in a new light. Certainly working on this project has helped me to look at Baltimore with new eyes."
You can find out more about the project, and the locations of the installations here.