In fall 2009, the Arabbers’ largest stable was shut down by the Baltimore City Health Department after inspectors cited unsafe conditions. The property, actually part of an urban-renewal project, was always meant to be temporary, as the city was working on creating permanent safe and appropriate stabling for the horses.
While the tradition of the horse-drawn street carts delights tourists and is a useful means of delivering food to less mobile citizens, it carries with it a host of complex issues, including the humane treatment of the animals and freshness of the food. Therein lays the tension between the city of Baltimore and those wanting to sustain the culturally important tradition of Arabbing.
Baltimore’s Arabbers are the last horse-cart vendors in the country. “Dating back to our early history as a city, Arabbing has been, and is today, an accessible opportunity for self-employment for African Americans and others that provides a much-needed and colorful service to inner-city residents with limited access to fresh food,” says Daniel Van Allen, president of the Arabber Preservation Society, who nominated the Arabbers for this year’s Endangered Maryland list.
The contact with horses and the unique harnesses, wagons, and vendor hollers, as well as the skills that are necessary to maintain and operate a horse cart, also bring an important old-time culture to a modern, often alienating cityscape, explains Van Allen.
At the time of publication, the Arabber Preservation Society was struggling to assist the city’s two remaining working Arabbers.
For more information, visit www.baltimoremd.com/arabber.
Preservation Magazine's 2006 article on Baltimore's Arabber's - The Wanderer's Song
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