For the next several months, Mr. Waldon said, the original painting will be displayed at the fort, the Maryland Historical Society, the Bank of Baltimore, and other locations around the state. When the visitor center is complete, it will hang there permanently.
This is the 200th anniversary of the year Congress allocated funds to build Fort McHenry as part of the nation's defense against enemy invasion.
Construction began in 1798 and continued until 1802. It served as a fort until 1912, and became a national park in 1925.
Planners are hoping to complete both the fort's brick wall restoration and the visitor center in time for the 200th anniversary of Baltimore's incorporation in 1997.
According to Mr. Walden, the title of Mr. Gallon's painting was taken from a phrase in an untitled, 1930s poem by Henry van Dyke that concludes:
Oh, it's home again, and home again, America for me!
I want a ship that's westward bound to plough the rolling sea.
To the blessed Land of Room Enough beyond the ocean bars,
Where the air is full of sunlight and the flag is full of stars.
