The neighborhood of Homewood takes its name from the historical museum located on the campus of Johns Hopkins University, which the neighborhood surrounds. Homewood Museum is a National Historic Landmark, built around 1800 by Charles Carroll, the longest-surviving signer of the Declaration of Independence -- he died in 1832 at the age of 95. Carroll was a US Senator for the state of Maryland from 1781 until 1800; he also helped establish the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad.
Because much of the neighborhood consists of the university, most of the apartment communities are located along the edges of the neighborhood, especially along University Parkway and Charles Street. In addition to the university and the museum, Homewood also contains Wyman Park, which contains part of the Stony Run Trail, the Space Telescope Science Institute, and Homewood Field, the university's sports stadium for the football, lacrosse, soccer, and field hockey teams.