Hampton

https://www.nps.gov/hamp/index.htm https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hampton_National_Historic_Site Hampton National Historic Site, in the Hampton area north of Towson, Baltimore County, Maryland, USA, preserves a remnant of a vast 18th-century estate, including a Georgian manor house, gardens, grounds, and the original stone slave quarters. The estate was owned by the Ridgely family for seven generations, from 1745 to 1948. The Hampton Mansion was the largest private home in America when it was completed in 1790 and today is considered to be one of the finest examples of Georgian architecture in the U.S. Hampton National Historic Site preserves what remains of a once 25,000-acre enslavement plantation. For hundreds of years, enslaved people, indentured servants, tenant farmers, paid laborers, and the Ridgely family all made their own contributions to Hampton, creating a space where cruelty and decadence collide to provide a complex history of the United States. Hampton is easy to get to because it's close to three interstate highways--routes 695, 70, and 95. From the Baltimore Beltway (I 695) eastbound or westbound: Take Exit 27B, Dulaney Valley Road northbound. Take the first right turn onto Hampton Lane. The park will be on your right, about one mile from the intersection. PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION: Bus #11 stops at Goucher College, less than one mile from Hampton. The Light Rail stop at Lutherville is approximately three miles from Hampton NHS. Visitor Center The Hampton Visitor Center, historic buildings, and interpretive operations are open Thursdays - Sundays from 9:00 am to 4:00 pm. Tickets for mansion tours, park brochures, and passport stamps are available in the Visitor Center. Amenities include restrooms, gift shop, and a water bottle refill station. From the Baltimore Beltway (I 695) eastbound or westbound: Take Exit 27B, Dulaney Valley Road northbound. Take the first right turn onto Hampton Lane. The park will be on your right, about one mile from the intersection. PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION: Bus #11 stops at Goucher College, less than one mile from Hampton. The Light Rail stop at Lutherville is approximately three miles from Hampton NHS. Once inside the park gates on the mansion side, continue up the road to the main parking lot. The visitor contact stat Hampton Mansion Historic Site Hampton Mansion in the fall Hampton Mansion in the Fall Emancipation and the Quest for Freedom Although the abolition of slavery emerged as a dominant objective of the Union war effort, most Northerners embraced abolition as a practical measure rather than a moral cause. The war resolved legally and constitutionally the single most important moral question that afflicted the nascent republic, an issue that prevented the country from coalescing around a shared vision of freedom, equality, morality, and nationhood. Slave family seated in front of their house Eliza Ridgely's Harp The May 2020 Hampton NHS Object of the Month is Eliza Ridgely's harp. Learn more about the harp in this article. Modern day image of Eliza Ridgely's harp in the mansion music room Object of the Month July 2020 Hampton's July 2020 object of the month is its collection of painted furniture. A painted chair. Object of the Month June 2020 HAMP's June 2020 Object of the Month is Helen Ridgely's typewriter. Learn more about the typewriter in this article. Helen Ridgely's Typewriter The Civilian Experience in the Civil War After being mere spectators at the war's early battles, civilians both near and far from the battlefields became unwilling participants and victims of the war as its toll of blood and treasure grew year after year. In response to the hardships imposed upon their fellow citizens by the war, civilians on both sides mobilized to provide comfort, encouragement, and material, and began to expect that their government should do the same. Painting of civilians under fire during the Siege of Vicksburg The Changing War Begun as a purely military effort with the limited political objectives of reunification (North) or independence (South), the Civil War transformed into a social, economic and political revolution with unforeseen consequences. As the war progressed, the Union war effort steadily transformed from a limited to a hard war; it targeted not just Southern armies, but the heart of the Confederacy's economy, morale, and social order-the institution of slavery. Woodcut of spectators watching a train station set fire by Sherman's troops Object of the Month August 2020 August's object of the month is the Ridgely's Croquet Set! A historic croquet set with manual. Object of the Month September 2020 September 2020's object of the month is the silver epergne. A silver epergne with a white background. Archeology ABCs Coloring Book Archeology paints a colorful picture of the past! Download and print this full coloring book packed with archeological objects from A to Z! Title page for coloring book entitled Archeology ABCs Coloring Book Object of the Month December 2020 December's object of the month is a silver presentation tray. A circular silver tray with an engraving in the center. Object of the Month June 2021 June 2021 Object of the Month for Hampton NHS is a collection of gospel hymns titled Gospel Hymns: Numbers 5 and 6 Combined by Ira Sankey, Stebbins, and McGranahan. gospel hymn book Object of the Month December 2021 December's Object of the Month is the collection of historic Christmas cards! Historic Christmas card with a fox hunt scene. Object of the Month January 2022 January's Object of the Month is the Ridgely's squirrel cages! A cage painted green and orange, meant to hold squirrels. From TTAP to NPS: Ben Lammers Ben Lammers successfully completed the Traditional Trades Advancement Program and is now an NPS employee. We caught up with him to hear about his experience in TTAP and his transition to the NPS. Two people work on an old window frame. The window has peeling red paint on it. A Lifelong Connection to National Parks Interview with retired park ranger and volunteer Paul Plamann. Picture of Ranger Paul holding up a newspaper article about him. From Structures to Stories - How Tom began giving tours at Hampton NHS Highlighting one of our amazing and passionate volunteers, Tom Lonegro, and how he began giving tours at the Hampton Mansion. An elderly white male person, named Tom, standing in the dining room inside of the Hampton Mansion From Furniture to Families—A Volunteer’s View of Hampton National Historic Site Margaret is one of Hampton’s longest serving volunteers and has seen nearly 40 years of change in the park, its visitation, and how the site’s collection of historic structures and over 45,000-object collection are used to interpret the stories of those who lived and labored at the once 25,000-acre plantation. Picture of volunteer Margaret standing inside the mansion. Making Volunteering a Tradition - Burt & Jeff Burt has been a volunteer with the National Park Service for a couple decades. He is passionate and a hard worker. Jeff was inspired by Burt, who is his father, to begin volunteering as well. A picture of Bert and Jeff together. Indust-tree-ous Mapping Methods Tree mapping project at Fort McHenry NM & HS, Hampton NHS, Star-Spangled Banner NHT Project Profile: Landscape Stewardship Corps Pre-Apprenticeship Program In collaboration with the Olmsted Center for Landscape Preservation, the Historic Preservation Training Center is launching the Traditional Trades Advancement Program-Landscape Stewardship Corps, a nationwide internship program aimed at inspiring youth. The program focuses on providing hands-on experiences and training in cultural landscape preservation, preparing the next generation to become stewards of the National Park Service. Two people working with seeds Landscape Stewardship Corps The Landscape Stewardship Corps, supported by the Inflation Reduction Act and the American Conservation Experience, is composed of 35 interns at 19 National Park sites. A young intern smiles with a hard hat and goggles on under a branch Guide to the Ronald F. Lee Papers This finding aid describes the Ronald F. Lee Papers, part of the NPS History Collection. Ronald F. Lee From being inspired to making a difference - A volunteer that was inspired by Hampton Phyllis is one of Hampton’s volunteers! She is very passionate and knowledgeable! Learn more about how much she helps! Phyllis standing near the Hampton Sign. Baltimore Area National Parks Dynamic Duo Volunteer Charles and maintenance team member Bud work together each week to keep the parks’ engines humming, to ensure the historic landscapes are beautiful and inviting to visitors, and habitats preserved for the animals that call its meadows and trees home. Volunteer Charles and Ranger Bud standing side-by-side. Ann's story at Hampton Ann is with our friend's group Historic Hampton Inc (HHI). She has played a role in supporting and helping Hampton for decades! It all started when her friend invited her to a meeting. She told us all about her experience with Hampton, click to learn more! Person named Ann

Hampton Children of tenant farmers, ca. 1895. Eliza Ridgely III and Nancy Brown Davis, her caregiver, ca. 1863. Hampton National Historic Site Maryland Hampton mansion, 1838, by Robert Carey Long Jr. COURTESY, PRIVATE COLLECTION Hampton National Historic Site preserves the center of a once-vast Maryland plantation. A microcosm of the nation, it reflects two centuries of American social, historical, and economic development. Workers near corn crib, ca. 1895. Lady with a Harp: Eliza Ridgely, by C.G. Stapko, 1950, after Thomas Sully, 1818. labor. This is reflected in details of the lives of its free and enslaved people and in the skillfully laid stonework of farm buildings, polished surfaces of furnishings, and landscaped grounds. National Park Service U.S. Department of the Interior Parterre with gardeners, 1878. ALL IMAGES — NPS UNLESS OTHERWISE CREDITED Hampton’s story is the narrative of this place and its people. Visitors can explore the estate, owned by seven generations of the Ridgely family, as it evolved within a nation struggling to define its own concept of freedom. Until 1864, when Maryland abolished slavery, Hampton’s economy and social structure rested on a foundation of forced By the early 1800s Gov. Charles Carnan Ridgely had expanded Hampton to nearly 25,000 acres (right). By 1829 almost 350 enslaved people worked in its operations. Farm buildings, ca. 1910. Making of Hampton From the mid-1700s through the mid-1800s, a succession of enslaved, indentured, and free workers made Hampton prosperous. Beginning in 1745, they cleared land and cultivated tobacco on portions of a 1,500-acre tract purchased by Baltimore merchant Col. Charles Ridgely. The property supplied Northampton Ironworks (right) with the natural resources for making iron starting in 1761. Workers refined, forged, and cast ore to make pig iron, domestic objects (fireback, right), and munitions for the Continental Army in the American Revolutionary War. Hampton’s diverse agricultural operations, including grain crops, orchards, and livestock, allowed it to prosper for decades. A prize-winning Jersey dairy cattle herd, carefully recorded in this booklet (left), made it possible to manage the switch from enslaved to paid and tenant labor. When grain farming (above) became less profitable in the early 1900s, dairy operations were essential. NPS / RICHARD SCHLECHT Northampton Ironworks (above, artist’s depiction) provided the income that transformed Hampton into one of the largest plantations in Maryland by 1829. This success was achieved largely through the The ironworks closed in the early 1830s. Agriculture, based on enslaved labor until 1864, became the main enterprise on the plantation until the 1940s. labor of enslaved people. Many are listed by name on the 1829 estate inventory of Gov. Charles Carnan Ridgely (right). Slavery and the Quest for Freedom Hampton reflects the hypocrisy of the nation’s founding ideology, that a nation founded on the principles of equality and freedom also embraced slavery. Before Maryland declared emancipation in 1864, about 80 people enslaved here at Hampton sought freedom through escape. Others were manumitted (freed) by their enslavers, who set the terms. Gov. Charles Carnan Ridgely’s 1829 will manumitted or gave delayed manumission to some of the nearly 350 people he enslaved. This action split many families apart. It freed Polly Batty, an enslaved woman at the ironworks, but her five-year-old daughter, Nancy Brown, remained enslaved for 20 more years. Upon receiving her freedom, Nancy continued working at Hampton as a paid caregiver (above left). Despite the confines of enslavement, many individuals moved to seize control over their own lives. Rebecca Posey sought her freedom from Hampton and succeeded (newspaper notice, Baltimore Sun, August 26, 1852, above). Mary Jones petitioned for her certificate of freedom in 1860 (right). Eleven bells like this one (right) hang in a servants’ entrance between the family’s living quarters and the kitchen. The bells directed the lives of Hampton’s house servants, summoning them to work. Because of its cultural and natural resources, Hampton National Historic Site is considered a “national treasure.” The National Park Service, Avalon Foundation, and Society for the Preservation of Maryland Antiquities formed a partnership to preserve and operate Hampton. Head coachman Nathan Harris (above) was known as a “famous driver of four horses.” After emancipation, his skill empowered him to choose a life away from Hampton. Harris established a successful stable near Baltimore. National Significance By the mid-1900s Hampton farm was no longer financially viable. When National Gallery of Art director David Finley visited to consider buying a painting in the mansion, he realized Hampton’s significance. Charitable foundations, preservation organizations, and the federal government worked in cooperation to make it a national historic site. Its 194