History
- Introduction
- The Six Masters of Hampton
- A Hampton Chronology
- Princely Pastimes
- Industries Fueling a New Nation
- Hampton at Work
"The General's lands are very well cultivated…his cattle, sheep, horses,
etc., of a superior sort, and in much finer condition than many I saw
in America. He is very famous for race horses and usually keeps three
or four such horses in training, and what enables him to do this is that
he owns very extensive iron works, or otherwise he could not."
English Visitor Richard Parkinson, 1805.
Most people today know Hampton as a sedate Georgian mansion, elegantly furnished and settled amid gardens and shade trees. Built as a country seat just after the Revolutionary War by a prominent Maryland family, the house and its immediate surroundings are just a remnant of the Hampton estate of the early 1800s.
Take
a moment to stand at an upstairs window and look out over the lawns, suburban
houses, and woodlands. In its heyday Hampton covered this land and more;
Ridgely property equaled half the area of present-day Baltimore, land
that made its owners rich through iron production, agriculture, and investments.
Hampton is the story of a family business, early American industry, and
commerce, the cultural tastes of the times, the deprivations of war, and
the economic and moral changes that finally made this kind of life obsolete.
Most importantly, Hampton is the story of its people. Scenes from Hampton's past include a colonial merchant shipper amassing thousands of acres of property along Maryland's Chesapeake shore; indentured servants casting molten iron into cannons and ammunition for the Revolutionary army; enslaved people loading barrels of grain, iron, and timber onto merchant ships bound for Europe that would return with fine wines and luxury goods.
Later scenes show a powerful businessman and politician well-known as "a very gentell man…said to keep the best table in America",; a teenaged girl making a list of Christmas gifts to her father's slaves, carefully noting full names, births, and deaths; 20th century descendants hoping to keep the estate in the family by selling off parcels of land, opening a dairy supplying milk to local schools, and pressing apples into cider.
Today, as you explore Hampton, keep these people in mind. A wealth of artifacts and scenery recreates a world where, for the better part of three centuries, a community of hundreds of individuals played out the comedies and dramas of their own lives against the backdrop of America's development as a nation.
A PALACE IN THE WILDERNESS
In 1875 a journalist chronicled the mansion's beginnings: "The country-people soon saw with amazement what was to them a palace rising in the wilderness…They called it 'Ridgely's Folly.'" Built between 1783 and 1790, Captain Charles Ridgely's dwelling rose with the new nation, yet was modeled after the aristocratic homes of another place and time. Castle Howard in Yorkshire, England, with its large octagonal cupola, may have inspired Ridgely's vision of his country residence; the Captain claimed kinship with the owners of that English estate through his mother's family.
Hampton did not have a formal architect; the master carpenter, Jehu Howell, is credited with much of the design. Local craftsmen, slaves, and indentured servants provided the labor. Hampton Mansion reflects classic Georgian symmetry: a large three-story structure connected to smaller wings on either side by hallways, or hyphens. The exterior is constructed of stone quarried on Ridgely property, stuccoed over and scored to resemble blocks of limestone. The pinkish color comes from iron oxide in the stuccoing compound.
In
keeping with its role as a symbol of wealth and power, the mansion had
large and lavish rooms where the Ridgelys indulged their taste--and the
national obsession--for the styles of ancient Greece and Rome. The set
of Baltimore-made painted furniture in the drawing room, purchased in
1832 by John and Eliza Ridgely, reflects this classical influence, as
do many other chairs, tables, sofas, and decorative items. Later owners
ushered in the Victorian mode, the Music Room displays furnishings accumulated
by several generations of Ridgelys.
The
19th century brought the exterior to its fullest glory. Italiannate gardens
set on terraced earthworks were in place by 1802 on the south side of
the mansion, while on the north side lay an English-style landscaped park.
In the 1830s and 1840s, John and Eliza Ridgely carefully enhanced the
"natural" landscape with exotic trees, including the cedar of Lebanon
on the south lawn reported to have made its way from the Middle East in
a shoebox. In 1839, horticulturist Henry Winthrop Sargent mused that Hampton's
"venerable appearance" and "foreign air…quite disturb one's ideas of republican
America."
By
family custom, the Hampton estate belonged to the eldest son in each generation.
Captain Charles Ridgely, 1733--1790, supplied iron implements, arms, and
ammunition, and privateers to the Patriots during the Revolutionary War.
His merchant fleet helped to establish Baltimore as a major port. Known
as "The Builder," he died soon after the mansion was completed.
Nephew
of the childless Captain, Charles Ridgely Carnan, 1760--1829, inherited
the largest portion of Hampton's land and business concerns provided he
take Ridgely as his surname. The Second Master of Hampton made the estate
a showplace.
Third
Master of Hampton, John Ridgely was the first member of the family born
in the mansion. With his wife, Eliza he lavished money and attention on
the gardens. He was the last member of the family who owned enslaved people.
Elected
captain of the Baltimore County Horse Guard, a local defense cavalry,
at the outbreak of the Civil War, John and Eliza's son, Charles Ridgely
was threatened with arrest for actions against the Union Army. The guard
was disbanded and Charles was inactive during the war despite his Southern
sympathies. Though Hampton was physically untouched by war, it slave-based
economy was no longer workable by the time Charles became Fourth Master.
Fifth
Master John Ridgely, his wife Helen, and mother Margaretta, who managed
Hampton from 1872 to 1900, worked hard to preserve the aristocratic traditions.
As
Sixth Master of Hampton, John Ridgely Jr. formed a business to build homes
on Hampton land. He finally sold the estate to a Mellon family trust,
which donated it to the American People.
Revolutionary
leader Charles Carroll described a party at Hampton in the early 1800s
for which 300 invitations were issued. Such events were staged not only
for entertainment but to cement business and political ties. Hampton mansion
was ideal for such festivities: its Great Hall measures 51 by 21 feet
and could seat more than 50 dinner guests. An English visitor noted in
1805 that Charles Carnan Ridgely was said to "keep the best table in America."
Governor's
"Post Boy" racing trophy, 1805.
Hampton
was famous for horses. Breeding and racing thoroughbreds began in the
late 1700s, before the mansion was built. By 1805, Charles Carnan Ridgely
had constructed the first stone stable and laid out a racecourse on his
property. Ridgely, owner of some of the finest thoroughbreds in America,
was in large part responsible for Maryland's reputation as the center
of American racing in the early 19th century. A silver trophy,
presented to the Governor in 1805, depicts one of his favorite thoroughbreds,
Post Boy. Even while Hampton declined after the Civil War, the
Ridgely's continued racing, breeding, and fox hunting well into the 20th
century.
First
and foremost Hampton was a family business. The 1,500-acre Northampton
tract, first acquired by a Ridgely in 1745, had all the essential elements
for ironmaking: iron ore, limestone used in the ironmaking process, timber
providing charcoal to fuel the furnace, and waterpower from a tributary
of the Gunpowder River. By 1762 when Charles Ridgely established an ironworks
on the land he referred to as his "Plantation in the Forest," iron was
one of the most profitable exports of the mid-Atlantic colonies. The local
government and the British crown encouraged this industry through tax
incentives and other benefits. By 1776, the American colonies together
were the world's largest producer of raw iron. Ridgely owned a fleet of
merchant ships, which transported raw iron and cash crops to Europe in
exchange for finished goods. In addition, he owned mills, quarries, orchards,
and a general merchandising business in downtown Baltimore. These enterprises
made Ridgely a wealthy man and formed the basis of his heir's fortunes
as well.
Seafaring
was a Ridgely family occupation from the time of Maryland's settlements
in the 17th century. Like other shipping concerns in the Chesapeake
region Ridgely ships such as the Baltimore Town carried raw foodstuffs
and pig iron to England. They then returned with manufactured goods and
luxury items some of which you can see in the mansion today. As the Revolutionary
War approached, this trade system broke down. Disputes between British
and colonial merchants were among the significant causes of the war.
Trade
between America and Britain ceased between 1775 and 1783, but once the
war ended, merchant shipping quickly resumed. Cash crops, a major oversees
export from Hampton, changed through the years. By Charles Carnan Ridgely's
time, tobacco, which rapidly depleted the soil, had given way to corn,
wheat, and other grains. That Baltimore ascended in the status of a major
East Coast port was due in part to Hampton's products and the Ridgely
merchant fleet.
Northampton
Ironworks, however, also produced finished products in the 18th
century. Northampton's main products were pig iron--molten iron cast into
bars for easy shipment--and household implements. The American Revolution
found the Ridgelys aligned with the Patriot cause. The ironworks turned
out camp kettles, round shot ranging from 2 to 18 pounds, and cannons
of various sizes. Guns from the works were judged at the time "to be the
equal in quality of any yet made on the continent." War profits from the
ironworks allowed Captain Ridgely to greatly expand his property holdings,
in part by buying up confiscated Loyalist property.
Hampton
the showplace was very much the domain of the Ridgely family and their
peers. But behind the scenes was a large community of people who labored
at the ironworks, in the fields, on the docks and ships, in gardens and
orchards, and inside the mansion. They lived and worked in obscurity in
return for shelter, rations, of corn, pork, herring, flour, clothing,
shoes, and perhaps, but not always income.
Nancy
Davis was born a slave in 1838. She chose to stay on as a servant after
she received her freedom.