The Maryland Historical Trust (MHT), a unit of the Maryland Department of Planning (Planning), recently announced the seven preservation projects that will be awarded funding by the Historic Preservation Capital Grant Program this year.
The Historic Preservation Capital Grant Program provides support for preservation-related acquisition and construction projects as well as for architectural, engineering, archaeology, and consulting services needed in the development of construction projects. Nonprofit organizations, government entities, business organizations, and individuals are eligible to apply for funds to rehabilitate, restore, or acquire properties listed in or eligible for listing in the National Register. For FY 2024, the Historic Preservation Capital Grant Program received a $600,000 appropriation and re-awarded $4,000 in prior year funds. Of the 37 applications requesting approximately $3 million, MHT’s Board of Trustees and the Secretary of Planning approved the following seven projects for funding.
Cowdensville A.M.E. Church – Arbutus, Baltimore County ($100,000) | Sponsor: Friends of Cowdensville A.M.E Church
Cowdensville A.M.E. Church is a modest wood-frame church with a gabled roof, designed in a vernacular style, and constructed between 1904 and 1907. Cowdensville AME’s roots go back to 1857 within the free Black community of Cowdensville in southwestern Baltimore County. The church has served not only as a place of worship but as a meeting place for civil rights groups in the mid-20th century. For many years the church hosted grief support groups, food and school supply giveaways, and neighborhood organization meetings. A complete rehabilitation was undertaken in the late 1990s to save the church from condemnation and demolition. Funds will go toward exterior work like drainage improvements, roof repair or replacement, and foundation repair.
Allegany County Courthouse – Cumberland, Allegany County ($85,000) | Sponsor: The Board of County Commissioners of Allegany County
Still owned and operated by Allegany County, the Allegany County Courthouse located within the Washington Street Historic District was constructed in 1893 in the Richardson Romanesque-style. Built on the site of Fort Cumberland, an 18th-century outpost, the courthouse features highly contrasting red brick with white stone trim. Funding will aid in the restoration of the 190 historic wood double-hung sash windows on the building.
Brookeville Academy – Brookeville, Montgomery County ($100,000) | Sponsor: Town of Brookeville
Constructed in 1808, the Brookeville Academy was built of stone and primarily donated materials, with work to raise it to two stories completed in 1834. It was one of the first private academies in Montgomery County, and while it was originally a school for boys, it admitted female students as early as 1819. Today, the building is used as offices for the town of Brookeville. The grant project will address critical masonry and window repairs resulting from recent water damage.
Nathan House – Cambridge, Dorchester County ($86,000) | Sponsor: Dorchester Center for the Arts
Nathan House in the Cambridge Historic District Wards is a distinctive three-story brick commercial building. Originally constructed in the 1880s, the property was remodeled in the 1930s and retains its Art Deco storefront. The building was home to Nathan’s Furniture Store, a Delmarva chain founded by Milford Nathan. The building is now home to the Dorchester Center for the Arts. The project will address moisture issues in the building, including replacing the corroded window lintels and upgrading mechanical systems.
Ebenezer A.M.E. Church – Baltimore City ($100,000) | Sponsor: Ebenezer Kingdom Builders
Built in 1865 for a congregation organized in 1836, Ebenezer A.M.E. Church is thought to be the oldest standing church in Baltimore that was erected by African Americans and continuously occupied by the descendants of the same congregation. This brick Gothic Revival church has a prominent bell tower, with the parish house located in an adjoining rowhouse. The grant will aid in the rehabilitation of the historic bell tower, masonry repair, restoring broken louvers, and repairing a deteriorated roof that has led to leaking and interior damage.
Brodbeck Hall – Frederick, Frederick County ($99,000) | Sponsor: Hood College of Frederick, Maryland
Brodbeck Hall, located in the Hood College Historic District, is the last building on the campus that pre-dates the establishment of Hood College. Constructed in 1868 for a German social club, this handsome building retains its original Greek Revival and Italianate detailing with 20th-century updates. Since Hood College took ownership of the building in 1897, the building has been used for a variety of purposes, including living quarters, performance spaces, and a hall for ceremonies and lectures. The funding will support repairs necessary due to fire damage the building suffered in 2021.
Baldwin Hall – Millersville, Anne Arundel County, ($34,000) | Sponsor: Severn Cross Roads Foundation
The Historic Baldwin Hall is a one-story frame church built in 1861 for the Severn Crossroads Methodist Episcopal Church and is significant as a distinct example of Italianate architecture in a rural church. The building was moved twice: first in the 1930s and again in 1981. It now serves as a community center operated by the Severn Cross Roads Foundation. Grant funds will help address water damage to the historic building, including the repair of 21 historic wood windows and site work to bring water away from the building.
For more information about the Historic Preservation Capital Grant Program, please contact Stacy Montgomery, Capital Programs Administrator, at stacy.montgomery@maryland.gov.
By John W. Murphey, Maryland Department of Natural Resources
Near sunset at Gambrill State Park in Frederick County, five teenagers in cars arrive at High Knob. Loaded with takeout food, they saunter down a pine-shrouded path to a stone viewing platform built by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) to watch the sunset. This experience came as the result of a popular New Deal work-relief program that employed thousands of young men to build the first phase of Maryland’s state park system. Their work is still a big part of Maryland’s state park experience.
A tea room in the park
Encompassing 1,207 acres, Gambrill State Park began in 1936 as a CCC project making improvements to an earlier municipal park that had stalled. Since the 19th century, its geologic feature — High Knob — had attracted visitors with spectacular views across the Frederick and Middletown valleys. Park planners enhanced this asset, building three stone viewing platforms unique to Maryland’s catalog of state parks. Later the Department of Forests and Parks divided the park into High Knob (which was set aside for sightseeing and picnicking) and Rock Run (a lower area with camping areas nestled along a stream). Work began at High Knob, with CCC Camp S-57 building a recreation area maximizing its views. Between 1936 and 1942, the CCC erected the three overlooks, a stone tea room, a superintendent’s house, multiple rustic wood picnic shelters and dozens of tables, trails, and a loop road.
The park’s stone viewing platforms are one of its outstanding features. Graced with what newspapers called “magnificent panoramic views,” the area was naturally predisposed to exploit its scenery. Unlike other New Deal state parks which required the construction of observation towers, park planners at Gambrill could enhance the scenery by simply building platforms. With a plentitude of handsome stone in the area, the overlooks appear to be part of the landscape.
Middletown Overlook at Sunset
Middletown Overlook
Middletown Overlook – Park Dedication
The most scenic of the three overlooks, Middletown platform, is situated at the southern extreme of the picnic area and reached by a stone path. It is perched on a ledge giving views across Middletown Valley and surrounding farms. Sourced from local sandstone, quartzite, conglomerate, and phyllite, the stones range in color from gray to pink to yellow. The overlook is popular at sunset, giving views as far away as to Short Hill Mountain in Loudoun County, Virginia. It was so popular at one time it became the subject of postcards.
Organized on June 8, 1933, CCC Company 2302 was initially assigned to the 8,100-acre Frederick watershed, where it worked for several years protecting the area by removing dead timber, reforesting, and constructing firebreaks. The company had a secondary task to develop a recreational spot in the watershed, which resulted in several picnic sites.
The company trained at the Holabird Quartermaster Depot, an army post outside of Baltimore, dubbed Camp Holabird. They signed a contract for a six-month enrollment period which paid $30 monthly. The boys could pocket $8, but the remaining $22 was sent home if dependents were involved.
The CCC boys basketball team, Courtesy of Gambrill State Park
The company set up an all-white work camp, with quarters near a dam across Fishing Creek, approximately 4.5 miles (as the crow flies) from the future park. It started with a force of 200 enrollees, all trained at Camp Holabird, under the direction of Commander F. B. Hayne, a captain of the 34th Infantry Division. Named Camp S-57, it remained a tent city until November 1933, when standard CCC barracks were erected. The camp cost $18,000 to construct and included the usual assortment of standard-plan structures, including an administration building, overnight barracks, recreation hall, office quarters, latrine, and infirmary. Later, the boys would build their own educational building. All that is gone except two small stone pillars.
Camp S-57 wasn’t tasked with developing the park until three years after its formation. Work began with blazing equestrian and hiking trails and constructing a picnic area at High Knob. At the same time, the camp was still actively involved with improving the watershed.
Example of a picnic shelter at the park
A work report from December 1938 gives a sense of their accomplishments at Gambrill State Park. In the six months between June and December, they had nearly completed superintendent’s house, a large picnic shelter, four combination picnic tables and benches, and cleared 15 acres for picnic grounds. Additional work included laying 3,700’ of pipeline and constructing nearly 1.5 miles of road, along with a 34,000-square-foot parking lot. The park opened in 1939 incomplete.
As CCC camps shuttered across Maryland (leaving many park projects unfinished), the State Department of Forestry kept the CCC working on Gambrill State Park through 1942. During the last period of work, they made further improvements to the superintendent’s house, erected two observation platforms, constructed 20 stone fireplaces, built 30 picnic tables and three drinking fountains. In the same period, the camp began building a third viewing platform and the Tea Room, which was completed in the summer of 1941. Most of these features remain.
Despite being incomplete, the park proved to be popular. In 1940, it received 42,175 visitors, many of whom crowded around the top of the knob. Between its two parking areas, High Knob could see as many as 500 automobiles on a summer Sunday afternoon.
The Great Depression resulted in New Deal programs — crowned by the CCC — that did much to advance Maryland’s state park system. These programs created the foundation for ten state parks and other recreation areas. The CCC architecture, as demonstrated at Gambrill, New Germany, Herrington Manor, Washington Monument, Patapsco Valley, and Fort Frederick state parks, represents the era.
The legacy of the CCC’s skilled work and the vision of New Deal planners is a significant factor in the experience of many of Maryland’s state parks. The High Knob area of Gambrill State Park and its CCC-built environment represent one of the most notable examples of this work. And sunset from the Middletown Overlook can’t be missed.
Background on Project
Developed in cooperation between the Maryland Historical Trust (MHT) and the Maryland Department of Natural Resources, the survey which recorded Gambrill State Park was funded through a MHT Historic Preservation Non-Capital Grant. It was created to continue the systematic inventory of New Deal resources across Maryland’s state park system. The survey additionally recorded the CCC’s work at Elk Neck, Patapsco Valley, and Washington Monument state parks.
Maryland’s historic homes and farms have often included various domestic and agricultural support structures, sometimes called outbuildings. Some of these outbuildings had very specific functions: one example is the potato house. These structures were built to cure sweet potatoes. (Long-term storage for both sweet and white potatoes, on the other hand, could be in common root cellars.)
The curing process is important for sweet potatoes because it improves their flavor, quality, and longevity. It toughens the skin; heals cuts, bruises, and scrapes; and promotes the conversion of starches to sugars. With a crop that was “cured,” farmers were then able to keep sweet potatoes in storage until market prices were favorable for their sale.The process involved keeping the sweet potatoes in a dry place that was heated to a constant 50 degrees Fahrenheit. This meant that potato houses were heated with a wood, oil, or coal-burning stove through the winter after a fall harvest. The presence of a chimney is a tell-tale sign that an outbuilding is a potato house.
The sweet potato was consumed for subsistence in the United States for many years, especially by poor folk in the South. However, the sweet potato became a cash crop grown in mass quantities in the late 19thand early 20th centuries. While many states grew more sweet potatoes in total than Maryland, it was a very important product on the Lower Eastern Shore in particular.
This chart shows the Maryland counties that produced the most sweet potatoes (in bushels) in 1930. Source: U.S. Census of Agriculture – Maryland Schedules.
At least 14 Eastern Shore potato houses are documented in the Maryland Inventory of Historic Properties, our statewide repository for information on historic sites, buildings, structures, and objects. This existing documentation is of critical importance, because not many potato houses survive today.
One demolished example is the Andrew Wilson’s Potato House, which was located in the vicinity of Pond Town, an African American community in Queen Anne’s County. It was a square frame building sheathed with weatherboard and topped with a pyramidal roof, which was pierced in the center by a stuccoed chimney stack. There were four shed roof dormer windows, one on each section of the roof. The interior consisted of three levels, a cellar, the main floor, and a loft. The main floor and cellar were divided into rows of bins for potato storage arranged on either side of a central aisle. A narrow secondary aisle circled each floor, providing access to the outer rows of bins. The structure was heated by two wood stoves in the cellar. The potato house was owned and operated by Black farmer and entrepreneur Andrew Wilson. Mr. Wilson rented space in the potato house to local farmers for a set price per bushel.
Andrew Wilson’s Potato House. Source: Maryland Inventory of Historic Properties.
Drawing of Andrew Wilson’s Potato House by Orlando Ridout V.
A surviving example that is listed on the National Register of Historic Places is the Maple Leaf Farm Potato House in Wicomico County. It is one of three documented brick potato houses. This is a large structure, measuring 40’2” by 24’. There are two levels for potato storage, supported by large summer beams and close-set joists to carry the heavy load. The surviving exterior sliding door would have provided additional insulation. This potato house was built around 1920 and owned by Henry Rounds, who transported his sweet potato crop by a two-horse wagon to wholesalers on Mill Street in Salisbury. The Maple Leaf Farm Potato House was relocated to a different farm in 1997 to save it from demolition during the construction of the US 50 bypass.
Maple Leaf Farm Potato House. MHT staff photo.
Exterior sliding door at the Maple Leaf Farm Potato House. MHT staff photo.
Because of their significance to Maryland’s agricultural heritage, MHT is working to document more potato houses. If you know of any surviving examples, you can contact Allison Luthern at allison.luthern@maryland.gov to assist with this effort!
By Jennifer J. Babiarz (Anne Arundel County), C. Jane Cox (Anne Arundel County), and Lisa H. Robbins (Lost Towns Project consultant)
In 2022, The Lost Towns Project, Inc., in collaboration with the Anne Arundel County Office of Planning and Zoning’s Cultural Resources Section, began a county-wide study—documenting and contextualizing architectural and archaeological sites representing African American households living through enslavement, resistance, and freedom during the 19th century. This project was possible thanks to an FY 2022 Historic Preservation Non-Capital Grant Award from the Maryland Historical Trust.
Products of the study include a comprehensive database of these site types in Anne Arundel County; a report providing an historical, architectural, and archaeological context for Anne Arundel County’s 19th-century African American households; and updates to, or creation of, over a dozen historic archaeological inventory forms to ensure that the state’s inventory more fully and holistically reflects the existence and importance of African American households in 19th-century Anne Arundel County.
The work undertaken at the Whitehall Overseer’s Quarters (AA-326A) was one of the more compelling sites the team studied not only because it was poorly documented in state inventory records, but also because it sparked a new level of engagement, interest, and connection with the area’s descendant community and the possibility of future partnerships and discoveries.
(*Note: This building and site is on private property, and should not be visited without the express permission of the owner(s).)
The Whitehall Overseer’s House, which stands about 40 feet west of the Overseer’s Quarters, was built in 1750 by Governor Horatio Sharpe as a one-and-a-half story frame, whitewashed house with an attached kitchen. After Sharpe’s death in 1790, Whitehall and its associated properties were willed to John Ridout, and the Whitehall Overseer’s House (AA-326) remained in the Ridout family until 2022. Horatio Ridout II and his wife Jemima Duvall were the first Ridouts to live in the Overseer’s House and likely constructed the duplex quarter for enslaved families.
The Whitehall Overseer’s Quarters is a 1½-story log structure that rests on a roughly coursed, cut stone foundation. Its style is referred to as a double-pen saddlebag, or duplex, and consists of two independent dwellings under one roof, which were separated by a central chimney with a partition wall and likely would have housed two families. This is a common vernacular architectural form in the mid-Atlantic and the South, though this is the only surviving double-pen log quarters in Anne Arundel County and one of only a few surviving double-pen log quarters in Maryland.
Surviving evidence indicates that the building was originally constructed as one story with an accessible attic/loft, arranged in two bays (each about 14’x12’), with doorways in each corner of the façade. Based on the evidence of the surviving fasteners and finishes, the building likely was constructed between 1840-1860. Remnants of whitewash survive on surfaces throughout the interior of the building, including both logs that were added to create the half-story and logs forming the walls below. The exposed end grain of the logs forming the dovetail corner notches is remarkably unweathered, suggesting that the building may always have been enclosed with siding.
The Whitehall Overseer’s Quarter, viewed from the northeast; the sheathing boards and the shingles are 20th century; the roof frame was replaced in the 19th century.
In the 1840 Census, Horatio S. Ridout II is documented as enslaving 24 individuals; by the 1850 Census the number of individuals he enslaved was 13, and in 1860 the count had dropped to nine.
There is only one recorded manumission by Horatio Ridout II: a man named John Wright in March of 1864 based on his service in the 30th Regiment of the US Colored Troops during the Civil War. Records referred to as the “Slave Statistics,” are particularly important due to their recordation of the full given name and surname of those persons who had been enslaved until the enactment of the Constitution, as well as their age, physical condition, and term of service. In reference to Horatio Ridout II, the statistics are as follows:
John Wright, 35, Male, Good, For Life, Enlisted in US services Thomas Kemble, 34, Male, Good, For Life Benjamin Simpson, 22, Male, Good, For Life Gilbert Calvert, 16, Male, 16, Good, For Life Moses Bullen, 16, Male, Good, For Life May Smith, 30, Female, Good, 8 Years to Serve Hester A. Simpson, 7, Female, Good, 28 Years to Serve Isaac Smith, 3, Male, Good, 32 Years to Serve
Benjamin and Nellie Ross were interviewed by George McDaniel about the log house they moved into in the 1880s in Charles County, Maryland:
“Everybody pretty much lived in log houses back then. There were very few frame houses, and let me tell you, White and colored lived in log houses.”
(McDaniel 1982:139)
The roofs of frame and log structures were typically covered with shingles, clapboards/planks, or thatch (made from grass and possibly straw in Southern Maryland).
Detail of the northeast corner of the log crib with well-carpentered full-dovetail joints exposed below the current wall covering.
Being located on private property, and now under the stewardship of relatively new owners, the team’s initial site visit was designed to develop a rapport with the new owners, and to gather previously unrecorded details about what we found to be a rapidly deteriorating structure. Dr. Dennis J. Pogue and MHT staff joined on some of the first visits to the site, working with the team to document and interpret this rare surviving building type. Pogue generously shared his extensive experience documenting enslaved housing for the last 15 years with the Virginia Slave Housing Project. The original MIHP form, last updated in 1976, sorely lacked architectural details, a clear statement of significance, and any consideration of possible archaeological value.
While the research design included developing measured drawings and taking photos for architectural documentation, the team also gained the trust and support of the new owners, who agreed to allow a limited Phase I archaeological survey around the Quarters. Excitement built as we began to realize the rare chance to see if there might be undisturbed and archaeologically significant deposits here, that might tell us about the families that had lived in the building during the last half of the 19th century. The team set to developing an achievable research plan for a brief one-to-two-day field session.
Having worked on other nearby sites in the area in previous months, we had also cultivated several points of contact within the local descendant communities, and knowing that they would be interested, and some had even received some limited archaeological training on other projects—we invited them to participate in the archaeological fieldwork. Our hope was that in addition to having their help with the dig, that their collective and individual memories shared through generations of their communities would also help to inform the interpretation of the site—and perhaps guide future research. In fact, we got so much more!
Volunteers and Descendants Doing Fieldwork in April 2023
Over two days in April 2023, more than a dozen volunteers signed on to help excavate 21 close-interval shovel test pits on the lawns and terraces surrounding the Quarters. Everyone pitched in on every level of work that needed to be done, from paperwork to wielding a shovel, and their stories, laughter, and curiosity made the excavation days fly by. As volunteers from the first day shared this experience with their family and friends, the numbers swelled on the second day and cars packed in along the edge of this narrow dead-end end single-lane driveway. As they trickled in over the day, several shared that they had grown up in the area, and could connect their roots back to those who had been enslaved on the Broadneck Peninsula. Team members scrambled to monitor the digging, while also giving impromptu tours—explaining the history of the site and detailing the architecture of the building. One couldn’t help make the connection that their forefathers and mothers may well have lived in dwellings much like this one—yet most all traces of such old homes have been lost to time.
While some joined us just to see the site and spent a short time visiting, others were so intrigued that they stuck around, and jumped right in getting their hands dirty. In addition to two of our favorite volunteers April Chapman and Ann Green, we were visited by representatives from the Maryland Commission on African American History and Culture, including Director Chanel Compton and Commissioner Elinor Thompson. Well-known local historians Janice Hayes-Williams and Bernadette Pulley-Pruitt, both of whom have direct and profound connections to Broadneck, the Whitehall properties, and the Ridout family were there. Members of several organizations that have missions to help raise up and celebrate this local history also joined us, including representatives of Rev. Samuel Green, Sr. Foundation, Inc., the Annual Fathers Day Foundation such as Devon Edwards and Rev. Randy Rowe Sr, as well as representatives from the Truth, Reconciliation, and Reparations Task Force at St Margaret’s Church.
The archaeology was successful. We found evidence of historic compacted living surfaces, likely indicating swept yard spaces to the east and south of the structure, and recovered domestic and architectural artifacts that could yield new information about the historic use and layout of the space, including lead glazed redware, cut nails, and coal slag. The work clearly demonstrated that the site has research potential and further archaeological work could provide important details of everyday life for those enslaved, and later tenant families, living in this building. The archaeology however was also important to better acknowledge and appreciate such a site for state and local history, including for generations of descendants.
For the descendants of those who resisted violence and coercive control by building families, and vibrant households that have survived through generations in the same area, the chance to discover and hold everyday items that had likely been part of their everyday lives during that process was very moving. Many of the descendants that we worked with us expressed feeling closer to their ancestors than ever before; though not necessarily peaceful, it was very meaningful to them. Black spaces are being erased from the landscape at an alarming rate throughout the state and county. It is through ongoing partnership building with descendant communities and landowners that these spaces can be more fully identified and documented through the Maryland Inventory of Historic Places forms. African Americans’ crucial contributions to the economic and cultural development of Anne Arundel County should be acknowledged and celebrated through their representation in the official documentation of local and state histories.
Volunteers, Supporters, and Descendants at Whitehall Overseer’s Quarters-April 2023
References Cited:
ANNE ARUNDEL COUNTY COMMISSIONER OF SLAVE STATISTICS (Slave Statistics). 1867, MSA C142, pg 87, Maryland State Archives, Annapolis, Maryland.
In the ‘War of 1812’, when the British again sought claim of its former American Colonies, Maryland was a major scene. But among its many chronicles, outside of the focus of enslavement, acknowledgement of the patriotism and participation of Maryland’s free African Americans, has been relatively unknown. Indeed, it was the enslaved Black men, who, as property, were more assiduously documented and identified, as they were designated as servants or assistants to the ranking all-white officers of the regiments. Most were recorded by only a single name, such as: “Hamilton, negro, Capt’ servant; Peter, negro, subaltern’s servant”, or “Servant: Moses (to Capt. Tobias Stansburry).”[1] Some of distinction would be listed with their full names. One of the most notable, Samuel Neale, was an enslaved steward assigned to the military surgeon, Dr. William Hammond, of the First Maryland Calvary. Neale was cited for valiantly aiding and carrying all of Dr. Hammond’s medical instruments for him across many Maryland battlefields, including at the Battle of North Point.
Base map design from Maryland Department of the Environment
But recognition of the free Black men who enlisted and served in the Wars for Independence, has been negligible. They are among the many chapters omitted in Maryland history, on her extensive early free-Black community.
The Battle of North Point in 1814, engaged the Lower Patapsco Neck in Baltimore County, and was the stage of a seminal victory in the ‘War of 1812’. The Lower Patapsco Neck (the peninsula encompassing today’s Canton, Dundalk, Edgemere, Turner Station and North Point), was recorded in the 1810 U.S. Federal Census, with a total population of about 2,713 people .[3] Of that total, 1,658 were white (about 61%); and 1,055 (about 39%) were Black. Of that total Black population, about 339 individuals were recorded as free Black people. Thus, about a third of the Lower Patapsco Neck’s African American population, were free people. Where are their stories?
One of those lost stories must be that of Mr. Nicholas Brice, a member of this free-Black community. The 1810 Census listed him as a head of household, residing in the Lower Neck, with four other free Black persons (presumably his family). That would have made the Brices one of 51 Black families, that the U.S. Census counted, residing in the Lower Patapsco Neck (the ‘Patapsco Lower Hundred’ in 1810). In the course of research, a correlation of 19th century Census data and military records fostered the first identification of a free Black ‘War of 1812’ soldier, from the Lower Patapsco Neck. He is none other than, Mr. Nicholas Brice.
Mr. Brice’s name appears in the 1813 muster and pay rolls, as a Private enlisted in the fifth regiment of the Maryland Militia, serving under Captain Samuel Sterrett. (‘Private’ was the highest rank available to non-white military men of the era of the Wars for Independence, no matter how outstanding their service, i.e. Thomas Carney.)
1813 ‘War of 1812 Papers’ 730 – 737 RG 22 S 1 Box 2’, MSA Baltimore City Archives
1813 ‘War of 1812 Papers’ 730 – 737 RG 22 S 1 Box 2’, MSA Baltimore City Archives
Nicholas Brice is also documented in 1814, still serving with Captain Samuel Sterrett, defending the Lower Patapsco Neck in some of the most intense battle campaigns in the ‘War of 1812’, for Fort McHenry and North Point.
The continued enlistment of Nicholas Brice in the Independent Company of Captain Sterrett, evokes a keener interest into this quintessential Maryland story. Captain Samuel Sterrett (who would later become a Major), was of a prominent Baltimore Town/County Scottish family, many of whom were enslavers. Distinctively, Samuel Sterrett appears to be of a different ethos. He had been an active member of the ‘Maryland Society, for Promoting the Abolition of Slavery, and the Relief of Free Negroes, and Others Unlawfully Held in Bondage,’ and was cited in 1791 as the organization’s president. [4] Most likely Captain Sterrett had an established rapport and credibility with the area’s African American community. It is most probable that Mr. Nicholas Brice was not the only free Black gentleman in the Patapsco area to join with Samuel Sterrett when he made the call to arms, recruiting for his Company. Within the list of those 76 men in the 1814 Independent Company of Captain Sterrett,[5] there must be other African American militiamen yet to be so identified.
Map depicting the Battle of North Point
Home-rooted with his family in the Lower Patapsco Neck, Mr. Nicholas Brice was steadfast in defending his homeland, when the British invaded fomenting division and defection among the American people. But the newly united States remained united with the fortitude and fraternity of its people (Black and white). Nicholas Brice’s contribution is not just one of Black history. It is one of Maryland history. He, like other early Maryland African Americans both free and those enslaved, shared in and were a part of those crucible experiences, some horrid and some noble, that connects all Marylanders. Entering the new epoch of the nation’s Semiquincentennial, perhaps for the first time in 250 years, there will come to be equitably, recognition, inclusion and discovery, of the many free early Maryland African Americans, when presenting Maryland history.
References:
[1] Maryland Militia War of 1812 – Volume 2: Baltimore City and County, page 14 and 75 respectively; by F. Edward Wright; ISBN# 9781680340068
[2] Base map design from Maryland Department of the Environment
[3] The Bear Creek Research Project, ‘American Battlefield Protection Program’ of the National Park Service.
[4] Program of the “Oration Upon The Moral and Political Evil of Slavery”, July 4, 1791,by The Maryland Society, for Promoting the Abolition of Slavery, and the Relief of Free Negroes, and others unlawfully Held in Bondage. ‘Evans Early American Imprint Collection’, University of Michigan.
Robert W. Johnson Community Center – Washington County ($150,000) | Sponsor: Robert W. Johnson Community Center, Inc.
Funding will help restore the Robert W. Johnson Community Center – founded as a school for Black children in 1888 before becoming a Black YMCA in 1947 – so it can continue to be a place for community events and educational programming. The RWJCC offers after school programming as well as adult education classes. Funding will support renovation of the community pool, plumbing and electrical upgrades, and other renovation efforts.
Hoppy Adams House – Annapolis ($245,000) | Sponsor: Charles W. “Hoppy” Adams Jr. Foundation, Inc.
Known for spreading soul and R&B music to Black and white audiences, Charles “Hoppy” Adams Jr. was a celebrated African American radio broadcaster with WANN Annapolis. Adams hosted popular concerts at Carr’s Beach, an important venue on the Chitlin Circuit during segregation. In 1964, Adams built this expansive brick ranch-style home within the tight-knit Black community of Parole, on land passed down by his family since 1880. Adams lived in the house until his death in 2005. Funding will support ADA compliance efforts, electrical upgrades, and structural support.
American Hall – Washington County ($250,000) | Sponsor: The Most Worshipful Prince Hall Grand Lodge, Free And Accepted Masons Of Maryland And Its Jurisdiction, Inc.
The Most Worshipful Prince Hall Grand Lodge, Free And Accepted Masons Of Maryland And Its Jurisdiction, Inc. , aims to restore American Hall, which was the meeting place of Lyon Post #31 G.A.R. Making it one of the last surviving meeting places of an African American G.A.R. post in the country. Originally built in 1883, American Hall used to house the fraternal lodge, community meeting space, and a school in the basement. This project aims to rehabilitate the building for further community use with the addition of an exhibit. Funding will support structural repairs, architectural drawings, and a bathroom addition.
Upton Mansion – Baltimore City ($250,000) | Sponsor: Afro Charities, Inc.
Upton Mansion, located in the Old West Baltimore Historic District, was once the home of Robert J. Young, one of Baltimore’s most successful African American real estate developers in the early 20th century. This project aims to restore the mansion as the headquarters for Afro Charities, Afro Archives, and the AFRO American Newspapers. The archives include approximately three million photograms, several thousand letters, back issues of the newspaper’s 13 editions, and personal audio recordings of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall. The Upton Mansion will serve as the permanent home and research center for this collection, allowing it to be available to the public. Funding will support new construction of an annex and windows and doors repairs.
Henry’s Hotel – Worcester County ($250,000) | Sponsor: Henry Hotel Foundation, Inc.
Built in the late 1800s, Henry’s Hotel, formerly known as “Henry’s Colored Hotel,” is one of the oldest hotels in Ocean City. It was also the last hotel that allowed African Americans access to the beach during Jim Crow-era restrictions. This project aims to turn the building into a museum and learning center that will educate the public on how African Americans contributed to the town’s development, yet suffered from discrimination under segregation. Funding will support a new foundation, staircase, and porch.
Historic Oliver Community Firehouse – Baltimore City($247,000) | Sponsor: African American Fire Fighters Historical Society, Inc.
Built in 1905, the historic firehouse in Baltimore’s Oliver neighborhood, Truck House #5, is a two-story structure with two truck bays that will be acquired from the City through the Vacants to Value program and restored as the International Black FireFighters Museum & Safety Education Center. Funding will support exterior rehabilitation including window repairs as well as carpentry and masonry repairs.
Brown’s UMC Multi Cultural Heritage Center – Calvert County ($250,000) | Sponsor: Brown’s UMC Multi Cultural Heritage Center, Inc.
Built in the 1890s, the one-room Brown’s United Methodist Church (UMC) serves as a reminder of the days of segregation and is one of the oldest African American churches in Calvert County. Once completed, the UMC Multi-Cultural Heritage Center will have an exhibit showcasing local history within. Rehabilitation of the cemetery will allow for self-guided as well as guided tours of the cemetery. Funding will support foundation repairs, flooring repairs, and a roof replacement.
Buffalo Soldier Living History Site – Wicomico County ($250,000) | Sponsor: Buffalo Soldier Living History Site Co.
Formerly known as the “Colored Settlement,” the Buffalo Soldier Living History Site will be established on a site, bought in 1898, of former Buffalo Soldier Thomas E. Polk. The site aims to revitalize this dwelling by establishing a museum. Exhibits will include preserving local and state African American military history and holding reenactments. Funding will support selective demolition, structural repairs, and door repairs.
Brewer Hill Cemetery – Annapolis($250,000) | Sponsor: Brewer Hill Cemetery Association, Inc.
Brewer Hill Cemetery is the oldest Black graveyard in the City of Annapolis. Judge Nichols Brewer originally owned the cemetery and used it to bury those he enslaved, his servants, and other employees of the Black community. Among the interred are people with significant stories, such as Mary Naylor, who maintained her innocence until her hanging in 1861 for allegedly poisoning her master. Funding will support overall cemetery conservation efforts including fence repairs and masonry repairs.
The Bellevue Passage Museum – Talbot County($250,000) | Sponsor: Mid-Shore Community Foundation, Inc.
The Bellevue Passage Museum aims to shed light on African American culture and heritage by showcasing the untold story of Bellevue’s self-sufficiency and how they thrived and contributed to the state’s economy. Bellevue was once a self-sufficient African American community that initially was centered around employment provided by the W.H. Valliant Packing Co., established in 1895. The museum is on a mission to conserve the African American maritime story that is largely being erased and to become a center of entrepreneurship to the younger generation and a place for community gatherings. Funding will support construction of a new annex, site work, and accessibility improvements.
The Fruitland Community Center – Wicomico County($203,000) | Sponsor: Fruitland Community Center, Inc.
The Fruitland Community Center is housed in the former Morris Street Colored School, constructed in 1912. Since 1985, the building has been used as a community center that assists low-income youth in Fruitland by providing an after school program that seeks to provide educational activities and teaching African American history. Funding will support structural repairs, carpentry and metal repairs, as well as mechanical and electrical upgrades.
Grasonville Community Center – Queen Anne’s County($250,000) | Sponsor: Grasonville Community Center
Grasonville Community Center aims to connect and share the African American experiences in the community by providing a place where one can go to engage in programs that offer mentorship, physical and mental health guidance, and other resources. Future plans include providing an after school and summer program that will use the Center’s Black History Library and Health Room to teach history to young visitors. Funding will support kitchen upgrades, interior and exterior rehabilitation, and window repairs.
Malone Methodist Episcopal Church – Dorchester County ($250,000) | Sponsor: Harrisville/Malone Cemetery Maintenance Fund, Inc.
Free-born families began settling in Malone in the late 18th century. Malone Methodist Episcopal Church began serving this African American community when it was built in 1895. The church and community have links to Harriet Tubman’s extended family, who lived in the area and are buried in the cemetery adjacent to the church. Funding will support floor and roof repairs, exterior rehabilitation efforts, and finishes and painting.
Bryan’s Chapel and Cemetery – Queen Anne’s County ($250,000) | Sponsor: Bryan’s United Methodist Church, Inc.
Bryan’s Chapel was founded in the 1800s and is the second oldest African American Methodist Episcopal Church in the United Methodist Peninsula-Delaware Conference. The Bryan’s Church congregation helped establish a school, a beneficial society, and the county’s NAACP Chapter. Shortly after the Civil War, the congregation helped establish an African American school in 1866 that a Rosenwald school later replaced. Funding will support ground penetrating radar, headstone conservation, and foundation and masonry repairs of the Chapel.
Locust United Methodist Church – Howard County ($233,500) | Sponsor: Locust United Methodist Church
Locust United Methodist Church was founded in 1869 by a group of formerly enslaved people in what was then called Freetown (Howard County). The predominantly African American congregation has been active for more than 150 years and in its current structure since 1951. This project will renovate and add an addition to serve as the home of the current history collection and stories of community members descended from the church’s founders. Funding will support selective demolition, new construction of a pavilion, and interior rehabilitation efforts.
Two Sisters’ Houses (Caulkers’ Houses) – Baltimore City($250,000) | Sponsor: The Society For The Preservation Of Federal Hill And Fell’s Point, Inc.
Built around 1979, the Two Sisters’ Houses (or Caulkers’ Houses) are the only extant survivors of a wooden building type that was once the predominant housing stock for the lower and middle classes in Baltimore. These once-common buildings were vitally important to the early architectural and physical character of the port city of Baltimore. The buildings housed many working Baltimore residents, including African-American ship caulkers Richard Jones, Henry Scott, and John Whittington from 1842 to 1854. Funding will support fire safety improvements, carpentry and masonry repairs, and mechanical and electrical upgrades.
The Yellow/Hearse House – Kent County($200,000) | Sponsor: Kent County Public Library
The Yellow/Hearse House was originally built in 1906 and served most of its existence as the only funeral parlor for those of African descent in Kent County. The Hearse House represents the rich history of Kent County’s African American-owned businesses. This project aims to increase heritage education and tourism in the Calvert Street business and residential corridor, highlighting the Walley family and the neighborhood in which their business, the funeral parlor, existed. Funds will support insulation installation, bathroom and kitchen upgrades, and framing repairs.
Jones & Moore Luncheon/Bambricks Cards & Gifts – Dorchester County($138,000) | Sponsor: Alpha Genesis Community Development Corporation
The Jones & Moore Luncheon/Bambricks Cards & Gifts aims to renovate a two-story commercial property located at the corner of Cannery Way. The rear parking lot of the building is now the viewing area for the nationally acclaimed “Take My Hand” mural of Harriet Tubman. Rehabilitation of the building will help bring new arts and cultural programming as well as other business ventures into the district. Funding will support gutter and downspout repairs, window and door repairs, and roof replacement.
Mt. Calvary United Methodist Church – Meeting Hall and Cemetery – Anne Arundel County($186,000) | Sponsor: Mt. Calvary Community Engagement Incorporated
With grant funds supporting both cemetery and building preservation efforts, Mt. Calvary United Methodist Church will establish a heritage center in its Meeting Hall to share the histories of the local African American community in Arnold. The Hall served as the original Meeting House for the African American community between 1832-1842. By preserving the cemetery, where Civil Rights activists and veterans are buried, the church can provide further educational opportunities in addition to programs in the Meeting Hall. Funding will support ground penetrating radar, site work, and foundation and masonry repairs.
Ridgley Methodist Church and Cemetery – Prince George’s County ($111,000) | Sponsor: Mildred Ridgley Gray Charitable Trust, Inc.
Ridgely Methodist Church is one of only two buildings that remain in the small rural African American community of Ridgely, founded by freedmen around 1871. Historically, the church also functioned as a school for the local Black children. By undergoing rehabilitation efforts, the church hopes to increase the awareness of African American history through special programs, lectures, and tours. Funding will support cemetery conservation efforts, ground penetrating radar, and a fence installation.
Scotland African Methodist Episcopal (A.M.E.) Zion Church – Montgomery County($104,000) | Sponsor: Scotland A.M.E. Zion Church
Scotland A.M.E. provides an opportunity for the public to continue to learn the local history of the predominantly African American Scotland community that has persisted for over 115 years as a congregation and 150 years as a community. The project will provide an opportunity for the public to continue to learn the local story of the predominantly African American Scotland community through interpretive panels and stories shared by congregants in public programs Funding will support foundation repairs, lifting the building, and stabilization efforts.
Bushy Park Community Cemetery – Howard County($63,500) | Sponsor: Bushy Park Community Cemetery, Inc.
Bushy Park Community Cemetery was historically part of farmland worked by the enslaved populations of Howard County. The cemetery is the burial location of many enslaved and freed individuals, United States Colored Troops soldiers, and Civil Rights leaders. The cemetery’s restoration, supported by grant funds, will allow for educational opportunities centered on those interred there. Funding will support cemetery conservation efforts, ground penetrating radar, and vegetation removal.
James Stephenson House, Enslaved Quarters – Harford County($119,000) | Sponsor: Maryland Department of Natural Resources
The James Stephenson House, and its associated dwellings, was originally built at the turn of the eighteenth century. The house and quarters are located within Susquehanna State Park. When the quarters building was originally surveyed in the late 1970s, it was mistaken for a smokehouse. The building, now one of the few documented freestanding quarters on public land. Funding will support roof, window, and door repairs, carpentry and masonry repairs, and chimney and shutter repairs.
American Legion Mannie Scott Post 193 Building – Caroline County($250,000) | Sponsor: The American Legion, Department Of Maryland, Mannie Scott Post #193, Incorporated
Mannie Scott Post No. 193 was chartered in 1947 by the American Legion – a United States veteran association and nonprofit organization created to enhance the well-being of American veterans, their families, military members, and their communities. Post No. 193 is Caroline County’s only African American active post dedicated to those who have served in active duty military in all branches of America’s Armed Forces. Post No. 193 offers programming to the local community that promote justice, freedom, and democracy. Funding will support insulation installation, bathroom and kitchen upgrades, and siding repairs or replacements.
Our History, Our Heritage 