Perry Hall Mansion

	Perry Hall
	U.S. National Register of Historic Places
	Perry Hall Mansion, December 2009
Location	3930 Perry Hall Road, Perry Hall, Maryland
Coordinates	39°25′45″N76°27′32″W / 39.429121°N 76.4588403°W Coordinates: 39°25′45″N76°27′32″W / 39.429121°N 76.4588403°W
Area	3.9 acres (1.6 ha)
Built	1773
Architectural style	Georgian, Palladian
NRHP reference No.	80001796
Added to NRHP	April 23, 1980

Last updated May 23, 2022

The Perry Hall Mansion is a historic structure located in the area to which it gave its name, Perry Hall, Baltimore County, Maryland, United States. Erected on a hill above the Gunpowder River Valley, the mansion is an excellent example of late colonial and early 19th-century life in eastern Baltimore County.

History

Construction began under Corbin Lee, who died in 1773. It was completed under Harry Dorsey Gough, a wealthy Baltimore merchant, in 1776.^[2] Gough named the estate Perry Hall, after his family's ancestral home of the same name within what is now Perry Hall Park, in Perry Barr, England, a northern suburb of Birmingham. From the 16-room mansion, Gough administered his vast plantation operation, where dozens of slaves tended cattle, various food crops, and stands of tobacco. The Perry Hall estate was so influential that maps from the period typically identify modern-day Bel Air Road (U.S. Route 1) as "Perry Hall Road" or "Gough's Road."

Gough died on May 8, 1808. Due to his statewide prominence, more than 2,000 people attended his funeral, which was held at the Perry Hall estate. The mansion was generally viewed as being at its zenith during the early Nineteenth Century. Visitors commented on the distinctive architectural features of the home as well as the lush gardens on the surrounding grounds. When one looks at the mansion as it existed in Gough's time, it is clear that the house included features that mirrored the diverse facets of Harry Dorsey Gough's life. The impressive wine cellars and expansive grand hall used for entertaining symbolized Gough's socially prominent life before his conversion to Methodism. After his conversion, Gough built a chapel near the mansion's eastern wing that allowed him to quietly pursue his religious worship, along with his family, servants, and other neighboring landowners.

Perry Hall remained under the ownership of Gough's descendants until 1852 when it was sold to investors who subdivided much of the property among immigrant families who built dozens of farms. The mansion remained in private ownership for over two centuries, and by 2001, the vast estate had been whittled down to approximately four acres. That year, the mansion was sold to Baltimore County for future use as a museum and community center. The home in its original form appears in three large paintings made about 1803 by Francis Guy.^[3]

It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980.^[1]

Friends of the Perry Hall Mansion

Since its acquisition by the Department of Parks and Recreation for Baltimore County, the Perry Hall Mansion has received a comprehensive exterior renovation. In addition, a structure has been created to allow the public to be directly involved in shaping the future of this historically significant property.

The Friends of the Perry Hall Mansion is a freestanding organization, formed in September 2007, that aims to work to complete the renovations at the mansion, and care for the structure once the project is finished. The officers and directors will work to achieve the group's mission to educate the public about the Perry Hall Mansion and provide input to the Baltimore County government on its uses and operations.

The Friends' agenda includes continued fund-raising for the interior renovation of the building, the initiation of an archaeological dig on the property, and the completion of a master plan to help guide the future use and continuous improvement of the mansion and grounds. Current members of the board of directors are as follows: Jeffrey Smith, president, Neil Miller, vice president, Tim Kosiba, treasurer, Linda Polesne, secretary, Colleen Bowers, membership chairperson, and Wayne Schaumburg, Vince Pecora, Ann Palrang, Laura Kimball, Melissa Redmer, and Peggy Neidlinger, directors.

Gallery

Artist Francis Guy's (1760-1820) portrait of Perry Hall Mansion, painted in 1803
The East wing of the mansion

Related Research Articles

George Howard was the 22nd Governor of the State of Maryland in the United States from 1831 to 1833. Howard was well known as a fervent anti-Jacksonian during his term in office. He was the only son of a governor to have been elected governor.

Druid Hill Park is a 745-acre (3.01 km²) urban park in northwest Baltimore, Maryland. Its boundaries are marked by Druid Park Drive (north), Swann Drive and Reisterstown Road, and the Jones Falls Expressway / Interstate 83 (east).

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. Its furnishings, together with the estate's slave quarters and other preserved structures, provide insight into the life of late 18th-century and early 19th-century landowning aristocracy. In 1948, Hampton was the first site selected as a National Historical Site for its architectural significance by the U.S. National Park Service. The grounds were widely admired in the 19th century for their elaborate parterres or formal gardens, which have been restored to resemble their appearance during the 1820s. Several trees are more than 200 years old. In addition to the mansion and grounds, visitors may tour the overseer's house and slave quarters, one of the few plantations having its original slave quarters surviving to the present day.

Charles Carnan Ridgely was born Charles Ridgely Carnan. He is also known as Charles Ridgely of Hampton. He served as the 15th Governor of the state of Maryland in the United States from 1815 to 1818. He also served in the Maryland House of Delegates from 1790 to 1795, and in the Maryland State Senate from 1796 to 1800. Charles was born in Baltimore. He was the son of John Carnan and Achsah Ridgely, sister of Captain Charles Ridgely. The Maryland Gazette described him as an aristocrat.

Col. Charles Ridgely II, "Charles The Merchant" (1702–1772), of "Ridgely's Whim", was a Justice, planter, merchant, ironmaster, and member of the General Assembly of Maryland's lower chamber, House of Delegates and one of Baltimore County's commissioners. Charles II was the son of Charles Ridgely I,, , and Deborah Dorsey.

The Poplar Hill Mansion is a historic U.S. mansion located at 117 Elizabeth Street, Salisbury, Maryland and is open to the public as a house museum.

His Lordship's Kindness, also known as Poplar Hill, is a historic plantation estate on Woodyard Road east of Clinton, Maryland. It was built in the 1780s for Prince George's County planter Robert Darnall. The five-part Georgian mansion retains a number of subsidiary buildings including a slave's hospital and a dovecote. The property is now operated as a museum by a local nonprofit preservation group. It was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1970.

Riversdale, is a five-part, large-scale late Georgian mansion with superior Federal interior, built between 1801 and 1807. Also known as Baltimore House, Calvert Mansion or Riversdale Mansion, it is located at 4811 Riverdale Road in Riverdale Park, Maryland, and is open to the public as a museum.

Dorsey Hall is a historic home in Columbia, Maryland, United States. It is a six-by-one-bay, 2+1⁄2-story stucco structure with a gable roof covered with asphalt shingles. It is a well-preserved and detailed example of the vernacular dwellings of the early 19th century in Howard County and associated with the Dorsey family, one of the "first families" of the county.

Temora, is a historic home located at Ellicott City, Howard County, Maryland. It is a T-shaped, two-story and cupola, Tuscan-style Victorian house of stuccoed tongue-and-groove boards. The house was built in 1857 after a design prepared by Nathan G. Starkweather, a little-known but accomplished architect from Oxford, England, who also designed the First Presbyterian Church and Manse at West Madison Street and Park Avenue in the Mount Vernon-Belvedere neighborhood in Baltimore, Maryland, with his later more famous assistant - Edmund G. Lind. The house was built for Dr. Arthur Pue Jr. on land given from his grandmother Mary Dorsey Pue of Belmont Estate. The name of the estate Temora comes from the poems of Ossian

Troy, also known as Troy Hill Farm, is a historic slave plantation home located at Elkridge, Howard County, Maryland, United States. It is associated with the prominent Dorsey family of Howard County, who also built Dorsey Hall.

Waverly Mansion is a historic home located at Marriottsville in Howard County, Maryland, USA. It was built circa 1756, and is a 2+1⁄2-story Federal style stone house, covered with stucco, with a hyphen and addition that date to circa 1811. Also on the property are a small 1+1⁄2-story stone overseer's cottage and a 2-story frame-and-stone barn, and the ruins of a log slave quarter.

Rose Hill Manor, now known as Rose Hill Manor Park & Children's Museum, is a historic home located at Frederick, Frederick County, Maryland. It is a 2+1⁄2-story brick house. A notable feature is the large two-story pedimented portico supported by fluted Doric columns on the first floor and Ionic columns on the balustraded second floor. It was the retirement home of Thomas Johnson (1732–1819), the first elected governor of the State of Maryland and Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court. It was built in the mid-1790s by his daughter and son-in-law.

Raspberry Plain is a historic property and former plantation in Loudoun County, Virginia, near Leesburg. Raspberry Plain became one of the principal Mason family estates of Northern Virginia, and was rebuilt in the early 20th century. It currently operates as an event site, hosting weddings and other special events year round.

Baltimore Heritage is an American nonprofit historic-preservation organization headquartered in Baltimore, Maryland.

The Belmont Estate, now Belmont Manor and Historic Park, is a former forced-labor farm located at Elkridge, Howard County, Maryland, United States. Founded in the 1730s and known in the Colonial period as "Moore's Morning Choice", it was one of the earliest forced-labor farms in Howard County, Maryland. Its 1738 plantation house is one of the finest examples of Colonial Georgian architectural style in Maryland.

Harry Dorsey Gough was a prominent 18th-century merchant, planter, and patron of the fledgling Methodist Church in Baltimore, Maryland, in the early United States.

Montpelier Mansion, sometimes referred to as "Montpelier I", was a house in western Laurel, Maryland, now more closely associated with Fulton, Maryland within Howard County, Maryland, United States. The Georgian style building was built circa 1740 and demolished following a 1994 historic survey with addendum and photos dating as late as August 1995.

Located Cooksville in Howard County, Maryland, United States, Poverty Discovered, "Summer Hill Farm"

Troy Park is a regional park comprising 101 acres in Elkridge, Maryland. The park is located at 6500 Mansion Lane off Washington Boulevard, near the intersection of Maryland Route 100 and I-95.

References

1 2 "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places . National Park Service. March 13, 2009.
↑ Colwill, Stiles T. Francis Guy, 1760–1820. Maryland Historical Society, 1981.
↑ John W. McGrain and Louise K. Lantz (October 1978). "National Register of Historic Places Registration: Perry Hall Mansion" (PDF). Maryland Historical Trust. Retrieved 2016-03-01.

External links

Perry Hall, Baltimore County, including photo from 1976, at Maryland Historical Trust
Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS) No. MD-842, " Perry Hall, Perry Hall Road, U.S. Route 1 vicinity, Baltimore vicinity, Baltimore County, MD ", 3 photos, supplemental material
Friends organization

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.

[nris-1] 1 2 "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places . National Park Service. March 13, 2009.

[2] Colwill, Stiles T. Francis Guy, 1760–1820. Maryland Historical Society, 1981.

[mht_ihp-3] John W. McGrain and Louise K. Lantz (October 1978). "National Register of Historic Places Registration: Perry Hall Mansion" (PDF). Maryland Historical Trust. Retrieved 2016-03-01.

[1]

[2]

[3]

v t e U.S. National Register of Historic Places in Maryland
Topics	Contributing property Keeper of the Register Historic district History of the National Register of Historic Places National Park Service Property types
Lists by county	Allegany Anne Arundel Baltimore County Calvert Caroline Carroll Cecil Charles Dorchester Frederick Garrett Harford Howard Kent Montgomery Prince George's Queen Anne's Somerset St. Mary's Talbot Washington Wicomico Worcester
Lists by city	Baltimore: (Central North and Northwest West and Southwest East and Northeast South and Southeast)
Other lists	Bridges National Historic Landmarks
Category:National Register of Historic Places in Maryland Portal:National Register of Historic Places