NPS Website; Local Website
WHAT IS IT?Sprawling plantation residence that includes a Georgian mansion that was, upon completion in 1790, the largest house in the United States. The Site chronicles seven generations of Maryland life; from Governors to indentured servants to skilled craftsmen to slaves to farmers.
BEAUTY (5/10)
The acreage of the Ridgely Plantation has been seriously diminished over the past 200 years. Even though suburban homes have replaced the endless farmlands, the land still seems isolated and a far cry from Baltimore’s port-town industry.
The elegant three-story Georgian mansion sparkles with its pastel yellow exterior, its symmetry and its graceful cupola. Sure, the paint is chipping off a bit and the vultures have made a home of the flat roof but we do not care. The bottom-of-the-hill farmhouse lacks grandeur but aces the livability test. At least one generation of Ridgelys even decided to live here instead of the mansion. For heating bills sake, we are guessing.
The farm area includes lots of white picket fences, old stone buildings and warehouse, and well-maintained (mowed) grassy spaces. Michael blathered endlessly about how idyllic the grounds were to both Gab and the Ranger. He must have said “it’s so beautiful here” a dozen times. Sure, the Site is pretty, but Michael must have taken some sort of happy pill.
HISTORICAL INTEREST (5/10)
Hampton NHS was the first National Park Unit established for historical rather than historic reasons. Meaning, nothing particularly eventful ever occurred here. Instead, Hampton NHS history is representative of an era and sheds an illuminating perspective on generations of Maryland life.
The Site surely captures a feudal feel. The large house sits on the hill. Its former resident(s) owned all the surrounding land, employed, enslaved or indentured all the area’s people. Industry of all sorts occurred on the plantation – iron production, tobacco farming, horse breeding – all of which were largely autonomous. The Park literature quotes a historian who states that the “plantation was probably the most self-sufficient large economic unit in America.”
CROWDS (5/10)We were the only people there despite the charms of a mild Spring Saturday morning. Our Ranger’s effusive hospitality felt so desperate; would we be his only visitors? The draw of Hampton NHS is surely its Georgian mansion. The mansion is currently closed due to large-scale interior renovations. Perhaps the closure which will last “until further notice” is keeping people away.
EASE OF USE/ACCESS (5/5)
The Park Entrance is less than a mile from I-695 (the Baltimore Beltway) Exit 27-B. Plenty of signs point you off the ramp, down Hampton Road, through a pleasant neighborhood and to the Site. The Beltway forms the Park’s and the estate’s current southern boundary. What was once a stately country mansion with an Italianate garden and elegant grounds is now serenaded all day, every day by the din of 18-wheelers, commuting sedans and motorcycles.
CONCESSIONS/BOOKSTORE (3/5)
The bookstore is tucked in a small side room in the old farmhouse. The room’s brick and wooden walls are exposed, presumably for archeological reasons. An industrial carpet covers the floor while a dehumidifier and its plug block the path to a teetering bookshelf. Upon first glance, these two shelves fail to impress, what with unopened boxes of merchandise cluttering its space.
Further inspection reveals an admirable selection of books examining the Maryland slave trade and coffee table tomes looking at Maryland history. Also for sale are Hampton NHS Christmas Tree ornaments and a box containing an 1840’s-era children’s game called Jack Straws (not to be confused with Britain’s one-time Foreign Secretary).
COSTS (4/5)
It was free, but then again, the mansion interior is inaccessible. Perhaps when its refurbishing is completed there will be a charge.
RANGER/GUIDE TO TOURIST RATIO (4/5)
The one Ranger on duty showered (some might say smothered) us, the only visitors, with attention. We were appreciative but wanted our freedom. It’s not you Mr. Ranger, it’s us. We’re just not ready for that level of commitment.
TOURS/CLASSES (6/10)That being said, a private hour-long tour of the farm’s grounds and its various buildings was nothing to sneeze at. Our intrepid Ranger was lots of fun despite tending towards rambling non sequiturs and outlandish conclusions. We barraged him with countless questions which he handled with answers; not necessarily answers to our specific questions but answers nonetheless.
After our private tour, we sat down to watch the dated introduction film. To our surprise, we had already learned the facts glowing from the Soviet Union-style (and era) VCR-TV combo screen. Our Ranger had done an excellent job teaching us about this sprawling Plantation. So we left the room as the video droned on and made our way southward to the Inner Harbor and a Yankees-Orioles game.
FUN (5/10)
Hampton NHS was just one of our day’s destinations (see above referenced Yankees-Orioles game) so we were already quite cheerful. The Site’s easy accessibility and hospitable Ranger kept us smiling. After we had our fill of farm buildings, we took his advice and made the short drive across the street to the mansion proper. Its innards were beyond our reach but we could still wander the terraced garden and get a closer look at its oversized cupola. We imagined what this massive mansion was like bustling with the amount of servants and/or slaves it must have taken to keep it functioning.
Before you leave Hampton NHS, seek out the large estate map that shares the farmhouse room with the introductory video. It illustrated the reach of the Plantation’s previous borders in a way that the Ranger could not. While you are in that room, have a look at an example of the real estate brochures that one of the last Ridgely owners distributed as he began to parcel off his ancestors’ land as suburban lots. Those heating bills must have been something.
WOULD WE RECOMMEND? (4/10)What makes mansion tours and plantation visits such attractions in the Old South (like Natchez NHP and the plantation trail in Louisiana) but an afterthought in the Baltimore suburbs? Perhaps the fact that the Hampton NHS’s mansion tour is not currently happening. Other than that, the two cannot be that much different.
Once the Ridgely home (known to 19th century locals as Ridgely’s Folly) opens again to traffic, we suspect there will be quite a lot to see. You easterners have an excuse not to travel the whole way to southern Mississippi to get your dose of gardens and grandeur.
TOTAL 46/80
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