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DC Trip 2023➤
Washington, DC possesses the largest concentration of National Park Service units of any metropolitan area. I decided to use one of my long weekends in April to visit DC and check a few units off my list. I toured several memorials, monuments and other sites. On my way home, I stopped at Hampton National Historic Site in Maryland.
Hampton National Historic Site➤
Hampton National Historic Site preserves a 18th-century estate that was once the largest private home in America. Captain Charles Ridgely, a captain in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War, built the mansion from 1783 to 1790.
Charles Carnan Ridgely, the nephew, inherited the estate upon the Captain’s death in 1790. He made significant contributions to the estate, expanding and improving it during his lifetime. Charles Carnan Ridgely served as the Governor of Maryland from 1815 to 1818 and was a prominent figure in the social and political life of the region. He freed the estate’s enslaved people in his will which was enacted in 1829. Unfortunately, his heir purchased more slaves so it wasn’t until Maryland abolished slavery in 1864 that the practice ended at Hampton.
The Ridgely Family owned the estate for seven generations, until 1948. In 1948, the National Park Service took over the estate as a National Historic Site. This well-preserved example of Georgian architecture provides a glimpse into the life of the aristocracy in the 1700s.
I arrived at the visitor center well ahead of the 10:00 tour. After getting my ticket, I walked around the estate. There are many outbuildings on the grounds, including an underground ice house from which the Ridgely family obtained ice cream.
A harp stands in the music room and is a centerpiece of Hampton’s collections. Eliza Ridgely’s father purchased it for her in 1817 at a sum equivalent to $12,000 today. Renowned artist Thomas Sully painted Eliza with her harp. The original painting, “Lady with a Harp,” now hangs in the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.
2023 DC Trip Posts➤
- Eisenhower Memorial
- Smithsonian Castle
- Washington Monument
- WWII Memorial
- Lincoln Memorial
- Vietnam Memorial
- The White House
- Constitution Gardens
- WWI Memorial
- Fords Theater
- Mount Vernon Mansion
- Mount Vernon Grounds
- Korean War Memorial
- Hampton House
Location: 535 Hampton Ln, Towson, MD
Designation: National Historic Site
Date designated/established: June 22, 1948
Date of my visit: April 8, 2023
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