Hampton National Historic Site ⓘ

Free Black laborers were members of Hampton’s workforce long before the end of chattel slavery. Some worked at Hampton as part of an effort to purchase the freedom of family members still in chattel slavery. Some were formerly enslaved people freed by the codicil to the will of Charles Carnan Ridgely in 1829 or thereafter who returned to work for pay. Others were members of the larger community, working to survive. Finally, Black artisans were hired for specific skilled work by the Ridgelys .

Before 1829, Charles Carnan Ridgely began hiring seasonal workers, free African Americans, and a mixed labor force that could be easily dismissed or not paid during the lean economic decade of the 1820s. A list of wages paid to free “negroes” between 1825 and 1829 shows that Carnan Ridgely turned more and more towards hiring seasonal labor, which was far cheaper than maintaining his large and increasingly costly enslaved labor force. As a seasonal and temporary labor force, these free Black laborers harvested and cradled grains, raked the grounds, bound and mowed the raw wheat, sowed new seeds, and threshed grains. Ridgely paid most of these workers by hour or day, some by job, often with items from his store, including food, whiskey, tools, shoes, and gunpowder. After Charles Carnan Ridgely’s death in 1829, the next proprietor of Hampton, John Ridgely , inherited no enslaved people. Nevertheless, he still chose to purchase dozens of enslaved people and develop a “mixed economy,” a labor system composed of free African Americans, enslaved people, Black and white laborers and artisans. Many of those who worked as hired hands on the Hampton plantation were former enslaved people, freed but often still with ties to the land and the people of Hampton. Those who had been enslaved by Carnan Ridgely but later were paid laborers for his son John included Ellick Williams, Abram Horner, Charles Hazard, Stephen Cromwell, Jake Weeks, and Hampton dairymaid Milly Sherdan/Sheredine and her husband.

In all, more than 60 free African Americans earned wages at Hampton between 1829 and 1870. Along with work in the fields, account books and ledgers tell us that these free Black laborers harvested grains, slaughtered and salted hogs, cut wood, milked cows, gardened, washed clothes, and acted as house servants. As in the previous generation, the Ridgelys paid their laborers, both Black and white, with a mixed system of money and goods from the estate. When paid with wages, Black and white laborers earned similar pay, as the account books show that all laborers, Black and white, earned 4 cents per bushel of threshed rye, 45 cents per cord of cut wood, and 50 cents per day of butchering hogs. Black laborers were always alphabetized in the index of the ledgers with an “N,” for “Negro,” while white laborers were indexed by their last names. Across the state, increased levels of manumission and the decline of chattel slavery in the mid-nineteenth century meant that the number of free Black workers was on the rise. In 1830, there were 52,938 free African Americans in Maryland, but, on the eve of the Civil War, there were 83,942. By 1850, Maryland’s free Black population was nearly as large as its enslaved population, which created a unique balance between slavery and freedom for African Americans that no other state that chattel slavery was legal experienced.

Captain Charles Ridgely (1733-1790) served in the 1750s as a ship’s captain for the mercantile firm James Russell and Company. His maritime adventures included quelling a mutiny, surviving two hurricanes, and being imprisoned by the French during the French and Indian War. In 1763, he retired from the sea and assumed control of the family iron business, while remaining an active agent for British merchants until the Revolutionary War. An active politician and member of the Maryland Legislature, he was the acknowledged political boss of Baltimore City. After the death of his brother John in 1771 and his father in 1772, Captain Ridgely owned a two-thirds share in the Northampton Ironworks and maintained control of the entire operation. The Northampton Ironworks was a labor-intensive business which relied on a large and diverse workforce of enslaved persons, indentured servants, convict laborers and, during the Revolutionary War, British prisoners of war. The war created an ever-growing market for the forge’s products such as shot, cannons, and camp kettles. Income from this enterprise permitted Captain Ridgely to acquire thousands of acres of land confiscated from the British immediately following the War, and he eventually owned more than twenty-four thousand acres. Captain Ridgely married Rebecca Dorsey , the daughter of another Anne Arundel County ironmaster. The two had no children, but he raised and educated his nephew Charles Ridgely Carnan to be his business partner and heir. The two resided at the Lower House at Hampton as the great Hampton Hall was under construction from 1783-1790. Known as "The Builder," Ridgely died in June 1790, soon after the mansion was completed.

Timebooks from the 1770s for the colliers, who worked with charcoal at the furnace, give us the work schedule for enslaved people and indentured servants. They were expected to work a twenty-six-day month with only Sundays free, year after year. Dr. Randall Hulse, who was employed to care for ailing furnace workers, described general working conditions of the ironworks. In a letter dated February 22, 1777, to Charles Ridgely , Dr. Hulse described workers subjected to “a mean diet and barbarous usage” and a “wanton abuse of power.” He personally witnessed labor and punishment “excesses that call aloud for redress.” In many cases, these practices can only reasonably be defined as torture. Dr. Hulse cited a laborer, who made for “a miserable spectacle,” whom the overseer had driven to work “with a 56 lbs. chained to his leg.” “The despotic manager,” continued the doctor, “beat him with a stick and he died the next morning.” Hulse charged that any “unconcerned spectator” who witnessed the labor practices of Northampton without a more humane response “must possess a heart of stone and be deaf to every Sentiment of Humanity.”

Between November 1775 and December 1777, the daybooks recorded in the business category of “Profits and Loss” that five servants working at the forges died from the exertion of their forced labor. Historian Kent Lancaster has concluded that the conditions at Northampton were so harsh that, for enslaved individuals and indentured servants, “accidents resulting in broken bones, burns, or crushed feet were frequent.”

Nephew of the childless Captain Charles Ridgely , Charles Ridgely Carnan (1760-1829) inherited the largest portion of Hampton's land and business concerns on condition that he take Ridgely as his surname. Charles Carnan Ridgely served in the Maryland Legislature and as Governor of Maryland from 1815-1818. He was also known as General Ridgely, having been appointed a brigadier general in the state militia in 1796. He married Priscilla Dorsey Ridgely and they had fourteen children, eleven of whom survived to adulthood. As second owner of the estate, he expanded on his inheritance, acquiring additional agricultural acreage and ironworks, and increasing the estate and its profitability. Hampton became a showplace renowned for its physical beauty, the quality of its agriculture and livestock, and its owner’s opulent entertaining. He took a great interest in thoroughbred racing and breeding and was said in his day to be “very famous for racehorses.” In his codicil (added clause) to his will Charles Carnan Ridgely included instructions for the gradual emancipation of a large segment of Hampton’s enslaved population, an act that eventually freed more than 350 enslaved people. The codicil to his will was written on April 28, 1828, just 10 days after his daughter Sophia’s untimely death. According to various sources, one of the main influences of Carnan Ridgely's codicil of his will was because of his daughter, Sophia. In this addition to his will, he freed the enslaved people of certain ages immediately, women ages 25-45 with their children two and under and men 28-45. Those children older than two years of age and younger than 25 or 28 could not leave with their parents, tragically splitting up families.

Hampton National Historic Site (NHS) can best be understood through the story of its people—those who labored across centuries and the seven generations of the Ridgely family who gained wealth, status, and influence from that labor. Visitors can engage with the personal stories of the communities that toiled at the ironworks, in the fields, gardens and orchards, on the docks and aboard ships, and inside the mansion, making Hampton an example of the story of America. Enslaved individuals , indentured servants , free Black laborers , free artisans, tradesmen, convict laborers and British prisoners of war all worked on a plantation that was both an industrial site and an agricultural enterprise. Enslaved hands dug the foundation and raised the walls of Hampton mansion, the luxurious showplace whose walls still echo with historical debates, diversions, and sounds of daily life of the Ridgely family and their guests. The lavish backdrop, however, can sometimes mask the stories of those who struggled for freedom. One of these stories is that of Henry Cummins (c. 1826-1906), an enslaved young man forced to labor at the Ridgely’s White Marsh Farm. He went on to gain employment at one of Baltimore City’s leading hotels and eventually established a career as a renowned chef. The National Park Service (NPS) utilized documentary records, oral histories and an NPS Ethnographic Overview & Assessment to bring the stories of Cummins, as well as many other enslaved laborers, to light. Read more about the stories of the Enslaved and their descendants by reading the Hampton NHS Ethnographic Study .

Hampton is home to a variety of historic structures and cultural landscapes. Each of these illustrate how the meaning of a place can differ greatly from person to person as he or she experiences it. Hampton’s places hold stories of industry and leisure, of creativity and oppression, of families gathered together and others cruelly parted. The places of Hampton serve as a prism through which visitors can view a range of perspectives of the American experience. Whether through the eyes of a Ridgely family member strolling through the gardens, or those of the enslaved worker who labored to maintain them, one can explore and experience the diversity and complexity of the stories Hampton’s places can tell. The buildings and structures reflect the range of functions typical of the estate and its land use over several generations from 1745 to 1948. Accordingly, they are arranged for both functional and aesthetic considerations. Visual relationships between the buildings remain a character defining feature of the cultural landscape. Buildings and structures are constructed of a variety of materials, including stone, wood, brick, and stucco. Hampton’s physical landscape is divided into two distinct but interrelated spaces—Mansion and Farm. These two spaces comprise a variety of structures and buildings constructed to support the life of the estate over time.

Hampton is significant for its architectural features, and was the first and still the only site to be preserved by the National Park Service based on architectural merit. Architecture can tell us a lot about a nation and its people, as well as changes in culture, society, and trends over time. A view of Hampton's landscape and structures is a lens that can be used to understand the evolution of architecture in America, as well as the purpose of the structures in everyday life on the Hampton estate.

The buildings at Hampton showcase a fusion of classic European architecural styles and American design concepts, which makes many of the structures on the site so distinctive. The mansion is a grand example of American Georgian architecture and is defined by its symmetrical five-part design and classical details. It may have been of the largest private home in the country upon its completion in 1790. Hampton's Lower Farm includes the Lower or Overseer's House, begun in 1745 and expanded over two centuries, with buildings that were built between the 1840's and 1860's. These later structures fused aesthetics with agricultural purposes, and include original slave quarters, dairy, and barns. Today, all of the structures on the site serve as survivors of the past and are used to better understand Hampton as a place where a varied group of people lived and worked.

In 1948, Hampton became the first site to be preserved by the National Park Service based on its architectural merit rather than its connection to a significant person, place, or event in American history. The effort to preserve Hampton was headed by David Finley, director of the National Gallery of Art, and several other preservationists in Washington, D.C. Hampton's preservation marked an important milestone in the historic preservation movement in America and resulted in the founding of the National Trust for Historic Preservation. Today, the National Park Service continues to preserve the site and the historic structures that help to tell its story.

Hampton is a microcosm of life in Maryland, reflecting over 200 years of American social, historical, and economic development. Hampton NHS’s extensive museum collections and related archives are a resource of great significance to the local community, the state of Maryland, and the nation.

These extensive primary sources dating c. 1750-c.2010 provide direct evidence to the history of Hampton over three centuries. The unique and unpublished documents include correspondence, diaries, scrapbooks, account books, and legal and financial documents. Nearly 7,000 photographic images provide an extensive visual source of life at the Hampton estate. This collection adds to the unique nature of the site with such a large collection of primary sources giving detailed insight into the lives of those who worked and lived at the estate over its history.

Hampton’s collections are principally exhibited in period rooms in the Mansion dating c.1790-c.1910, where approximately 95% of the items on display are original to the site. In order to visit these exhibits, visitors must be on a guided tour of the house. However, a virtual tour is available for those wishing to explore these exhibits on their own. Changing exhibits in the North Portico have spanned a wide range of topics from the Civil War to historic gardens, equestrian life to Word War II. Interpretive exhibits are also located in the various farm buildings of the plantation such as the stables, slave quarters and farmhouse. All these exhibits are open for the public to explore Thursday-Sunday 9:00 am – 3:30 pm, except for the farmhouse which is open based on staff availability.

The museum collection contains nearly 45,000 items dating from the 18th through 20th centuries, most are original to Hampton and many are recognized nationally for their historic and artistic importance. Fine arts (paintings and sculpture) include works by renowned American master artists, portraits of Ridgely family members, and a European landscape paintings. Decorative arts and artifacts of daily life range from farming tools to silver horseracing trophies, thousands of books, and furniture and textiles that furnished the mansion and help to tell the stories of everyday life at Hampton for those who worked and lived here.

Research Requests related to archives, photographs, art, objects, and period room installations should be sent to Hampton NHS’s Curators .

Hundreds of individuals were enslaved on this land, making Hampton one of the largest plantations in Maryland. Comparatively, three quarters of enslavers nationwide enslaved fewer than 10 individuals.

In 1745, Charles Ridgely purchased 1,500 acres of land in northern Baltimore County. and opened the Northampton Ironworks in 1761. This purchase evolved to become the Hampton Plantation, which at its height was 25,000 acres. It would be passed down to seven generations of Ridgely descendants. Chattel slavery was present from the start of Hampton planation and persisted until Maryland in 1864. During this time, the Ridgely family enslaved over 500 people.

After the Revolutionary War, British loyalists lost their lands and laborers. Charles Ridgely used the opportunity to purchase confiscated property. He increased his landholding to 24,000 acres and the number of people enslaved at Hampton to over 300 by the time of his death in 1790.

Enslaved people labored at Hampton and Northampton as industrial, agricultural, and domestic laborers. Every aspect of life at Hampton included slavery. Enslaved people were not willing laborers, and the working conditions at Northampton Furnace was grueling and dangerous. The enslaved people were critical to the ironmaking process. Tasks included extracting iron ore and coal, mining and burning limestone, felling and cutting acres of timber, making charcoal and hauling fuel, iron ore, and finished products to and from the site.

From the colonial period through 1864, the Ridgelys enslaved over 500 people. Enslaved people, from young children to the elderly, labored at Hampton and Northampton, as ironworkers, founders, limestone and marble quarriers, millers, blacksmiths, gardeners, dairymaids, jockeys, cobblers, seamstresses, woodcutters, field hands, carriage drivers, cooks, childcare providers, cleaners, builders and even overseers in the early days of the ironworks. All these positions combined to create a community within the plantation in which enslaved people held meetings, lived together, and practiced their religion while simultaneously being subject to cruel forms of control from enslavers and overseers.

Refuge for freedom seekers was much closer for enslaved people at Hampton than for the enslaved in the Deep South. More than 80 people sought freedom from Hampton. Hampton’s close proximity to the “free state” of Pennsylvania led many enslaved people to seek refuge there. Others went to Baltimore Town, which had the largest number of Free Black residents in the US. The free community, the railroad, the Underground Railroad, and the shipping industry created opportunities for people fleeing bondage. Though not without exception, men traveling alone were most likely to be successful in their attempts to find freedom.

People seeking freedom took in many considerations before taking the risk. Recapture might result in various forms of torture from overseers and enslavers to deter future attempts. Some decided to resist slavery in other ways, including working slow, breaking tools, and feigning sickness or injury.

A codicil (edit/addition to a will) to Charles Carnan Ridgely’s will in 1829 resulted in one of the largest manumissions of enslaved individuals in Maryland’s history. The codicil stipulated that woman under the age of 25 and men under the age of 28 remained enslaved until they reached those ages. Children under 3 years old were freed if a parent was also freed, otherwise, they remained enslaved. Maryland also banned the manumission of enslaved people over the age of 45. Those children, young adults, and older adults were bequeathed to the Charles Carnan Ridgely’s eight heirs. His oldest surviving son, John Ridgely , inherited the mansion and a portion of the plantation but without any enslaved people.

Many freed people faced difficult choices as a result of the age restrictions. Many families were split as a result of the gradual manumission because one of their family members would remain enslaved. Some newly freed people left, but others sought to remain near their family.

The new head of the Hampton plantation, John Ridgely , chose to continue the family’s cruel tradition of enslavement by purchasing and enslaving an additional sixty human beings. One of the many people John enslaved was a 17-year-old girl named Harriet Hawkins , who John sexually assaulted in the mid-1820s, when he was about 34 years old. This assault resulted in the birth of John’s enslaved son, Charles Hale Brown. The only person John Ridgely freed was his son, Charles Hale Brown, in 1846. Charles’ father continued to enslave his mother, Harriet Hawkins, half-brother, Nelson Hawkins, and three sisters. Nelson Hawkins successfully sought freedom in 1863, and Harriet Hawkins was emancipated in 1864 along with all those enslaved in Maryland.

Researchers have a difficult task when it comes to the lives of enslaved people due to the lack of first-person accounts, although documentation recorded by the Ridgelys is extensive. The 2014 Hampton NHS Historic Resource Study, based on both important documentary research in the 1990s and new investigations, expanded the National Park Service’s understanding of the lived experiences of indentured servants and enslaved people. More recently, a three-year Ethnographic Overview and Assessment for Hampton NHS from 2017-2020 focused on establishing the connections of enslaved families in Hampton’s enslaved community: finding more about their lives and families in slavery and beyond and discovering living descendants . Primary sources including archives, probate and public records, research documents, oral histories and site visits have provided important discoveries in this ongoing work.

This scrap of paper shows the division among Charles Carnan Ridgely’s heirs of the enslaved people who were not manumitted in 1829. Many of the very young children were separated from their families.

Records show there were 130 enslaved people on the farms and at the ironworks in 1783; by 1829 there were nearly 350. Although this number dropped to 61 by the eve of the Civil War in 1860, the Ridgelys were still the second largest enslavers in Baltimore County. By the time of Emancipation in 1864, this number had dwindled to about 47, as a result of several individuals seeking their freedom during the American Civil War .

Many of those who did run away from Hampton and Northampton must have been enticed by the promise of freedom in nearby Pennsylvania and Baltimore City. "Runaway" ads for Hampton show that, in the summer of 1814, an enslaved 16-year-old girl by the name of Betty ran away but was caught and jailed in neighboring Harford County by Ridgely manager William Caple. She then ran away a second time, according to Caple, but she “was taken up…near Peach Bottom,” within a few miles north of Pennsylvania’s border, where “she afterward made her escape” again. She then headed towards “the Peach Bottom and York road...and was afterwards seen passing the Brogue tavern toward York.” Caple thought she would head for urban environments as she “was accustomed to live in a town” and he thought to look for her in “York, Columbia, Marietta, or Lancaster.” Within the year, Caple found her in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, during the spring of 1815 and paid out a $50 reward for her capture. That same year, an enslaved man known as Charles made his break for freedom from bondage at Northampton’s iron forges. According to-then manager William Caple, he was "seen on the old York road, near the Pennsylvania line, where Bob, who went off with him, was taken up." Caple believed that Charles had “crossed the Susquehanna:” he knew that he been heading east and “enquiring the way to McCall’s Ferry” and that Charles believed, as so many freedom seekers did, that crossing the Susquehanna delivered him outside of “the recognized northern boundary of the slave holding empire” and into the company of free blacks, Quakers, and sectarians of German descent. Likely, Charles was headed to McCall's Ferry, where Martic Forge beckoned a skilled iron maker. Charles, unlike Betty, was never discovered, and he remained free. Baltimore was the place that enticed most freedom seekers in Maryland. Dr. Stephen Whitman’s research on slave "runaway" advertisements show that, between 1810 and 1820, almost five times as many of the enslaved made their way to freedom in Baltimore than to the same in Pennsylvania.

Who worked in Hampton’s Kitchen? Before Emancipation (1864), we know of at least three enslaved workers who were cooks. The kitchen was a center for activity in the house. Dinah Toogood (c. 1795-c. 1882), was the head cook in the 1840s-1860s. She oversaw the kitchen. Eliza Ridgely III recalls in the 1890s that she was a good "fine cook." Eliza Ridgely’s records show Dinah receiving several coarse aprons a year, indicating the possibly messy nature of her work.

Harriet Davis Smith (1831-lv.1870), sister of dairymaid Caroline Davis Brown , was one of Dinah’s younger assistants. Both women were paid cooks for the Ridgelys in the mid-1860s before leaving Hampton to start new lives in freedom with their husbands, Dinah in the Orchard Street neighborhood of Baltimore City, Harriet in southwestern Baltimore County. Another young kitchen assistant and waiter, Nelson Hawkins (1843-1916) had fled Hampton in early 1863 and joined the Union Navy in 1864. He later established a very successful career as a “famous” caterer in Baltimore’s affluent Mount Vernon neighborhood before moving to Philadelphia in the 1890s.

Jim Pratt cared about his family and worked hard for himself and for them. In 1863 he attempted to seek his freedom alongside a large group of other enslaved people from Hampton. Regarding the enslaved who labored on the farm rather than in the house, we have detailed information on fewer of these individuals. One remarkable exception is Jim Pratt (1834-1902) and his family, for whom we have a good bit of documentation and even a photograph.

Jim Pratt was born in 1834 and was enslaved at birth. His mother was Charlotte (d. c. 1855?), an enslaved person who was a house servant. His father was likely Henry Pratt, a person purchased in 1831 to be enslaved as a farm worker, and who continued to appear in Hampton records up until c. 1863. Jim was the youngest of four siblings (John, Joe, Caroline, and Jim). Jim was apart of one of the large groups who attempted seeking freedom in 1863. The people in the group included Jim Pratt, Head waiter Mark Posey, Louisa Humphreys Posy and their infant child; Mary Humphreys, John Humphreys, George Humphreys, and Jim Gully. They were all captured and held in the Baltimore City jail. John Ridgely's Memorandum Book lists a record of payment in May 1863 to retrieve them from the Baltimore City jail. In May 1864 he is again listed at Hampton in the final clothing list.

Account books document Jim Pratt continuing on the plantation (along with his brother Joe) as a paid laborer for many years after Emancipation. Harvesting and shucking corn were among his tasks. He and his wife Laura and three of their children (James, George, Lizzie) are recorded in the 1880 census in Towson. Records indicate that they were married in 1856, before Emancipation. Jim is still listed as working as a day laborer twenty years later, when he was in his late 60s. He and Laura were then living near Hampton.

Laura Pratt, wife of James Pratt, colored, who was buried Saturday at Towson, was well known about Towson for many years She was about 70 years old and was formerly a slave, belonging to the late George Gill of Mantua Mills, Worthington Valley. She was the mother of 22 children and has 4 sons living.

James Pratt, her husband, who was a slave and belonged to the Ridgely estate, is very sick and is cared for by members of the Ridgely family. The colored woman died at the home of her brother, Loudon Franklin, in Baltimore, where she had recently gone to reside."

Jim is one of only two formerly enslaved people that were farm workers that James McHenry Howard mentions in his memoirs:

"Of the servants at the Quarters who remained with the family I shall mention the two whose names occur to me – one of them named Jim Pratt is still upon the farm as a laborer & though getting old is one of the hardest workers that have been upon the place. When a younger man he took pride in eclipsing any hired hand in the harvest field, and in forking hay he generally succeeded in breaking down any rival."

The well-known photo (c. 1897) of an older male servant pushing a wheel barrow outside the East Hyphen is very likely Jim Pratt.

During most of John Ridgely’s tenure as the head at Hampton, Lucy Jackson worked as the head housekeeper. Dr. Kent Lancaster notes that documents “suggest a person of unusual forcefulness for one in her status.” Enslaved by John Ridgely while pregnant, Lucy gave birth to her son Henry in the month after her purchase in 1838. She had another son, George, in 1842 and a source from 1866 states that Lucy’s husband was free. As the housekeeper, she would have overseen the other female house workers: chambermaids, childcare workers, dressers, and clothing makers. Though most enslaved house servants did not sleep in the mansion, it is possible that Lucy slept over the butler’s pantry in the east hyphen, designated as the housekeeper’s bedroom on an 1875 floor plan.

Lucy’s son Henry took the bold step, along with three other young, enslaved men at Hampton (Bill Matthews, Charles Buckingham, and Josh Horner) to seek his freedom immediately after the beginning of the Civil War. All the young men apparently successfully seeked their freedom. Lucy soon followed suit, successfully seeking her own freedom from Hampton before 1863.

After emancipation, it appears that Lucy was residing in Washington, DC. She is last heard from in the Ridgely records in 1866, when in April of that year John Ridgely received a letter from her attorney, William Boyd, demanding the return of Lucy’s personal property, all of which had “been bought for her by her free Husband.” These items include “6 common dresses, 9 good dresses, 4 silk dresses, furrs and Muff... and other articles of great value.” It is not known whether Lucy recovered any of her property, though John Ridgely responded that other servants at Hampton had already dispersed all of her effects.

Nancy was born in 1833 at Cowpens Plantation (the farm immediately east of Hampton), the daughter of Ambrose Brown, the Howards’ “old marketman at Cowpens.” The identity of her mother was unknown until discovered through recent Ethnography Study research . Her mother, Polly Batty, had been enslaved by Charles Carnan Ridgely until his death in 1829. Polly Batty had labored, along with several other Batty family members, at the Northampton Furnace. Ridgely’s will manumitted (freed) the enslaved of certain ages, often separating families. When Polly was freed in 1838, Nancy was just five years old. Some members of the Batty family settled in York County, PA, while another branch remained in the Towson area. Because of her age, Nancy could not leave with her mother, but she eventually received her freedom in 1858. Nancy’s principal role in the Howard and Ridgely households was childcare. She looked after three generations of children over her long life beginning with the four Howard boys, as James McHenry Howard describes: “she used to have charge of my brothers and myself, as she was a big girl when we were little.”. Having come to Hampton in 1851 upon the marriage of Margaretta Howard to Charles Ridgely , Nancy cared for their seven children, and John and Helen Ridgely’s children beginning in the 1870s. Nancy also served the family as a nurse and chambermaid, returning to the Howards in this capacity while the Ridgelys were in Europe in 1870-72.

Nancy had an important influence on one of the Ridgely children that still has an impact today. The youngest of Charles and Margaretta’s children was their third daughter, Margaretta “Margie” (1869-1949). After her mother’s death in 1904, Margie became a missionary in Liberia, West Africa, founding the House of Bethany, an Episcopal school for girls. She credited the influence of Nancy Davis on her decision to help young women in Africa.

Nancy travel back and forth between Hampton and town when the family did. Sometimes she is also listed in census records as living in a separate household in town with her husband, Louis Davis. They lived in a four-family house at 37 Orchard Street, Ward 11, Baltimore City. Louis had been a house servant at Hampton as an enslaved person and later worked as a freeman as a coachman to John A. Hambleton in Baltimore City. Although Nancy and Louis Davis had no children, Nancy does have living relatives that descended from one of her younger brothers, Daniel Brown. Dan Brown and his brother Sam both worked at Hampton as paid farm laborers in the 1870s and 1880s. Dan’s daughter Fanny Brown Jackson recalled living at Hampton in her early childhood, and Fanny’s great grandson has now visited Hampton and shared important family documents and information with the Ethnographic Study team . Nancy died at Hampton on April 21, 1908, in a room on the first floor of the Octagonal Servants Quarters. After her funeral in the Great Hall of the mansion, she was buried in the Ridgely Family cemetery .

Some enslaved people were hired out and brought to Northampton in the late eighteenth century because they were highly skilled and extremely valuable. This was the case for Toby, who was enslaved by Rebecca Ridgely (Captain Charles Ridgely’s widow) and had the skills to become a founder. Toby’s work put 50 shillings a month in the pocket of his enslavers. As founders, Toby and fellow enslaved man David, held prominent labor positions. They would decide when the furnace was ready to be tapped for iron ore extraction, based on the color and texture of the molten iron. They would act as control managers during the pig iron production process, adjusting the blast and proportions of charcoal, ore, and flux so that they controlled the quality of the iron while also preventing the furnace from “freezing up,” which would stop production because the molten iron and slag would cool and solidify before discharging from the bottom of the furnace. The founders also judged when the iron had reached the level of necessary separation, and then would order other laborers to tap the furnace. When the furnace was tapped, iron ran down a trough that was approximately 2 feet long and 3-to-4 inches wide and had a depth equal to its width. In iron-making terms, the main trough was called a “sow” and the side troughs “pigs,” an analogy stemming from the troughs’ resemblance to a mother pig nursing her piglets. Once the iron solidified into solid bars, it became “pig iron.” This process required expertise and familiarity with the ironworks, demonstrating that the two enslaved founders at Northampton were highly skilled industrial workers.

Henry Cummins (c. 1827-1906) was one of fifteen enslaved individuals surnamed Cummins at White Marsh farm, a property owned by Governor Charles Carnan Ridgely of Hampton in 1829. Under the terms of Ridgely’s will , Cummins was freed when he reached the age of 28. He moved from White Marsh into Baltimore City, where worked as a cook at Guy's Monument House, a large and fashionable hotel across from the Battle Monument on Calvert Street. Cummins eventually became a successful chef and caterer. In 1863, he married Eliza Jane Davage (1843-1914), whose parents had been freed from enslavement at Perry Hall plantation. By the 1870s, Henry Cummings (as him name came to be spelled) demonstrated an interest in politics and public life. In 1879, he was elected to be a delegate to the Maryland's Republican Party nominating convention from the 12th election district of Baltimore City.

In addition to raising and seeing to the education of her eight children, Eliza Jane Cummings was a seamstress and ran a boarding house at the family's residences so that those children could go on to higher education. Four of their five sons and one of their three daughters went to college, a remarkable achievement for that time. Active in both in her church and local organizations which enhanced the welfare and education of Baltimore's African American citizens, she was a suffrage leader and founder of both the Aged Men and Women’s Home and the Empty Stockings Club, a Christmas gifts delivery event for the community’s underprivileged. Eliza also followed in the family's tradition of political activism, delivering speeches across the eastern half of the country in support of amendments to enhance and protect the rights of African Americans.

Harry Sythe Cummings (1866-1917), was the second son of Henry Cummings (c. 1827-1906), who had begun life enslaved at White Marsh farm by Governor CCR of Hampton. Born a free man, Harry eventually became truly famous in his day and very possibly was the most well-known African American in the city of Baltimore at the time.Harry S. Cummings’ education was the foremost priority of his mother Eliza Jane Davage Cummings, who worked hard as a seamstress and running a boarding house to assist chef Henry in providing for the family. After attending local public schools, Harry graduated at age nineteen from Lincoln University in Chester County, Pennsylvania. He then became the one of the first two African Americans to graduate from the University of Maryland Law School in 1889. Harry's career and achievements grew rapidly from this auspicious beginning. At the young age of 24 in 1890, he ran successfully for the City Council in Baltimore, thereby becoming the first African American to serve on that body. He was reelected a number of times in 1891, 1897, and 1907-1917. Harry became very active in Republican politics for the state of Maryland as well as Baltimore city, speaking to enthusiastic crowds wherever he went. This led to the pinnacle of his national political recognition when he was asked to deliver a seconding speech for President Theodore Roosevelt at the 1904 Republican Party Convention in Chicago.

Ida R. Cummings (1867-1958) was one of eight children of Henry and Eliza Jane Davage Cummings. Her father had been enslaved by Governor Charles Carnan Ridgely of Hampton and was freed by the terms of the Governor’s will in the mid-1850s. Ida graduated from local Baltimore public high schools and soon afterward became an elementary school teacher at segregated schools in Baltimore County and City. By 1893, she was a teacher and assistant principal at Sparrow’s Point Colored School. Promotion of early education was paramount to her, and she is widely recognized as the first African American kindergarten teacher in Baltimore City. In the U.S. Census for 1900, Ida’s occupation was listed as “kindergardeness.” Ida Cummings later graduated from what is now Morgan State University. She became that school's first female trustee, among numerous other boards of charitable organizations. She was elected to offices in the National Association of Colored Women's Clubs in the 1910s. Active in the Metropolitan Methodist Episcopal Church, she served as president of the Colored Empty Stocking and Fresh Air Circle, an organization serving the city's poor Black children which had been founded by her mother. Retiring from teaching at age 70, Ida was still civically active and in 1938 was appointed by Maryland Governor Harry Nice to the Board of Managers for the Cheltenham School for Boys. After a lifetime as an educator and in service to the community, Ida R. Cummings died in November 1958 on Druid Hill Avenue, where the Cummings family had resided since 1900.

Daniel Harris himself was manumitted in 1829. At 44 years old, he would not have been freed if he had been even a year older, due to the terms of Governor Ridgely's Will. His Certificate of Freedom, dated November 1829, described him as having a “yellow complexion” and a slave market worth of $100. According to Ridgely's will , he allowed those under age two to go with their parents into freedom, Daniel’s three year old daughter Mary had just missed the cut off and was therefore resigned to having her entire youth spent in bondage to the Ridgely family. Daniel stayed on at Hampton following his manumission, “working in the garden” for $15 month. In 1831, Daniel purchased and immediately freed his daughter, Mary, for only $18, far beneath the estate value of $30, from Harry D.G. Carroll, one of the Governor’s sons-in-law. Daniel spent much of his other pay at the estate’s store for supplies and food. Much of what he made was, therefore, returned to the Ridgely fortune. His credit was his work, which totaled 780 hours in the garden between 1829 and 1833, amounting to cumulative earnings of $450. Despite having to draw on his work credit for supplies and food, Daniel Harris managed to save enough to purchase a plot of land from Benjamin Payne in Towson, which made him one of the first formally enslaved people to build an African-American community in the area. The Baltimore Sun reported, in a 1983 article on Towson, that Harris paid $187.50 for the land, and a 1994 publication of Historic Towson, Inc., cites Harris as Baltimore County's first Black landowner.

Mark Posey was perhaps the highest ranking enslaved individual in the Hampton household prior to emancipation in 1864. As head waiter, he received special clothing, gifts, and perks, such as a “very good” yellow waistcoat that had belonged to his enslaver John Ridgely. Yet in 1852, his 15-year old daughter Rebecca chose to seek her freedom, despite the dangers involved. Rebecca was not returned and is documented as living in Baltimore City by the mid-1860s.

Louisa Humphries (1839-lv. 1870) and Mark Posey (1815-lv. 1880) had two children born while still enslaved at Hampton, a son Edward/Ned (named for his Humphries grandfather) born around 1861 and girl Mary Jane born in 1863. After Emancipation, the Posey family including another daughter Nancy Rebecca (baptized at Trinity Episcopal Church in August 1865) moved to Towson, where they lived with Louisa's parents Edward and Peggy "Umphreys," as the name was recorded by the census taker in 1870. Another son, named Mark John for his father, was born and baptized at Trinity in January 1871.

As noted above, Mark Posey was a key member of the Hampton household. As described by Eliza Ridgely III in an annotation to an account book, he was "A waiter at Hampton, and a good one." In addition to serving a table, a head waiter was responsible for the care of the fine porcelain, glass, and silver on display in the Dining Room, keeping the lighting fixtures in good order, admitting guests to the house, and numerous other duties. A head waiter was often in the public eye, and was expected to dress well. In 1835, for example, Mark received numerous items related to his position (livery "roundabout" (cape), white aprons, gloves, etc., plus fine clothing such "a yellow cloth waistcoat [vest] of Mr. R.'s, very good one" or a “gold laced” livery coat.

As a young man in the late 1830s-1840s, Mark had been the father of several children by Rachel, a house servant who had also had two or three children probably by paid farm worker (who had formerly been enslaved by Charles Carnan Ridgely ) Charles Hazard in the early 1830s. Mark and Rachel's first child was Rebecca, born in 1837, and followed by two more daughters in the early 1840s (Mary, Alice). Alice Posey was recorded by Didy Ridgely on the Christmas Gifts list as being her "first protégé" in 1845, but she died while Didy was away in Europe for two years in 1846-1848.

Alice Posey's older sister Rebecca Posey had a very different experience than her sister the protégé. In the 1840s, as a small child, she worked in the kitchen under the supervision of Dinah Toogood. By the time she turned 14, she was considered too old for toys at Christmas, so Didy's list notes she was given an apron. The following year (1852) is the terse comment by Didy next to Becky's name on the list: "gone". It is yet unclear why Rebecca Posey sought her freedom alone. It was extremely rare for women to flee alone as Rebecca did on August 20, 1852. Historically, women left solo when they were about to be sold, to avoid an impending punishment, or to remove themselves from perpetual abuse. The newspaper advertisement records a physical description of the 15 year old:

" RAN AWAY from the farm of John Ridgely, Esq. in Baltimore County...a light colored NEGRO GIRL who calls herself REBECCA POSEY, about five feet one or two inches high, and fifteen years old, with a round good looking face. She had on when she left a dark blue striped dress, a dark blue shawl, and no bonnet."

As far as can be discerned from the records, Rebecca Posey made good her freedom and never returned to Hampton. Two notices in the Baltimore Sun indicate that she was living in Baltimore in 1863-1864, but no other records have been found. Rachel, Rebecca's mother, lived until late 1860 or early 1861.

As noted above Mark Posey took a younger wife (Eloise/Heloise/Louisa Humphries) with whom he had a child (son Edward) later in 1861. Rebecca's father, his new wife and child fled with several of her relatives in 1863, but were quickly captured and returned to Hampton. Even with this attempt at freedom, Mark was still trusted enough by the family to employ him for a few years in the period post-Emancipation. After leaving Hampton in the late 1860s, Mark then worked as a hotel waiter in the rapidly growing county seat of Towson. He continues to be listed in the 1880 census as a waiter, though he is living in the household of Henry C. Turnbull (just south of what is now Sheppard Pratt Hospital.) The residence of Louisa Humphries Posey in 1880 has not been discovered though, a 17 year old Black girl named Mary Posey was working on the large farm of the prominent Elder family in the Greenspring Valley (District 3) of Baltimore County in 1880. An Edward Posey, likely Mark and Louisa's son, was still living near Towson twenty years later, not far from Louis Davis.

In spring of 1841, John Ridgely purchased 23 individuals in 3 nuclear families (Gully, Davis and Humphries) of enslaved workers from “Oakland,” the estate of James L. Hawkins, for a total cost of $7,267.46. Hawkins was a banker who became notorious for embezzling huge sums of money (over $100,000) in 1840. Settling his debts required him to sell the enslaved people who worked on his plantation in southwestern Frederick County. It was common for enslavers to sell or rent their enslaved people to pay off debts.

William/Bill and Susan/Sukey Davis came to Hampton with their seven young children (Lloyd, Harriet, Ellen , Louis/Lewis, Anne , Caroline , and William Jr.) Two more children ( Tilghman and Susan) were later born at Hampton. Some of the Davis children (Louis/Lewis, Anne, Caroline) continued to work for the Ridgelys after emancipation, and descendants of others who left Hampton are still living in the Towson area today.

Edward/Ned Humphries, his wife Peggy and five children: John, George, Eliza Jane, Mary, and Eloise, were all farm workers. All of the younger children appear on Didy’s Christmas Gift list, although Eloise received nothing in 1851 “on account of bad behavior.” Eloise later went by Louisa Humphries and in 1861 became the second wife of head waiter Mark Posey, with whom she had three children. Mark and his first wife, Rachel also had children, the first of whom was Rebecca, one of the few young women able to successfully seek her freedom alone in 1852. Another daughter, Alica Posey was recorded by Didy Ridgely on the Christmas Gifts list as being her “first Protégé.” Many of these family members sought their freedom in 1863, were captured and returned to Hampton. After Emancipation, the Posey family moved to Towson, where Mark worked as a hotel waiter. Mary Humphries’ son John (1857-lv. 1930) became a paid farm worker at Hampton after Emancipation, serving as an overseer and living in the Lower (overseer’s) House with his wife, her sister, and two sons. One of John’s sons, Eugene, was decorated for his service in the 92nd Division (Buffalo Soldiers) in the US Army during World War I.

The only daughter to Jim and Catherine (Kitty) Gully was Esther/Hester (1829-lv. 1890). Almost immediately upon her arrival at Hampton in 1841, Esther adopted the surname Baker and is recorded with this name in Hampton records. She had a son, Henry Baker, born in June 1849. The Great Hall was a multi-purpose space, used for numerous important events, including weddings and funerals. In addition to Ridgely family celebrations, archival documents also record that some funerals for the formerly enslaved were held there as well. There is also documentary evidence related to Esther/Hester Gully/Baker who married Franklin Johnson , a free man of color who is listed as working as a servant at Hampton in the 1860 census. The marriage was carried out on December 24, 1856 in Hampton mansion by a white Presbyterian minister, R.C. Galbraith, who provided religious services for the enslaved at the behest of Eliza Ridgely. Franklin and Hester had four children together. Tragically, Franklin Johnson died while serving the Union in the U.S. Colored Troops during the Civil War. After his death, Hester moved to Baltimore to earn a living post-Emancipation. In late 1864, she applied for a widow’s pension in order to help support herself and her four children.

The Toogood family left a lasting impression on the Ridgely family from what it seems in documentation. Multiple accounts speak about how good Dinah Toogood's food was good. Nick Toogood played a pivotal role as a spiritual leader among the enslaved people at Hampton. The kitchen was a center for activity in the house. Dinah Toogood (c. 1795-c. 1882), was the head cook in the 1840s-1860s. She oversaw the kitchen, and Eliza Ridgely III noted in the 1890s that she was a good "fine cook." Eliza Ridgely’s records show Dinah receiving several coarse aprons a year, indicating the possibly messy nature of her work. Dinah was purchased in 1830 by John Ridgely from Hugh Birckhead for $250. Her husband Nicholas (Nick) Toogood (1786-1879) did not come to Hampton until several years later in the late 1830s. The Toogoods had four children, two of them (James and Marie) died as babies. A third child, Agnes, was born in 1845, died in 1847. Daniel (b. 1843) the fourth child, may well have died before 1850. After the death of Sam Brown around 1861, Nick was probably the oldest enslaved worker on the estate.

Nick worked as a handyman and was very charismatic. In leading mourners of the burial of another enslaved person, Bill Davis, Nick struck a favorite hymn—one that he normally sang as he called hogs to feed at the troughs. Unfortunately, for the procession, when the pigs heard and recognized his voice, they came running scattering the mourners. James McHenry Howard commented in 1894 that Nick "was a sort of spiritual leader among the [enslaved at Hampton] & if anything in the way of religious ceremonial or worship was going on, Nick was sure to have a prominent place." Howard also recounted an episode showing an example of resistance to enslavement:

"One of the well-known characters among the slaves was an old man by the name of Nick Toogood – he used to work around the grounds about the house as a general utility man and was usually complaining of Rheumatism and misery in the back – but this was thought to be a plea on his part for relaxation of work.

However, he put the plea in, one Sunday morning when he was told to do something or other and was excused as an invalid. Apparently when the family saw him in the morning, he seemed all bent together and could hardly drag one foot after the other – but as the ladies were seated in Epsom Chapel, an hour or so afterwards – Miss Henrietta happening to look out of the window her attention was attracted by seeing an old negro man climbing lightly over an adjacent fence and walking with long strides towards the village of Towsontown – It was old Nick."

This could have been Nick's way of showing some sort of form of resistance. Despite the dehumanization of chattel slavery, this was a small way of showing his humanity.

Both Dinah and Nick continued to be held in chattel slavery until the 1864 Maryland Emancipation. Seventy-year-old Nicholas and sixty-year-old Dinah moved 13 miles away from Hampton to Baltimore City around 1865. They moved into a community that was one of the most active in the struggle for civil rights where they lived until their passing over ten years later. They worked as laborer and laundress while attending the Orchard Street Church (Methodist Episcopal). While at church they would witness speeches, conferences, educational achievements and other gatherings by the nation’s most ardent seekers of full rights for African Americans. By 1867 they were listed in the Baltimore City Directories living at 108 Orchard Street in what is now the Seton Hill neighborhood. This area was an important one in the community of freed Africans Americans living in the city. Orchard Street was a center of Baltimore’s free Black community. The Orchard Street ME Church figured heavily in Baltimore’s African American history. It was said to have been a heavily used station on the Underground Railroad. It also housed an early school for African Americans and served as a lyceum hosting local and regional organizational rallies and fundraisers. One of the church’s well-known parishioners and neighbor of the Toogoods was Rev. Samuel Green of the Eastern Shore who gained some stature for having been imprisoned for five years for possessing a copy of Uncle Tom’s Cabin .

In the 19th century, African Americans hosted their own religious services in the woods at Hampton and attended religious meetings with neighboring groups of free African Americans and enslaved people. One laborer, Nick Toogood (1786-1879), was said to be a “spiritual leader” among the enslaved at Hampton and was known as a powerful hymn-singer. There is limited documentary evidence of burial grounds for the enslaved and later free African Americans on the original Ridgely properties, though the location of these sites remains unrecorded.

The Ridgelys also had their own ways of promoting Christianity among Hampton’s enslaved community. Eliza Ridgely provided church services in the second floor of the Hampton carriage house, under the direction of a white Presbyterian minister, Rev. Galbraith. She also held community gatherings, centered on weddings and funerals, in the great hall of the mansion. Her daughter Eliza, or “Didy” , recorded in her 1853 journal that she taught enslaved children Sunday School classes, which included learning the Lord’s Prayer and memorizing Bible verses.

For the Ridgelys, as well as other enslavers, setting the guidelines for religious practice seemed to mean that they shared a common humanity with enslaved people, while also providing social control and demands for enslaved people to take on their beliefs and behavior. For the enslaved, lessons of a shared religion gave them a language with which to compel the enslavers to behave as Christians and allow them to seek knowledge, both Biblical and otherwise.

During the Civil War, Ridgely family member Henry White recalled that enslaved children approached him to learn to read (then not permitted) so that they could better prepare for the freedom they hoped was coming:

“I still remember the younger ones, who at that time were beginning to hear of freedom and the possibilities of education, coming to me at times privately with little primers, and asking me to explain the spelling of certain words, or the meaning of certain combinations of letters, which they could not understand; begging me at the same time not to let any of the elders know that they had done so, as it was one of the principles of slavery that they should not be taught to read or write.”

Enslavers’ attempts to provide Biblical instruction and institutionalize Christianity among the enslaved was, like so many other aspects of American chattel slavery, a process of struggle, negotiation, and a form of control .

The term "Freedom Seeker" illustrates the decision of the enslaved person to take control of their destiny from the enslaver by leaving the site of enslavement. Other terms that have been used in the past are "fugitive" and "runaway".

The decision to seek freedom was difficult. Not only did an individual face possible capture, corporal punishment, and an unknown world beyond Hampton, they often left behind family they might never see again. It is unknown whether the 76 or so enslaved individuals who sought their freedom from Hampton ever used the Underground Railroad. A network of people who hid, fed, and guided thousands of enslaved individuals seeking to escape, the Underground Railroad was particularly strong in Maryland. Those providing help included free and enslaved Black people, Indigenous People, white people, Quakers, Methodists, and Baptists. Hampton’s freedom seekers had the advantage of being in close proximity to Baltimore City, where a large community of free Black people made it easier to hide. Hampton was also close to the border of Pennsylvania, a free state. However, after Congress passed the “Fugitive Slave Act” of 1850, making it across the state line was no longer a guarantee of safety.

Freedom seekers often set out for Baltimore City where they might hope to be supported by a large free Black community or for Pennsylvania, a “free state” with laws making it difficult for human traffickers and enslavers to pursue and recapture them. Some freedom seekers did not even look for their own freedom but rather sought to return to family members on other plantations. Over 80 enslaved people sought their freedom from Hampton throughout the time people were enslaved at Hampton. Large groups of freedom seekers were generally doomed to failure and most successful journeys to freedom were taken by young men traveling alone or in pairs. Some notable exceptions include the teenaged Rebecca Posey and housekeeper Lucy Jackson .

The stories of freedom seekers can be as devastating as that of a laborer enslaved by Abraham Pattern. This laborer was hired out by Pattern to the Ridgely’s to work at the Northampton ironworks on March 18, 1774. According to the Northampton Furnace Journal, 1775-1778, the worker complained that he was constantly “sicke” and could no longer work. His pleas were ignored so he sought his freedom but was soon captured. In despair, he “cut his throat” rather than continue to labor for the Ridgelys at Northampton furnace. This act caused Patterns to retrieve him and remove him from the site. Such were the harsh conditions that some enslaved people would rather endure self-induced bodily injury than continue at the Northampton ironworks.

A letter from Walter Bowie to Charles Carnan Ridgely dated February 20, 1796: “Mr. Barton has been so fortunate as to get your man and I have no doubt will get him safe home. I could wish if it is possible . . . that you have instructions not to whip him, as he appears to be truly penitent for transgression. He very much laments the parting from his wife and says he will stay with you if you purchase his wife….”

Enslaved freedom seekers were not the only ones to decide to leave Hampton's ironworks. European white indentured servants would seek their freedom as well, as is evident in advertisements printed in newspapers. Between 1770 and 1820, there were at least thirty ads for freedom seekers from Hampton placed in local newspapers. A 1791 reward notice, handwritten by Charles Carnan Ridgely, advertised for the return of Bateman, a young, enslaved man recently purchased from a Harford County plantation. Bateman must have been captured and returned since he appears in later Hampton records. By the time of Charles Carnan Ridgely’s death in 1829, he was no longer working or living at the Northampton Furnace but was recorded at the Hampton Home Farm. Bateman was then 58 years old and too old to be freed by the governor’s will.

Another advertisement brings to light the story of a man named Hercules, enslaved by the Charles Carnan’s son, Charles Ridgely Jr. The list of clothing received by enslaved people at the Epsom farm demonstrates that Hercules and his wife were on the site during the period from 1811 to 1817. During that time, it seems likely that Hercules attempted to seek his freedom. On August 21, 1813, Charles Ridgely, Jr., ordered an iron collar and two shackles made for him by a blacksmith, at a cost of fifty cents. These were items of confinement, normally purchased to constrain the liberty of an enslaved person who had previously attempted seeking their freedom. Ultimately, at age 41, Hercules was manumitted, or freed, in 1829 by the terms of Charles Carnan Ridgely’s will, one of the 74 adults who were freed immediately. However, following freedom, Hercules stayed on at Hampton as a low wage employee.

Farm laborer Henry Jones was more fortunate than many. He left Hampton in 1853 and was never recaptured. Over forty years later, Nancy Davis recalled that he “Ran away and & got clear....”

By the early 1830s under John Ridgely’s tenure, the Northampton Furnace had ceased operations leading to Hampton becoming primarily an agricultural and domestic plantation, rather than industrial. Fewer enslaved workers attempted to seek their freedom during this period, as opportunities for potential free employment in Baltimore or Pennsylvania had also diminished. When enslaved people did attempt seeking their freedom, John Ridgely usually advertised in the press, offered rewards, hire human traffickers, and file affidavits and grants of power of attorney with Pennsylvania courts to return the enslaved people.

Harsher laws and more comprehensive efforts on the part of enslavers meant that free Black people were often detained, questioned, and threatened with return to bondage if they could not document their free status. Mary Jones, for instance, formerly enslaved to Governor Ridgely with the name of “Polly,” had to petition for her certificate of freedom as late as 1860, even though she had been freed for eleven years.

The number of attempts to find freedom increased during the Civil War. Henry Jackson, Bill Matthews, Charley Buckingham, and Josh Horner fled in May 1861. Henry Jackson’s mother, Lucy Jackson followed suit soon after and Nelson Hawkins left in 1863.

By early 1864, the number of enslaved individuals at Hampton had dropped from 61 to 49. Slavery ended at Hampton when Maryland banned slavery on November 1, 1864.

Legislative bodies in colonial America, Maryland, and the United States passed laws to delineate terms of enslavement and to make self-emancipation significantly more difficult.

During the holidays, the drawing room in the Hampton mansion is set up as it might have been for the presentation of Christmas presents for enslaved children. Hampton NHS archival records preserve a Christmas gift list for the enslaved children from 1841-1854, recorded by John and Eliza Ridgely’s daughter Eliza (“Didy”). The gift list records over 50 names of enslaved children over a decade and the corresponding gifts that were given including items like dolls, doll furniture, musical instruments, and toy soldiers.

Although appearing at first to be a beneficial and kind gesture, this practice of gift giving also created a sense of obligation on the part of children. It was also used as a punishment; the list records that certain children did not receive a gift because of their behavior or even if the child attempted to seek their freedom. The list gives hints of other parts of the story as well, such as where young children from Hampton were rented out to other plantations (and thus not available to receive their gifts) or in some cases, who had successfully sought their freedom, never to appear on the gift list again. For example, after Rebecca Posey sought her freedom in the summer of 1852, she is noted as “gone” on the gift list that December.

“Mr. Barton has been so fortunate as to get your man and I have no doubt will get him safe home. I could wish if it is possible . . . that you have instructions not to whip him, as he appears to be truly penitent for transgression. He very much laments the parting from his wife and says he will stay with you if you purchase his wife….”

Over the decades, the Ridgelys relied on a mixed labor force of enslaved workers, convict laborers, indentured servants , hirelings, paid artisans, free Black laborers , and tenant farmers to maintain their estate. Indentured servants would have been used for labor in the early history of the plantation, as the system was phased out by 1800. As crews of workers at the Iron Furnace grew larger, white men were the managers and overseers who imposed strict work expectations in exchange for housing, supplies, a portion of the agricultural harvest and sometimes cash.

White supervisors were hired consistently at the ironworks by the 1760s. In the early 1800s, several white managers were hand selected and trained by Charles Carnan Ridgely. These young men were chosen through the Baltimore Orphans’ Court as apprentices whom Carnan Ridgely molded as future managers. Samuel Reynolds was one of these young men; he contracted in 1804 to serve Ridgely for four years “to learn the Arts, Trades, and Mysteries of Managing an Iron Works or Furnace.” Within a decade, Carnan Ridgely had recruited a second young apprentice named Richard Green to manage the “mysteries” of Northampton. Carnan Ridgely also hired white overseers to manage large agricultural farms at the Hampton Home Farm, Epsom, Mine Bank, Reister’s Place and White Marsh.

There was one Black overseer on the plantation, Savee in 1745, oversaw small, interdependent groups of enslaved people and indentured servants. In the early 20th century, the Black manager at the Home Farm, John Humphries, oversaw farm laborers, assigned chores, supervised the valuable dairy herd and other livestock among numerous responsibilities.

Over the years, overseers used physical torture such as whipping and a variety of forms of cruelty to extract labor of hundreds of enslaved people. As with enslaved people, indentured servants were also subject to beatings and whippings. Additionally, those who attempted to seek their freedom could be put in iron collars. Inflicting physical torture could be a collaborative effort between overseers and enslavers.

James McHenry Howard, Margaretta Howard Ridgely’s half-brother, recorded in his memoir family stories and oral histories told to him of treatment of the enslaved people at Hampton. In one incident, he records a day when “General Ridgely” (Charles Carnan Ridgely) had an overseer deliver ten lashes to an enslaved man. Despite the pain of these lashes, the man showed pride and refused to apologize, causing a dismayed and angered Ridgely ordered the overseer to dispense yet another ten lashes. In a battle of wills, the enslaved man remained “sullen and defiant” and refused to apologize. Charles Carnan Ridgely ordered ten more lashes with the angry admonition, “confound you why can’t you look pleased?” According to historian Kent Lancaster, “Once a slave owner wrote to ask if he might send his slaves to Hampton to be trained, which suggests, at least, that Ridgely discipline was exemplary to one white owner.”

Henry White (1840-1927), John Ridgely’s grandson, recalled that slavery at Hampton “was also bad for the tempers of the owners.” On several occasions, White recalled that “I well remember having seen my grandfather Ridgely lose his temper on one or two occasions, and box the ears of one of the grooms for reasons which seemed to me entirely inadequate.” White recoiled from these acts because they “left a most disagreeable impression on my mind, which is as vivid at the age of 75 as it was on the day of its occurrence (sic).”

On the other hand, White’s memoir tells us that white children at Hampton considered enslaved individuals as “personal friends of the children of the house, the older ones being called ‘uncle’ and ‘aunt.’” Such a divided narrative conveyed both the horrors of slavery and, at the same time, a close-knit familial intimacy with the enslaved that characterized the paternalism of the Ridgely family as an enslaving class.

In the early 1850s, discussions among the Ridgely family , neighbors and guests in the mansion’s drawing room likely revolved around subjects such as the Compromise of 1850, “property” rights of enslavers, the role of abolitionists and free Black people, fears of uprisings by enslaved individuals, and the growth of sectionalism (exaggerated devotion to the interests of a specific region over those of the entire country). One notable local case of freedom seeking called the Christiana “Riot,” (now referred to as Resistance or Incident) commanded national attention. In September of 1851 in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, a Baltimore County farmer, accompanied by family, friends, and law officers, tried to apprehend enslaved individuals who were seeking their freedom. A group of free Black people and abolitionists from Pennsylvania tried to prevent the capture and return of the enslaved people. The Baltimore farmer, Edward Gorsuch, was killed and his son seriously wounded in the encounter. The incident made front page news in the Baltimore Sun and other newspapers for weeks. Huge rallies held in Baltimore, and the newspapers (including the Baltimore Sun) with Confederate sympathies fanned the flames of sectionalism. The Gorsuch Farm was on York Road, only a few miles north of Hampton. Gorsuch’s death would have been quite disturbing to neighboring enslavers and would have unquestionably been a topic of discussion even at social events. Concerns and tensions mounted after this incident, culminating in the news of the Dred Scott decision (1857) and John Brown’s raid (1859). James McHenry Howard recalled in his memoirs that John and Eliza Ridgely “passed their lives quietly until 1860 when it became apparent that a civil war was about to vary that peaceful monotony of American home life, and after that time more or less anxiety disturbed the tranquility of their days and nights.”

On the eve of the Civil War, the Hampton plantation covered over 4,000 acres and included over 60 enslaved people and a few free Black laborers . “I have many memories of the Civil War,” John and Eliza Ridgely’s grandson Henry White recalled, “the greater part of them not very pleasant to one, who, even as a child, greatly disliked heated discussions between members of the family and friends.” During the course of the war, family members reported that they were torn between sympathy for the Confederacy, hinging on their continued embrace of chattel slavery , and the fact that, in the words of White, the family maintained a “material interest dependent of Northern victory.” “Hardly a day passed,” he bitterly remembered, “that I did not hear one or more such discussions, during which the parties thereto frequently lost their tempers and ended…by not speaking to each other.” The Ridgelys feared that “Maryland would be a buffer state between the contending sections, ” to say nothing of “the dread of confiscation and possible slave insurrection and rapine and murder.” John and Eliza’s son Charles Ridgely (1830-1872) was elected captain of the Baltimore County Horse Guard (a local pro-Confederacy state militia unit) before the outbreak of the Civil War. Following the Pratt Street Riots in 1861, the Horse Guard began a series of actions, ordered by the Maryland and Baltimore officials, to disrupt bridges and rail lines in an attempt to negatively impact the American military’s efforts of mobilization for the war. Charles was threatened with arrest by the commander of United States forces, then stationed at Fort McHenry , for actions against the Army. He escaped incarceration through his father’s intervention, the guard was disbanded, and Charles remained inactive during the war despite his Confederate sympathies. Although the Hampton plantation saw no conflict, the sounds of war reached their ears; White recalled, during the “ Battle of Antietam , of which I well remember hearing the guns in the far distance one fine afternoon, on the terrace at Hampton.” So close was the war to Hampton that White felt that “it was very fortunate for all of us that Maryland happened to be on the road from the North to Washington, and consequently to be taken under the control of the Union army. Otherwise, it would doubtless have been reduced to the condition in which, after the war, the other Southern states found themselves.”

The Civil War proved to be a defining moment in Hampton’s history. Although the three major military campaigns that came through the state of Maryland never reached Hampton, the battle fought on the plantation was one of culture, morality, and human rights.

On multiple occasions large groups of enslaved people left Hampton during the war, attempting to seek their freedom . On January 1, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation. Not only did the proclamation establish freedom for the enslaved African Americans living in Confederate states, but it also cemented this freedom by verifying their ability to serve in the United States military. On May 22, 1863, the War Department issued General Order No. 143 to establish a procedure for receiving African Americans into the armed forces. The order created the Bureau of Colored Troops. Some of those enslaved at Hampton who successfully were able to seek their freedom went on to serve in the United States military helping ensure not only their own freedom but also fighting for the freedom of others. One example is that of Franklin Johnson , a free Black servant at Hampton. In the spring of 1864, he enlisted as a soldier in the U.S. Colored Troops (39th US Colored Infantry). Tragically, Franklin Johnson died in September that year, after serving during this regiment’s very active role during the Overland Campaign and leaving his wife and children still enslaved at Hampton. In contrast, Charles Ridgely felt restrictions of freedoms with the suspension of Habeas Corpus in the state, being forced to be on house arrest, or face time in prison for his support of the Confederacy. In November of 1864 (just about five months before the surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia at Appomattox) Maryland issued its emancipation of all enslaved people in the state with its new constitution. For Hampton their labor force was freed, but many had to make the difficult choice to remain as free paid laborers.

By the end of the Civil War, there were 175 USCT regiments, containing 178,000 soldiers, approximately 10% of the Union Army. The mortality rate for these units was exceedingly high. One of every five Black soldiers in the conflict died, a 35% higher rate than other troops. On the day that Lee surrendered at Appomattox Court House, Virginia, on April 9, 1865, there were more African American soldiers fighting for the United States than the total of all Confederate forces.

Freedom brought its own challenges, since the formerly enslaved had few assets and little or no education. To survive, some drew upon the skills learned during their years of enslavement . By the last quarter of the 19th century, the neighborhoods of East Towson and Sandy Bottom on York Road grew as segregated communities for Black residents. Several freed people from Hampton settled in these two communities, where they helped establish institutions that served the needs of the people and provided social stability during a period of restrictive and discriminatory state and local laws.

“Towsontown seems to be a sort of haven of rest to the emancipated darkies and I scarcely ever ride through the place without seeing some new arrivals in the shape of our former slaves. . .” Charles Ridgely to Julian White, Dec. 24, 1866.

Technological advances in the years after the Civil War, along with the loss of forced enslaved labor, led to fundamental changes for plantation economies such as Hampton. The invention of steam powered equipment meant that fewer people were needed to farm the same amount of land, but farm jobs also paid far less than factory work in Baltimore City. By 1888, a shortage of agricultural labor across Maryland led the state to recommend that farmers break up large tracts of land and sell them to white migrants from other states, who they believed would “work them properly.” These kinds of discriminatory practices contributed to the economic difficulties faced by African Americans who remained in rural areas. The shift from forced labor to paid labor and the technological advances caused a major change in the operations of Hampton, which would lead to the eventual economic decline of the estate.

Hampton National Historic Site today preserves the core of what was once a vast commercial, industrial, and agricultural plantation that encompassed nearly 25,000 acres in northern Baltimore County and where hundreds of people were enslaved at its height. Without the wide range of workers and their contributions, Hampton could not have existed at all. Interpreting all these individuals— enslaved , indentured , and free —helps connect every aspect of Hampton, the buildings, grounds, gardens, and objects.

Starting with indigenous communities migrating, hunting, and gathering, the land that is now Baltimore County has been travelled by people for thousands of years. European settlers arrived in the 1600s, including the Darnall family who were granted a 1,500-acre tract of land in northern Baltimore County which they named “Northampton,” carrying the name with them from England. In 1745, Colonel Charles Ridgely , a third generation Marylander, purchased the Northampton tract, initially as a tobacco plantation., In 1761 Colonel Ridgely and his two sons (John and Capt. Charles ) established an ironworks, the Northampton Furnace, where workers mined iron ore and limestone, made charcoal to fuel the blast furnace, refined and cast ore to make pig iron. During the American Revolutionary War, the ironworks produced munitions such as cannons and cannonballs for the Continental Army. This profitable wartime industry created considerable wealth for the Ridgelys, extracted through harsh and brutal working conditions inflicted upon the enslaved, indentured servants, and British prisoners of war.

Amid this economic hub, immediately after the close of the Revolutionary War in 1783 construction started on Hampton mansion, a massive Georgian style house set atop a hill. Built at the direction of Capt. Charles Ridgely, at 24,000 square feet the house may have been the largest private residence in the United States when completed in 1790. The imposing architectural masterpiece became a symbol of wealth and power for some, but oppression for others. The elegantly furnished mansion was set amid formal gardens and carefully landscaped grounds, making it an island of tranquility for the Ridgely family surrounded by a sea of suffering of those forced to labor for them.

Having no children of his own, Capt. Charles Ridgely, left his nephew, Charles Carnan Ridgely , as the business partner and heir to Hampton. Under the proprietorship of Carnan Ridgely, the 25,000-acre Hampton plantation reached its height of prosperity, and height of the amount of people enslaved at once. The ironworks continued to be the main source of the family’s wealth, supplemented by farming, orchards, mining, marble and limestone quarries, mills, and mercantile interests. After Carnan Ridgely’s death in 1829, the ironworks ceased operation, and Hampton transitioned to being primarily a large, Southern-style plantation incorporating fields of grains, orchards, and herds of livestock. All these activities were done by a mixed labor force: principally enslaved laborers and some paid workers both Black and white. After emancipation in 1864, both Black and white paid workers and tenant farmers labored on the estate.

Over time, the combination of the emancipation of enslaved people in the United States, economic downturns, and division of property among heirs reduced the plantation to 1,000 acres. By the 1920s, suburbs were encroaching and farming became increasingly less economically viable. The Great Depression and World War II finally led the Ridgely family to sell the house and part of the remaining property to the National Park Service in December of 1947. Hampton National Historic Site was established in June 1948 “on outstanding merits as an architectural monument,” making it the first historic site of its kind within the National Park Service. This designation paved the way for the establishment of the National Trust for Historic Preservation the following year. After much needed restoration work on the mansion was completed in 1950, the site was officially opened to the public. Today the park encompasses roughly 63 acres including the historic mansion, gardens, several farm and domestic outbuildings, quarters of the enslaved, and family cemetery. These can all be explored to learn the many stories and voices of Hampton National Historic Site. A visit to Hampton NHS allows visitors to travel back in time to experience snapshots of American history. Without the wide range of people and their contributions, Hampton would not have existed at all. By learning about all these individuals, visitors can connect all aspects of the site, from the buildings to the grounds to the experiences across time of enslaved, indentured, and free people. Discover more about how their lives intertwined and how their goals and hardships played out against the backdrop of America’s development as the nation struggled to define its own concept of freedom.

Park Ranger giving information about the Hampton mansion architecture. NPS Visiting Hampton is a great way to spend a morning, afternoon, or the entire day. In fact we have so much to see and do that we encourage visitors to return, and return often. The 63-acres of the park are open to pedestrian access from dawn to dusk, seven days a week. We recommend that you plan to spend at least 2 hours on site, but you are more than welcome to stay longer. Our Plan Your Visit page has all the information you need to make sure you have a great experience!

Visiting Hampton is a great way to spend a morning, afternoon, or the entire day. In fact we have so much to see and do that we encourage visitors to return, and return often. The 63-acres of the park are open to pedestrian access from dawn to dusk, seven days a week. We recommend that you plan to spend at least 2 hours on site, but you are more than welcome to stay longer. Our Plan Your Visit page has all the information you need to make sure you have a great experience! Visitors to Hampton National Historic Site can start their visit before leaving home. Download the new NPS App which is the official app for all 420+ NPS sites. The NPS App will act as your virtual visitor center! The multimedia page on our website is a good way to become familiar with the park’s history. Virtual tours, self-guided tours, videos, and photo galleries are also found on the same page on our website. Learn more about our tours on the Ranger programs page. And don't forget to become a Junior Ranger! Youth of all ages can participate in our Junior Ranger program.

Explore Hampton with virtual tours of the mansion and lower farm. Visit the virtual museum to see Hampton's extensive collections.

When bringing your pets, remember to be a responsible pet owner. Click for rules and regulations.

Learn about the different wildlife that calls the area home. Keep an eye out for some on your next visit!

Let a park ranger be your guide! Its your mobile visitor center! The NPS App is the brand new official app for all 420+ national parks.