hampton national historic site
Hampton National Historic Site, in the Hampton area north of Towson, Baltimore County, Maryland, preserves a remnant of a vast 18th-century estate, including a Georgian manor house, gardens, grounds, and the original stone slave quarters. The estate was owned by the Ridgely family for seven generations, from 1745 to 1948. The Hampton Mansion was the largest private home in America when it was completed in 1790 and today is considered to be one of the finest examples of Georgian architecture in the United States. (Wikipedia)
A farmer friend convinced me to check out this site for two reasons specifically: it had a very rare orangery (in Maryland!) and such a deep subterranean ice house that the owners could have ice cream in July in the early 1800's.
The dining room, featuring a pineapple that would have been a big flex at the time.
Another view, featuring the famed ice cream and a detail of the wallpaper. It is a reproduction but traditionally block printed with a different block for each layer
The ginger jars in the great room are gigantic. All the furnishings are original to the house, the last heir sold it (in a complicated way) to the parks service after the Great Depression. I love the marble baseboards.
This sitting room is delightfully over the top
I didn't take great photos of this parlor - it also features a massive golden harp!
More beautiful stonework in that reddish marble/jasper column by the painting (of what is now St. Paul Street in Baltimore, right by Mercy hospital and that big hill).
It was a worthwhile trip. The interpretive parks ranger was delightful and did a thoughtful job discussing slavery and indentured servitude on the property and outbuildings - and there are a lot of outbuildings and graves on the site.
Within 150 years it went from the largest home in the US to falling apart in disrepair. There's a lot to chew on - a lot I typed and then deleted - about concentration of power, about what draws me to these big houses with tiny, steep second staircases, about the current time we are in. It's still loading in my brain, which is a good thing.