Historic House Museums in Maryland

We try to keep this list of historic house museums for Maryland current, but it is best to check directly with the museums for their hours and other information. If you know of a historic house museum in Maryland that should be listed here, please use our submission form to let us know about it.

Annapolis

Hammond-Harwood House

The Hammond-Harwood House was built for the 25-year-old tobacco planter Matthias Hammond of Anne Arundel County, Maryland.ÝÝ The young Hammond had inherited not only a great deal of money but also a keen business sense.Ý Indeed, Hammond managed to accrue more and more real estateÝ while still successfully managing his various tobacco plantations.

Open Tue-Sun, Apr-Oct • 9 Maryland Avenue • (410) 263-4683

The William Paca House & Garden

Description

Mon-Sat 10:30-3:30, Sun 12:30-3:30 • 186 Prince George St. • (800) 603-4020ÝÝor (410) 267-7619

Baltimore

Edgar Allan Poe House and Museum

The house was built around 1830 in what was then considered the country. The new Baltimore and Ohio train station had opened a few short blocks south of the Poe House in 1830. It now houses the B & O Train Museum.

Call for Hours • 203 Amity Street • (410) 396-7932

Flag House

Visitors to The Flag House & Star-Spangled Banner Museum tour the 1793 home of Mary Pickersgill where she sewed the Star-Spangled Banner in the summer of 1813. The house is preserved in excellent condition and furnished with graceful Federal antiques including pieces from the Pickersgill family.

Open Tue-Sat 10-4 • 844 East Pratt Street • (410) 837-1793

Homewood House Museum

Homewood, a classically inspired five-part house, was built beginning in 1801 on a 130-acre farm located two miles from the city center of Baltimore. The house and property was a wedding present from Charles Carroll of Carrollton, one of four Maryland signers of the Declaration of Independence, to his only son Charles Carroll, Jr. and his daughter-in-law, Harriet Chew Carroll in 1800.

Open Tue-Fri 11-4, Sat-Sun 12-4 • 3400 North Charles St. • (410) 516-5589

Mount Clare

n 1756, Charles Carroll, Barrister, began construction of Mount Clare at Georgia Plantation. He named his new summer residence after his grandmother , Mary Clare Dunn, and his sister, Mary Clare Carroll (Maccubbin). The house was built in the Georgian style of soft pink brick, laid in allheader bond, most of which would have been made on the plantation. A series of grass ramps led from the bowling green down shaded terraces or falls. A sweeping view spread across the lower fields to the waters of the Patapsco River, about one mile away.

Open Tue-Sat 10-4 • 1500 Washington Blvd. • (410) 837-3262

Clinton

Surratt House Museum

Built in 1852 as a middle-class plantation home, historic Surratt House also served as a tavern and hostelry, a post office, and polling place during the crucial decade before the Civil War. During the war, it was a safehouse for the Confederate underground which flourished in Southern Maryland. It was the country home of Mary Surratt, first woman to be executed by the United States government after being found guilty of conspiring with John Wilkes Booth to assassinate Abraham Lincoln.

Open Thu, Fri 11-3, Sat, Sun 12-4; Closed late Dec. • 9118 Brandywine Road • (301)868-1121

Cumberland

Gordon-Roberts House

This 1867 Victorian home was built for Josiah Gordon, a President of the C&O Canal during the era Cumberland was the second largest city in Maryland.

Open Tue-Sat 10-4 Tours on the hour • 218 Washington Street • (301) 777-8678

Germantow

The Waters House at Pleasant Fields

The Waters House, Pleasant Fields, is the oldest house in Germantown. It was built in three sections, the oldest dating to about 1790.

Open Wed & Sat 10-4 or by appt. • 12535 Milestone Manor Lane • (301) 340-2825

Glen Echo

Clara Barton National Historic Site

Clara Barton National Historic Site commemorates the life of Clara Barton, founder of the American Red Cross. The home served as the headquarters and warehouse for the organization. From this house, Miss Barton organized American Red Cross relief efforts for victims of natural disasters and war.

Open daily 10-4 • 5801 Oxford Road • (301) 492-6245

Hollywood

Sotterley Plantation

Older than Mount Vernon, older than Monticello, older than the nation itself, Sotterley Plantation stands majestically on the banks of the Patuxent River. It is the only remaining Tidewater Plantation in Maryland that is open to the public with a full range of visitor activities and educational programs. Sotterley's significant architecture features the early 18th-century Manor House, a rare slave cabin, and a full array of outbuildings set amidst seventy acres of rolling fields, gardens and riverfront.

Open Tue-Sat 10-4, Sun 12-4 • 44300 Sotterley Lane • (301) 373-2280 or (800) 681-0850

Laurel

Montpelier Mansion

A fine example of Georgian architecture, popular in Maryland in the late 1700's, Montpelier Mansion sits on approximately 70 acres of beautiful parkland. Architectural and building construction details, as well as historical research, suggest that the house was constructed between 1781 and 1785. Major Thomas Snowden and his wife Anne, original owners of Montpelier Mansion, welcomed many distinguished guests into their home including George Washington and Abigail Adams.

Hours Sun-Thu 12-3 Mar-Nov; Sun 1-2 Dec-Feb • oute 197 and Muirkirk Road • (301) 953-1376

Rockville

The Beall-Dawson House

At the historic Beall-Dawson House our guests will learn about the county's beginnings in this elegant federal style town-home featuring period rooms and changing exhibits.

Open Tue-Sun 12-4 • 103 West Montgomery • 301-762-1492

Shady Side

Captain Salem Avery House Museum

The Captain Salem Avery House was built c. 1860 on the Banks of the West River in Shady Side, Maryland. Captain Avery, a Long Island fisherman, came to the area to make his living from the abundant waters of the Chesapeake Bay. He married Lucretia Weedon of Mayo, Maryland, and they lived in the house for thirty years raising a large family.

Open Sun 1-4, Mar - Dec • 1418 East West Shady Side Road • (410) 867-4486

Towson

Hampton National Historic Site

Hampton National Historic Site offers an exceptional, perhaps unmatched, look at a nineteenth century slave estate. Still visible today is the careful design intended to impress visitors. The mansion looks down on the overseer's house, and the overseer's house looks down on the slave quarters, reminding visitors and workers of their place in life. The mansion survives almost unchanged from its completion in 1790. Surrounding the mansion are two original slave quarters, several outbuildings, and large formal gardens.

Closed for renovation • 535 Hampton Lane • (410) 823.1309