HAMPTON
Notes on Hampton Mansion
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PART V
NOTES ON THE MANSION GROUNDS AND GARDENS
The Ridgely Papers offer us a great many bits of information about the
landscaping of Hampton and through the years there are a number of
interesting references made by visitors. The following are but a
sampling.
A. Period 1772-1790
Even before the Revolution there were gardeners on
Captain Ridgely's property. A list of ninety-one "white servants" in the
period 1772-74 includes the gardeners James Barber, English, and John
Fowloe, Irish. Whether they only worked at raising food for the
industrial community or at ornamental horticulture we do not know. [1] We have record of a payment to Thos. Todd on
March 19, 1773 "for 24 post 9 feet Long for Garding for 5 ditto post
& Railes," and for "3 Cedar gate post" on May 1. That there was a
huge orchard is shown by the entries on February 24, 1773, when James
Lennox was paid ten pounds for "Triming 772 Apple Trees." [2]
Just after the war, the name of John Willis,
gardener, appears in the Northampton furnace daybooks. On October 30,
1783, Willis was charged for pork and corn flour, in the next month for
making a pair of shoes for his wife and having a pair soled for himself.
There were afterwards occasional purchases of whiskey, brandy, beef,
bacon, mackerel, potatoes, tea and sugar, the last entry noted being for
October 1, 1785. Whether or not Willis was an indentured servant does
not appear, though the time of other indentured servants (not named) was
charged in the books. [3]
The next gardener of record, however, is remarkably
well documented.
One of the most interesting items preserved among the
Ridgely Papers is the printed form of indenture by which Daniel Healy, a
gardener, "Voluntarily put himself Servant to Hugh Lyle, master of the
Ship Harmony" at Cork, Ireland, on March 2, 1784. Healy was bound to
serve Lyle for three and a half years after arrival in Baltimore. The
latter agreed to "find and supply the said Daniel with sufficient Meat,
Drink, Apparel, Lodging and all other necessaries befitting such a
Servant." The act was performed in the presence of the Right Worshipful
Richard Kellett, Mayor of the City of Cork. These agreements or
indentures were typical means for poor people to get passage across the
Atlantic and a large part of our pre-Revolutionary American stock
managed to get here by means of such arrangements.
Endorsements on the reverse show that Lyle made over
the indenture to Robert Ballard at Baltimore on May 12, 1784, and
Ballard passed Healy along to Charles Ridgely six months later. [4] A letter in the Ridgely Papers explains this
as follows:
9th Oct. 1784
To Capt. Chas. Ridgely
D. Sir,
I have sent you Daniel Healy a gardner who I believe to be Master of his
Trade, he cost me about 12 Guineas. As I do not mean to finish my garden
I have no use for him. I promised him if he behaved himself well, to
give him up a year of his time. If you have a garden to make, he is
worth a great deal of money to you. If you take him please send me
word.
I am Dr. Sir
Your most obt. Servt.
(signed) Robert Ballard [5]
It is not unlikely that Healy worked on the grounds
of Hampton Mansion, then abuilding. [6]
Lists of indentured servants offered for sale at
Chesapeake Bay ports show that the importation of Irish bondsmen was
common just after the Revolutionary War and gardeners were often
included along with mechanics of the building trades. [7] Earlier there had been discrimination against
Ireland under the colonial laws of Maryland. [8]
Captain Ridgely must have been interested in the
landscape for just before he died we find--in a letter from Moses Dillon
of March 17, 1790--fair-sized trees being moved, perhaps to make a
setting for the new Mansion, perhaps for an orchard:
Frd I will get the trees according to direction as
near as I can I will also Engage the Rest if I can wich I have not much
doubt of, thee may Send the waggons next Sixth Day
morning & Seventh Day Evening they may get home
& on first Day Evening I can come down & Seconday morning begin
to plant if health & the weather permit I am afraid two waggon will
not hold them they are so large & I should supose the would weight
20lb per tree one with another at the Rate 250 would weigh 2-1/2 ton so
perhaps three will be best but it will take the best part of a Day to
dig & trim so many the wagons ought to Start to be at my house Early
as possible M D--17 of 3d mo 1790. [9]
There is no indication as to the type of trees being
moved; whether forest, orchard or other types.
We do not know when the famous garden terraces of
Hampton were constructed. "Falls" is the local term for such features.
At least as far as the showy Governor's Palace in Williamsburg at the
very beginning of the 18th century, there had been ample precedent in
the Chesapeake region. "Belmont," the Dorsey place near Elkridge (house,
1738) from which came the first two mistresses of Hampton, and "Mount
Clare" (house, 1754) have terraced gardens which may well have served as
precedent for the one at Hampton. Yankee John Adams described the layout
at Mount Clare as "a beautiful garden and then a fall, another flat
garden, and then a fall, and so on down the river." [10] Such gardens
seemed to enjoy a vogue around hilly Baltimore. In calling attention to
a building lot on Jones Falls an owner of the period advertised:
. . . there is a space sufficient for an extensive
garden. From the particular form of the ground, it might at no great
expense, be made into several falls, terminating with the
water. [11]
B. Period 1790-1829
Over the years the new owner, Charles Carnan
Ridgely, evidenced a great interest in making Hampton a showplace. But
we do not have much detail for the beginnings of this period. Ledger
K shows that one John Willis got £ 3...13...6-1/2 for working
in the garden from April 12 to June 30, 1791. [12] John
Ludley £ 26...7...6 for 211 days in the garden
between March 18 and December 20, 1793. [13] Various items in an account
book for the period 1796-1808 reflect the development of the Mansion
grounds, though they don't distinguish between vegetables and ornamental
plants. William Bartlett, gardener, was employed on September 29, 1796,
at 45 guineas per annum and received £ 61...6...8 for nine months
and nine days' services. Edward Nagle, gardener, received £ 75 in 1797. In 1798 and 1799
John Lindley better than £ 87 for 440 days "work done in the
Garden."
A great project for the years 1800-1801 was the
introduction of water in quantity to the hill crowned by the
Mansion. An account book for the period 1796-1808 gives the
following details:
August 27, 1800 | Samuel Wolf |
74...12...0 |
Making 2984 of water pipe at 6d. |
May 23, 1801 | Samuel Wolf |
107...16...0 |
Making and laying down 3696 feet water pipe a 7d. |
July 16, 1801 | Samuel Wolf |
3..15 |
Putting down pipes to convey the water to the Garden |
July 16, 1801 | Samuel Wolf |
1...4...7 |
Cash paid for strainers |
------ 1801 | John Prendergrass |
7...3 |
Making a Ditch for conveying the water into the
Garden 25-1/2 perches @ 5/6 |
The well-known engraver and enamel painter William Russell Birch of
Philadelphia, who left us an old view of Hampton Mansion, seems to have
had a part in the design of the grounds. About 1802 he paid his
second visit to Gen'l Ridgely at Hampton, after my
introduction to him by my friend Judge Sam'l Chase; the Gen'ls attention
to me was very polite and marked with every appearance of respect. I
stoppe(d) several days with him, the situation of Hampton is beautiful
and richly deserved the adoption of Art in its improvement, I made
several designs for that purpose which was approved. [14]
One of the Mrs. John Ridgelys attributed the design
of the flower garden to another man:
The flower beds were laid out about the year 1810,
and possibly earlier, by William Booth, a man of English birth, who,
according to the historian Scharf, "stood high among the earlier
botanists, florists and seedsmen" of the United States, and laid out
some of the finest gardens attached to the old mansions around
Baltimore. Scharf says: "His own grounds on West Baltimore Street,
extending south to Pratt, were celebrated for the care and exquisite
culture with which they were kept." [15]
In this period the account books tell us of
three more men working at Hampton: [16]
Nov. 25, 1802 | Bartholomew Flarity |
31...10... |
7 months work in the garden @ 9/ |
Feb. 28, 1803 | Bartholomew Flarity |
9...2..3 |
3 months and 1 days work @ 9/ |
March 31, 1803 | Bartholomew Flarity |
3... |
1 months work |
April 30, 1803 | Bartholomew Flarity |
4...16..0 |
23-1/2 days work @ 9/ |
July 4, 1807 | Gerard Gibson |
9...17..3-1/2 |
2 months & 5 days work in the Garden @ 9/ |
C. Period 1829-1867
Shortly after Governor Ridgely's death we have two
somewhat conflicting reports on Hampton. A reporter from the
Baltimore American after a party on July 25, 1832, was
enthusiastic:
You are delighted in beholding the rich profusion and
balmy fragrance of numerous plants and flowers, adorned with orange
trees, and an extensive and highly cultivated garden. [17]
On the other hand Charles Varle in A Complete
View of Baltimore, 1833, while allowing the mansion house to be "a
splendid building," of the pleasure grounds he could only say that they
had once been in admirable order. [18]
The newspaper account is the first notice I have
seen of the famous orange trees at Hampton. An historical
note on that subject seems appropriate.
Orange and lemon trees were extensively cultivated
in Genoa in the middle 17th century and their popularity spread
northward. Le Notre collected three thousand specimens for Versailles
and the Dutch became very expert in their culture. [19] In the
northern climates these trees had to be moved indoors in winter and
special glazed shelters called orangeries were built for the
purpose. As the American colonists became more prosperous
they were able to have such luxuries. Before the Revolution Charles
Carroll of Annapolis ordered from merchants in Madeira "a Bearing Lemon
Tree or two in Boxes with Earth." [20] Phillip Mazzei imported
several hundred Italian orange trees to his Albemarle, Virginia, estate
in 1775. [21] After the war orangeries appeared in different
places--notably the one at Wye in Eastern Shore, Maryland (which still
stands), and one at Lemon Hill just above Philadelphia on the Schuykill
River. Susanna Diliwyn reported that in the greenhouse at Gray's Ferry
"the lemons and oranges in particular appear as my Uncle Jemmy says, in
as high perfection as in the West Indies." [22] The subject had
enough general interest to be included in one of the first American
garden books--one published in Baltimore. [23]
For the owner there is a new series of garden
expenditures as set out in the John Ridgely Memorandum Book,
1830-1851, of which these are samples:
Dec. 10, 1830 | Dan Harris, Gardener | $30.00 | ----- |
Jan. 1, 1831 | --- | 20.00 | Rustic seats |
Dec. 16, 1833 | I. Feast | 11.25 | Trees |
Feb. 24, 1834 | --- | --- | pr Fr.t & dray of Trees fr Ny.k & ph.a.. |
Apr. 5 | --- | 4.75 | Freight & Dray Trees fr N York for Roses &c &c |
Apr. 18 | M. Perin | 5.50 | 200 flower Pots |
May 3 | --- | 1.75 | Freight Trees fr N York & dray |
May 10 | W. Prince & Sons | 53.49 | Trees |
May 30 | I. Wilk | 32.62 | 1/2 Trees Asparagus &c &c |
May 31 | I. Hook | 6.90 | Lumber for Bee House |
June l3 | Sinclair & Moore | 18.00 | Trees |
Sept. 20, 1834 | I. S. Eastman | 23.43 | Trees, Int & Costs |
Dec. 6 | --- | 2.94 | Trees |
June 15, 1836 | W. O. Eichelberger | 96.35 | Trees |
Oct. 28 | Eichelberger, Sinclair & Moore | 40.00 | Trees |
Nov. 4 | W.O.E. | 135.00 | Peach Trees etc. from N.Y. |
July 10, 1837 | Pat Gardener | 1.14 | ---- |
Nov. 17, 1838 | Underhille & Levris | 100.00 | pedistals |
Perhaps in 1838 the upper greenhouse near the
Mansion--later known as "the orangerie"--was built. There is a record of
payment November 18 to Wm. Gregory for $22.00 for "plastering
greenhouse." [24] We read in Little Eliza Ridgely's diary two
years later that she "stayed some time in the two greenhouses where we
got some oranges and lemons." [25]
Entries for the use of the garden continue:
May 31, 1839 | ---- | $21.00 | Pitcher plant |
April 26, 1841 | Mauldin Perine | 16.25 | Flower pots |
For this period we have the exquisitely detailed
Joshua Barney map of 1843 which delineates the
general features of the garden and the grounds all the way to the iron
furnace.
Jan. 3, 1844 | Bell & Packer | 38.00 | Marble basins |
Nov. 23, 1848 | Thomas Kellery | 23.00 | 200 peach trees |
March 20, 1851 | Gaddes | 90.00 | 4 Urns |
Dec. 1 | ---- | 132.00 | Trees |
Dec. 17 | ---- | 54.35 | Trees & ct |
April 14, 1852 | Wm. Corse | 36.00 | 200 apple trees |
April 16 | John Frederick | 20.00 | planting trees |
April 16 | ---- | 3.70 | transporting trees from N.Y. |
April 16 | ---- | 24.00 ornamental fruit trees |
May 31 | ---- | 2.00 | transportation on grape vines |
May 3 | ---- | 13.63 | Pear trees on Quince stocks etc. |
June 8 | Feast | 21.50 | for Mrs. R. |
July 8 | James Gaibraith Gardener | 35.00 | --- |
August 3 | James Gaibraith Gardener | 70.00 | --- |
Sept. 27 | ---- | 285.76 | guano for farm and bone dust for garden |
Nov. 5 | Galbraith | 35.00 | --- |
Nov. 20 | Allison | 87.00 | sash for greenhouse |
In this period a laudatory article by a correspondent
"J.C." appeared in The American Farmer for January, 1854 (Vol.
IX, new series, No. 7, p. 212):
Jottings among the Gardens
. . . Prominent among the improvers of our neighborhood stands the
honored name of Mrs. Ridgely of Hampton. This lady, I am told, is an
accomplished florist, and enters with zeal and taste on the culture of
the flowering treasures of her extensive gardens. Many elegant
improvements were lately made to the garden at Hampton, and as these
desultory jottings are designed to be practical, I will briefly notice
for the present the new Vinery, and mode of growing the grape vine, as
practiced by Mrs. Ridgely's very efficient gardener, James Golbraith. .
. .The varieties cultivated at Hampton are the Black Hamburg, and
Chasselas Muscat of Alexandria and had only been planted sixteen months
when the writer saw them. . . .
There has also been erected a new propagating
house, 50 feet by 12, divided into two apartments by a walk in the
centre, heated by hot water on the tank system. This house
is certainly one of the most perfect in its construction, for the uses
and purposes designed, that I have ever seen. The whole place is
copiously supplied with water conducted from a spring by over two
thousand feet of lead pipe, to a reservoir at the mansion, from where it
radiates to different sections of the garden, where hydrants are placed,
and by a hose the entire garden can be watered at pleasure. Last summer,
when all other places in the neighborhood were dry and barren, the
flower garden at Hampton presented a gorgeous array of bloom. The
Petunias, Verbenas, Geraniums and other Summer flowering plants, looked
as though they lacked no moisture there.
The Memorandum Book continues on:
April 24, 1854 | James Cowan, Gardener | $60.00 | 2 months wages to date |
May 1 | James Galbraith | 140.00 | --- |
May 26 | ---- | 17.53 | bill of trees, evergreens from Bangor |
May 26 | John Zimmerman, undergardener | 14.00 | 1 months wages |
Nov. | Henry Little & Co. | 48.64 | evergreens, &c. |
Dec. 2S | James Reid, undergardener | 24.00 | --- |
---- 1855 | Michael, undergardener | 15.00 | 2 weeks wages |
---- 1855 | James, undergardener | 15.00 | --- |
---- 1855 | Patrick, undergardener | --- | --- |
---- 1855 | Peter Reid, gardener | 105.00 | --- |
---- 1855 | --- | 11.62 | pitcher plant from Philadelphia |
Dec. 22, 1855 | Joseph Allison | $80.00 | on account for building gardener's porch. |
Feb. 24 | James Cowan gardener | 90.00 | --- |
Oct. 18 | O. W. Eichelberger | 50.00 | to pay Ady for gardener's house |
Oct. 2S | Geo. Houser | 45.62 | for plastering gardener's house |
Feb. 18 | Joseph Allison | 50.00 | building gardener's house |
--- 1856 | ---- | 108.00 | lawn mowing machine per draft |
March 1 | ---- | 85.00 | trees from England and Scotland |
May 7, 1857 | John Saul | 18.00 | 300 arborvitae |
March 1, 1858 | W. D. Brackenridge | 30.60 | ornamental trees |
May 20, 1858 | James Pentland | 19.50 | evergreens, etc. |
July 8 | Robert Buist | 13.53 | seeds plants |
Aug. 4 | W. D. Brackenridge | 73.79 | evergreens and plants |
Sept. 3 | Peter Reid gardener | 105.00 | --- |
Sept. 10 | Frederick Kruter undergardener | 24.00 | --- |
Sept. 10 | Paul Hooper undergardener | 24.00 | --- |
Sept. 20 | McCoy and Fortling | 30.50 | marble vases |
---- 1859 | Peter Reid gardener | 105.00 | --- |
---- 1859 | James Reid undergardener | $24.00 | --- |
April 19, 1860 | Waterer & Godfred | 74.75 | Trees |
Sept. 25 | W. D. Brackenridge | 35.40 | pear trees, plants |
Dec. 7 | C. Grosbeck undergardener | 108.00 | --- |
May 3, 1861 | W. D. Brackenridge | 72.33 | peach trees |
1863 | W. D. Brackenridge | 18.37 | --- |
----- 1863 | H. Fraser gardener | 105.00 | --- |
Feb. 2 | Alex Frazer | 105.00 | gardener 3 months |
March 16 | Alexr Fraser | 105.00 | gardener to March 1st 1863 |
Oct. 1, 1864 | R. Buist | 7.00 | for Mrs. Ridgely |
Dec. 28 | A. Fraser | 150.00 | in full to Jan. 7, 1865 & 21/2/board hands |
Jan. 21, 1865 | Linton | 16.76 | flower pots |
Feb. | R. Buist | 2.35 | --- |
June 1 | A. Fraser | 72.00 | boarding hands in full, eggs & chickens |
March 9, 1866 | James Galbraith | 7.30 | expenses of gardener from New York |
March 9 | Henderson & Fleming | 35.60 | seeds in full |
March 9 | N.Y. Herald | 6.00 | advertisement for gardener |
D. Period 1867 and After
The entries above could be much amplified by the
interpretation of loose vouchers in the Ridgely Papers and by a study
of the record books of later years. The account book continues:
Feb. 2, 1867 | Henderson & Fleming | 27.57 | seeds, etc. |
April 1867 | A. Gerisher gardener | 112.50 | --- |
Nov. 1867 | W. D. Brackenridge | 4.37 | asparagus plants |
Feb. 8, 1868 | Sisson | 20.31 | marble slab for green house |
March 21 | Feast | 5.00 | garden seeds |
Sept. 29 | W. D. Brackenridge | 8.00 | 50 peach trees |
Oct. 17 | ---- | 15.95 | glass for hot beds, watering pots, etc. |
Oct. 17 | Linton | 12.50 | flower pots |
Sept. 13, 1869 | W. D. Brackenridge | 49.15 | flowers & fruit |
J. C. Carpenter, in an article "An Old Maryland Mansion,"
in Appleton's Journal for May 8, 1875 (Vol. XIII, P. 577),
was much impressed by Hampton in this period.
. . .The approach is by the north front--the one
shown in the engraving. . .The south front falls away in terraces, and
the lawn and flower garden are flanked on one side by the conservatories
and the orangery, and on the other by a high and thick wall of clipped
cedar, beyond which lie the kitchen gardens, the orchards, and, in a
shady and secluded spot the family vault, provided for in the will of
Captain Ridgely.
The first terrace, which is merely an extension of
the ground on which the house stand, is broad and spacious,
ornamented with orange and lemon trees in bearing and
clumping pyramidal Norway spruces of great age. This terrace is the
favorite resort, on summer evenings of the guests of Hampton.
At the edge of the slope, among the grouped trees
seats are placed, and from them the out look over the Italian garden is
most beautiful--rich in color and novel in effect. The area is several
acres, and the terraces have a gentle incline, while down the middle
there goes a broad avenue of smooth turf, branching off at every side
into smaller avenues. The turf is nearly a century old, and is so soft
and springy to the foot as the velvety moss of a mountain valley. It is
thick, matted and carpetlike, with a depth of green very seldom seen in
the dry atmosphere of America. All the paths are rendered delightful to
stroll along by this yeilding surface, and on all sides lies the
flower-garden, for which Hampton is noted, and for which rare plants
often come from France and England. Though laid out in geometrical
figures, the stiffness of the old fashion is relieved and modernized.
The lilacs, the hardy roses, and those plants which stand the winter,
are placed so as not to interfere with the view, nor dwarf and obscure
the loveliness of the lower flowers.
In terrace after terrace, strictly kept distinct in
masses of color, eight thousand plants are bedded out. The scarlet and
orange and deep carmine of the geraniums; the blue and purple and white
of the sweet-scented heliotropes; the tawny gold and red of the roses;
and the ample leaves of the bronsy crimson and yellow of the coleus; the
borderings of vivid green; the orange and lemon trees, with their sharp
contrast of lustrous leaves and half-hidden burden of fruitage; the
noble old house on its rising knoll, relieved by its evergreens and
backed by its lordly acres make up a scene more English than American,
but whether English or American, exceedingly beautiful. . .
Hampton is the "show place" of Maryland. There is
certainly nothing like it south of Mason and Dixon's line. There may be
more palatial dwellings; it is easy in this age of great industrial
wealth to buy an extensive tract of land, and erect a magnificent
residence; it takes a hundred years, however, to make a "Hampton."
hamp/notes/part5.htm
Last Updated: 07-Jul-2008
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