Upon visiting the Hampton National Historic Site and Mansion, you will experience how the seven generations of the Ridgely family left their legacy. This is seen through various collections, outbuildings and gardens, and through the Mansion itself.  Each room of the mansion depicts a different era, giving visitors a total experience of what life was like, living here.

Over ninety-percent of the objects on display are original. The Mansion, together with the Lower section that consists of the Overseer’s House, Slave Quarters, Dairy and Formal gardens offer the complete experience to America’s past. Park Rangers tell Mansion story of entrepreneurs, indentured servants, slaves and the changing face of Hampton from 1745 to the present day.

Hampton’s Origin and First Master

The Mansion estate known as Hampton began and evolved from several tracts of land acquired by the Ridgely family starting with 1500-acres known as “Northampton” in 1745. Other land tracts included “Oakhampton,” and “Hampton Court.” The “Hampton” name is believed to be originated with Colonel Henry Darnell, a relative of Lord Baltimore for whom the property was originally surveyed in 1695.  Darnell gave Northampton to his daughter, Ann Hill (1680-1749), and she and her two sons, Henry and Clement, sold the tract to Colonel Charles Ridgely in 1745.

The entire tract of Northampton, which consisted of houses, outhouses, tobacco houses, barns, stables, gardens and orchards cost 600 pounds sterling. By 1750, Colonel Ridgely owned more than 8000 acres in Baltimore and Anne Arundel Counties. Ridgely, in addition to his being a plantation owner and planter, was a successful merchant and served in the Maryland Legislature as a representative for Baltimore County.

The colonel, having recognized that iron-making was a better economic opportunity than tobacco farming, established an ironworks in partnership with his sons, John and Charles. The younger son, Charles, known as captain as he was a mariner and ship’s captain, married Rebecca Dorsey, the daughter of Caleb Dorsey, and very prominent and wealthy Anne Arundel County ironmaster. The Northampton Furnace and Forges, established in 1762, was the tenth such ironworks in Maryland and they took advantage of the easily mined iron deposits in the area. The Northampton Company went on to make a substantial fortune for the Ridgely family both before and during the American Revolutionary War.  

Captain Charles Ridgely had served in the 1750s as a ship captain, and his various maritime experiences included: Suppressing a mutiny, surviving two hurricanes, and being captured and imprisoned by the French during the French and Indian War. In 1763, he retired from his maritime duties, and assumed total control of the family iron business. However, he did remain an active agent for British merchants until the Revolutionary War. In addition to his mercantile business in Baltimore Town, he owned farms that cultivated grain and vegetable crops, bred cattle, pigs and Thoroughbred horses, and planted a commercial orchard, as well as operated mills and quarries. 

In 1771, following the death of his brother John, and his father’s death in 1772, Captain Charles Ridgely owned two-thirds share in the Northampton Ironworks and therefore maintained control of the entire operation. Running the ironworks was very labor-intensive. To do so, it relied on a large workforce that consisted of slaves, indentured servants, convict laborers, and even British prisoners of war.  The war also created a market for the forge’s products, such as shot, cannons, and camp kettles. The large amounts of income derived from the various enterprises enabled Ridgely to buy thousands of acres of land that had been previously confiscated by the British immediately following the War. In total, Ridgely now had more than 24,000 acres of land.

With his fortune, Captain Charles Ridgely was now able to afforded his finest achievement; the building of the Hampton Hall Mansion House. Considered the “house in the forest,” it began in 1783, as the American revolutionary war was coming to a close.

In order to build such a house, workers comprised free craftsmen, indentured servants, and enslaved African-Americans labored for 7 years, when the house was completed in 1790. This house represented to Ridgely his “American Dream,” and it stood as the centerpiece of the Northampton Estate, which comprised 18,000 acres. Upon completion it was believed to be the largest private home in America at the time, and served as the summer residence. Captain Ridgely also owned a house in Baltimore Town, and another on Patapsco Neck in southeastern Baltimore County.

During the construction of Hampton Hall, the Ridgely family resided in the Lower House. Ridgely supervised every aspect of construction as well as the cost. Captain Ridgely’s wife, Rebecca moved into the Hall in December of 1788, although the interior was not completed until 1790.

Charles Ridgely Carman, Hampton’s Second Master

Living with Captain Charles Ridgely and his wife Rebecca in the Mansion in 1788 was Charles Carnan Ridgely (born Charles Ridgely Carnan) and his wife Priscilla Dorsey Ridgely. Charles Carnan Ridgely was the son of Captain Ridgely’s sister Achsah and her husband John Carnan. Charles Carnan Ridgely being Captain Ridgely’s nephew eventually worked as his uncle’s junior partner and would become the Mansion’s second Master.

Because Captain Charles Ridgely and his wife Rebecca had no children, Charles Carnan Ridgely would become their principal heir. In his uncle’s will, he inherited 12,000 acres of land, that included the Hampton Mansion estate, two-thirds ownership of Northampton Iron Furnace, other ironworks interests, and other property, on the condition that he change his surname to Ridgely.  By an Act of the Maryland Legislature, November 5, 1790, Charles Ridgely Carnan, his son Charles, and al their descendants adopted the surname of Ridgely.  In Captain Ridgely will was also established a “courtesy” entail to protect the core of the Hampton estate: hall, gardens, and grounds and the Home Farm passed continuously to the eldest Ridgely son. This entail was followed to the letter until the estate was transferred to the National Park Service in 1948.

Throughout his life, Charles Carnan Ridgely served as a representative from Baltimore County in the Maryland Legislature from 1790 to 1795, as a state senator from 1796 to 1800, and a three-term governor of Maryland from 1815 to 1818. He was known throughout his life as General Ridgely; Charles Carnan Ridgely’s military record peaked with his appointment as brigadier general in the state militia in 1796.

John Carman Ridgely, Hampton’s Third Master

Charles Ridgely the second master serve d as such from 1790 to July 1829, when he died from an attack of paralysis. He and his wife Priscilla Dorsey Ridgely had fourteen children together, of which eleven lived to maturity. Upon the death of Charles (second master) his will instructed that many of his slaves be manumitted (freed). This manumission of more than 200 people was one of the largest in Maryland history.  The Mansion house and about 4500 acres of land was bequeathed to his second son, John Carnan Ridgely, (1790-1867) the new third Master.

John was the first child born a Hampton Hall in 1790, but his life was different, not having any of the ambition of the mansions first two masters.  In 1812, he married his wife, Prudence Gough Carroll (1795-1822). Together they would have six daughters, but none survived childhood. Prudence died in 1822, and in 1828, John married his second wife, Eliza Eichelberger Ridgely, the only child of Nicholas Greenbury Ridgely, a prominent Baltimore merchant. Although they believed they were distant cousins, no descent was ever established.  They would have five children, two of whom survived to adulthood. They were Eliza, called “Didy,” (1828-1894) and Charles (1830-1872).

When Governor Charles Ridgely died in 1829 (second master), the Hampton estate and its various business comprising its “empire,” was reduced through division among eleven heirs. John Ridgely’s inheritance gave him only the courtesy entail of 45 00 acres. The iron business continued to operate through the 1830s but advances in processing moved the industry to Pennsylvania to places from Pittsburgh and Scranton.  Consequently by 1850, the Ridgely’s ironworks stopped its operation. Although many of the slaves were freed by Charles’ will in 1829, John Ridgely purchased 61 more slaves and the practice continued until 1864.  The Hampton plantation now resembled more of an agricultural one than its previous industrial site.

Although John never held public office, he instead devoted his time to the estate and had a passion for horses and outdoor life. In social areas, he was totally eclipsed by his wife, Eliza, who was consider “one of the loveliest and most accomplished women ever raised in the city of Baltimore.” Well educated, she also spoke fluent French and Italian, and was a friend of the Marquis de Lafayette to whom she met during his visit to Baltimore in 1824.

By the start of the Civil War, John was elderly so he allowed his son, Charles, (1830-1872) to manage the Hampton estate when he had done since about the mid-1850s. John and Eliza died within a few months of each other in 1867.

In January 1861, a group of “sates rights gentlemen,” established the Baltimore County Horse Guards, formally organized under Maryland’s militia guards. Charles Ridgely, now managing the estate, was elected captain and chief officer of the cavalry. After the Baltimore Riot on April 19, 1861, the Horse Guards were set to Whetstone Point outside Fort McHenry to guard against any confrontation between citizens of Baltimore and Union troops. During these days they would patrol York Road to Cockeysville, following retreating Union troops to the Pennsylvania border, as well as destroy railroad bridges to the north. Captain John Ridgely appointed Lieutenant John Merryman of the Hayfields Estate to carry out those orders.

Lieutenant Merryman was arrested on May 25, 1861 and taken to Fort McHenry. This arrest was the subject of Roger Brook Taney’s landmark U.S. Supreme Court opinion ex parte Merryman, dealing with the writ of habeas corpus.

Charles Ridgely was never arrested but General John Dix of New York, in command of the Union troops in Baltimore, and a friend of John Ridgely, informed him that a warrant had been issued for Charles’s arrest. John assured Dix that his son was not a conspirator against the United States and that he would remain at Hampton for the balance of the hostilities. The Baltimore County Horse Guard was then disbanded.

Charles Ridgely, Hampton’s Fourth Master

As Charles was managing Hampton for his father John originally, he now took over as Hampton’s fourth Master.  Charles had married Margaretta Sophia Howard, his first cousin, in 1851. Margaretta was the daughter of James and Sophia Ridgely Howard. Charles and Margaretta had seven surviving children between 1851 and 1869. Four were sons, John, Charles, Howard, and Otho, and three daughters, Eliza, Juliana Elizabeth, and Margaretta Sophia.

John Ridgely, Hampton’s Fifth Master

Charles died of typhoid fever at the early age of 42 on March 29, 1872 in Rome, Italy. His wife, Margaretta and their children returned to Hampton.  Their son, John Ridgely became the Hampton’s fifth Master. He and his wife, Helen and mother Margaretta, who managed the estate from 1872 to 1900, tried hard to preserve its former traditions.

Known as “Captain” John Ridgely was the technical fifth master, but his mother Margaretta actually ran the day-to-day operation.  Upon Margaretta’s death in 1904, the estate was divided among several heirs.  Captain John Ridgely inherited only 1000 acres including the Home Farm.

John Ridgely, Jr., Hampton’s Sixth and Final Master

In 1905 the Ridgely’s sold their town house in Bolton Hill and began year-round residence at Hampton. While the lavish and elegant lifestyle of the past had diminished, the estate was cared for but little improvement was made. The eldest son of Captain John and Helen Ridgely would eventually become the Hampton’s sixth and final master. John Ridgely, Jr. (1882-1959) married Louise Roman Humrichhouse in 1907 and they built a large house located at 503 Hampton Lane.  Here they raised three children, the oldest named John Ridgely III (1911-1990). When Louise died in 1934, John Ridgely Jr. moved back into the Hampton Mansion.

In 1935, John Ridgely III, married Lillian Ketchum (1912-1995) and in 1936, moved to Hampton Mansion.

Captain John Ridgely died in 1938, having been the master for 66 years.  The property passed to John Ridgely Jr., who was the estate’s last private owner. In 1939 he married a second time to Jane Rodney.

Then John Ridgely, III and his wife moved from the mansion to the Lower House, the first Ridgely’s to live there since the 1780s.  They left in 1942 when he served in the Pacific during World War II. They returned in 1943.

John Ridgely and his second wife Jane Rodney moved to the Lower House which they then enlarged by adding a four-room wing and modern conveniences. After John’s death in 1959, Jane retained life tenancy until her death in 1978.

While they lived in the Lower House, the Mansion House had officially been designed a national Historic Site on June 22, 1948.  The Mansion was restored on both its interior and exterior and was opened to the public on May 2, 1950. In 19789 the national park service took over the administration of the Mansion and its 60 acres.

The Structures on the Estate are: The Lower House; The Slave Quarters; The Stables; The Mule barn; The Long House Granary; The Dairy; The Corncrib; The Log Cabin; and several outbuildings near the Mansion. Also located here is: The Family Cemetery, and The Furnace and Mill.

Also of note are the Gardens and Grounds; the Orangery, the Greenhouses, and the Garden’s Cottage, and the Entrance and the North Lawn.

Inside the Mansion are the Period Rooms, They consist of: The Parlour; The Dining Room; The Drawing Room; The Music Room; The Great Hall; The Master Bedchamber; The Northeast Bedchamber; and The Guest Bedchamber.

The Parlour

When you visit the Parlour, you are treated to the Mansion’s earliest period of occupancy. It functioned then as a type of sitting or family room would today. It was also used as a bedchamber for 18 months when Captain Charles Ridgely, “The Builder,” resided in the Mansion.  He died in his bed in this room in June 1790, after suffering a stroke.  Today the Parlour is reflective of the tastes and lifestyle of the Captain’s nephew and heir, Governor Charles Carnan Ridgely, and his wife, Priscilla Hill Dorsey. It is decorated today as it would have been at that time for activities as a family tea party. The Federal era furnishings here are a set of chairs made for the Ridgely’s in the 1780s.