Rose Hill Manor facts for kids
Quick facts for kids |
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Rose Hill Manor
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Rose Hill Manor in November, 2022
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 Location in Maryland
Location in the United States
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| Location | 1611 N. Market St., Frederick, Maryland |
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| Area | 43.4 acres (17.6 ha) |
| Built | 1792 |
| Architectural style | Federal / Georgian, Greek Revival |
| NRHP reference No. | 71000374 |
| Added to NRHP | December 9, 1971 |
Rose Hill Manor, also known as Rose Hill Manor Park & Children's Museum, is a special historic home in Frederick, Maryland. It is a large brick house with two and a half stories. A cool part of the house is its big front porch, called a portico. This porch has tall columns that make it look grand.
Rose Hill Manor was once the retirement home of Thomas Johnson. He was the very first elected governor of the State of Maryland. He also served as a judge on the United States Supreme Court. The house was built in the mid-1790s by his daughter and her husband.
This important building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1971. Today, it is a fun park and museum for kids!
Contents
The Story of Rose Hill Manor
The land where Rose Hill Manor stands was once part of a huge area called "Tasker's Chance." This large piece of land, about 7,000 acres, was owned by Benjamin Tasker, Sr. in 1726. In 1737, a group of German farmers wanted to buy this land. They thought it had some of the best spots for homes.
The farmers were not rich enough to buy the land themselves. So, they asked Daniel Dulany, a lawyer from Annapolis, for help. Dulany bought the land and then sold smaller parts to the German farmers. In 1746, a German farmer named Hans Peter Hoffman bought 225 acres for 20 pounds. He named his new land "Rose Garden."
Later, in 1778, Thomas Johnson bought this "Rose Garden" from Hoffman's family. He paid 4,000 pounds, which was a lot of money back then!
A Gift for a Daughter
Governor Thomas Johnson gave the 225-acre property to his oldest daughter, Ann Jennings Johnson. It was a wedding gift when she married Major John Colin Graham. After his wife passed away, Governor Johnson lived at Rose Hill with his daughter Ann for the last 25 years of his life.
Major Graham made the Rose Hill property even bigger, doubling its size. However, by the 1820s, he faced money problems. He sold off some land, including 100 acres of Rose Hill. When he passed away, his will asked his wife to sell the estate to pay off debts.
Who Owned Rose Hill Next?
Over the years, Rose Hill Manor had many different owners:
- In 1833, Captain John McPherson bought Rose Hill. He was married to Mrs. Graham's niece. He allowed Mrs. Graham to live there until she passed away in 1837.
- In 1837, Colonel William Slater bought the property. He was a rich merchant from Ireland.
- Colonel Slater sold the estate to his brother George in 1843.
- In 1845, John J. Willson bought Rose Hill. He spent a lot of money making it look new and beautiful.
- David Ogle Thomas bought the estate in 1853. He was related to one of the first people who bought land from "Tasker's Chance." When he passed away, his wife inherited the property. She sold it in 1894 and moved away.
- The estate was empty for 12 years until Noel Cramer bought it. He lived there until the mid-1920s. He then gave it to his son, James. James thought it was too far from town, so the house was empty for 25 years. For a short time in 1930, it was used as a hotel and restaurant.
- In the 1950s, the Cramer family came back and fixed up the house. However, the owner passed away in 1957.
- In 1968, Frederick County bought the remaining 43 acres of Rose Hill. They used money from the government to buy it for $401,400. Today, the county still owns the house. It is run as part of the Rose Hill Manor Park & Children's Museum.
- In 1972, a special "see and touch" children's museum opened in the mansion. This was a team effort between the Frederick County Parks Commission and the board of education.
What Does Rose Hill Manor Look Like?
The Rose Hill manor house was built by local workers. Its construction started soon after Ann Jennings Johnson married Major John Colin Graham. It took about eight years to build the two-and-a-half-story brick house. People started living in it around 1798.
The house sits on a low foundation made of fieldstone. The front of the house faces south. It has a beautiful front porch with white columns. This porch was added in the 1800s.
You can reach Rose Hill Mansion by a driveway. This driveway connects to an entrance road near Governor Thomas Johnson High School.
The Grand Porch and Design
The large front porch, or portico, has two levels. The ground floor has four strong Doric columns. These columns hold up the roof of the porch. The second floor has four elegant Ionic columns. These columns support a triangular roof section called a pediment. This pediment has a half-moon shaped window. On each side of the pediment, the main roof has a dormer window with a round arch.
The back of the mansion also has a similar pediment with a half-moon window. There are chimneys on each end of the main house. The design of the mansion shows styles from the late Georgian period and the Greek Revival period.
Inside the Mansion
When you enter the house, there is a wide hall. At the back of this hall, a broad staircase goes up to the third story. The staircase has light and simple railings.
To the east of the entrance hall is a large drawing room. It is 26 feet square and has a high ceiling. This room has six windows, a fireplace, and a big chandelier with crystal pieces.
To the west of the entrance hall is a dining room. It is also very large, showing how people used to live and entertain guests.
On the second floor, a door in the center hall opens right onto the upper part of the front porch. This porch faces the high school. On each side of the upper hall are two large bedrooms with fireplaces. There are also two smaller bedrooms that have had a section added for a bathroom.
A kitchen with a fireplace and a special oven is attached to the west side of the mansion. It has a chimney rising from its side. There is an entrance at the front for service and a porch at the back. This back porch looks out over the formal gardens. There are also several small rooms above the kitchen.
The windows on the first floor have nine panes of glass on the top and nine on the bottom. The second-floor windows have nine panes on the top and six on the bottom. All windows have colonial shutters with wide slats and old-fashioned metal parts.
The attic has two large finished rooms. It gets light from round-arched dormer windows.
Gardens and Other Buildings
On the north side of the mansion, there is a beautiful garden. It has stone walls and old trees. This garden is about half an acre in size. In the garden, there is a pretty two-tier cast iron fountain. It has decorations of Greek leaves and a small statue of a cherub hugging a swan.
Other buildings on the property include:
- A brick smokehouse with special vents.
- A summer kitchen with a sloped roof.
- An ice house.
- An old tool shed.
- An 1835 log cabin.
- A new building called the Robert H. Renneberger Carriage Museum. This museum has old carriages and sleighs that have been fixed up. It also has a carriage repair shop and a blacksmith shop.
- Three exhibit buildings with old steam engines, antique farm machinery, and a barn for animals.
- The Farm Museum, which shows tractors, farm tools from the 1800s and early 1900s, and displays about farm family life. It also has a carpentry shop and a broom shop.
Rose Hill Manor Park & Children's Museum
Address: 1611 North Market Street, Frederick, Maryland 21701
The goal of Rose Hill Manor Park and Museums is to keep the history of the Rose Hill property alive. It covers the time from 1746 to 1950. In a fun, hands-on way, the museums teach about the daily life of Thomas Johnson, Maryland's first governor. They also show what life was like for the people who lived on the property. Plus, you can learn about the history of farming and transportation in Frederick County.
