02.17.08
Hampton Was Well Worth the Wait
Saturday was pleasant enough that I decided to make good on my promise to go see Hampton NHS. I wanted to see the inside of the mansion, which has been closed for renovation these past two years, before I moved to Utah. After all, I couldn’t see how visits back East were likely to ever include an excursion to the north side of Baltimore to visit the home of a family that only native Marylanders, or even just native Baltimoreans, would have heard about.
Mom and her friend, Marie, also decided to join me; which nullified my stampage. But that was okay. In fact, it was a good thing, because I really thought that the interior was something to behold. I would’ve wanted her to see with her own eyes the sort of lavishness that I couldn’t begin to describe. Having seen other late 18th and early 19th century homes in the “area”, like Mount Vernon, Gunston Hall, Haberdeventure, Monticello, or Montpelier, Hampton made them look like guest cottages. It was well worth the wait. The interior is beautiful. Our guide said that 95% of the furnishings were original to the family and very little of it is foreign; most of it was made in Baltimore. For example, in the red room picture below, the table top is Italian, but the rest is local.
With regard to the stamps: there are two available in the mansion’s visitor entrance. The first is the expected Hampton NHS stamp. The second is an Underground Railroad stamp. Now…Hampton wasn’t a station on the Underground RR. Quite the contrary. They had around 350 slaves and the Ridgely’s were active at retaining their services. But the Underground RR program includes “any place where freedom was sought or the solace of freedom was discussed by those in bondage,” in the approximate words of the ranger at the Hampton farmhouse. Sounds like she memorized the NPS press release, ’cause she was reciting that explanation by rote.
In summary: Hampton had slaves. The slaves wished they weren’t slaves. Therefore, they wanted to buy tickets to freedom on the Underground Railroad. That makes Hampton NHS an Underground RR site. Apparently 60 slaves at Hampton tried to escape at one time or another.
Tim Syzek said,
July 24, 2009 at 1:43 pm
What was your source for the part that “Apparently” about 60 slaves tried to escape from Hampton at one time or another? Not having been to any of the other historic sites that you mentioned, I could not vouch for Hampton’s preeminence. The staff is constantly making changes in the room furnishings for historic authenticity, including reacquisition of objects which once were at Hampton. There is a recent book out on Hampton, “Images of America: Hampton National Historic Site”, by Ann Milkovich McKee.
2007
Mike Mitchell said,
August 20, 2009 at 4:07 pm
My guess is that this number came from that same NPS ranger explaining the rationale behind the Underground RR stamp; or else it was on one of the interpretative signs at the site.
Considering how I would tend to use the word “apparently” in a context like this, my guess is that I’m impressed that they were able to come up with at least 60 credible instances of runaways. I think their number came from fugitive slave announcements placed in the newspapers, if memory serves me correctly.