Athol is a historic slave manor and rectory located in Columbia ( Simpsonville), Howard County,

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...

, U.S.

History

Athol Manor was built as the neighboring rectory of the

Christ Church Guilford The Christ Church Guilford, historically known as the "Old Brick Church," is an historic Episcopal Church (United States), Episcopal church located about one mile from Guilford, Maryland, Guilford, now part of Columbia, Maryland, Columbia, in How ...

, which was built on the site of a 1711 burned church which was rebuilt. Edmund Lord Bishop of

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

sent Viscount of Oxenford, James MacGill to administer a chapel of ease in Queen Caroline Parish in Anne Arundel County. (later broke off to become Howard County.) On 17 August 1732, King Charles granted to James MacGill to form a new Church of England in the Maryland Colony. The patent was titled "Athol" after MacGill's home in Scotland. The title named the county "Winkepin", a reference to the future Wincopin plantation. "Williams Lot", "Scantlings Lot", and "Brown's Hopyard" were combined into a new patent named "Athole Enlarged" on 29 September 1763. MacGill brought laborers from Scotland and local slaves to construct the granite building where he raised eleven children with his wife Sarah Hilleary. Construction on Athole started in 1732, and finished by 1740. A side addition was built in 1768. A steep roof and door size windows were built to minimize taxes to Britain on certain features. A square cupola was added, and later removed due to deterioration. A conservatory was constructed in the 1980s. In 1776, the

American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...

caused the cutoff from the

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britai ...

. MacGill accumulated a total of to his estate before he died in 1779 and was buried on the estate. The property was contested among the MacGill heirs until sold to John Hathaway in 1821 for $3,944.50. In 1866 the house was the residence of Richard Gambrill MacGill. Subsequent owners included Nehemiah Moxley Sr, whose descendants would serve as county commissioner and subdivider of large tracts of Howard County to form the Columbia development. In 1927, the estate was conveyed by James Clark to local newspaper magnate

Paul Griffith Stromberg Paul Griffith ("Pete") Stromberg (March 21, 1892 – November 4, 1952) was the owner since 1940 and editor since 1920 of ''"The Howard County Times"'', founded 1840 in Ellicott City, Maryland, the county seat of Howard County, which later grew in ...

. From 1927 to 1946 the Melvin Coar family occupied the house who added electricity, plumbing and central heating. Tom and Edwina Dike maintained the house until 1986 as Columbia was built on subdivisions of the land. The property located adjacent to Route 29, has been subdivided down to in 1863, in 1976, and just surrounding the site today. The site with a stone marker labeled Athol 1730, was purchased by the

Rouse Company The Rouse Company, founded by Hunter Moss and James W. Rouse in 1939, was a publicly held shopping mall and community developer from 1956 until 2004, when General Growth Properties (GGP) purchased the company. Beginnings - Moss-Rouse Company T ...

. Two Gravesites located on the estate were moved for residential development, gravesites to the east had tombstones removed without bodies re-interred before development. A 1997 historical survey recommending the property for National Historic Register status for significant contributions to history, Architecture and artistic merit. The recommendation was denied by the office of preservation services. All but one pre-colonial structures in the limits of the planned community of Columbia have been denied historic status. Martin Road Park was formed out of a small tract adjacent to the manor home.

References

External links

List of Howard County properties in the Maryland Historical Trust The Maryland Historical Trust serves as the central historic preservation office in Maryland. The properties listed reside within the boundaries of modern Howard County. Prior to 1851, sites would have been part of Anne Arundel County. Sites settle ...

Simpsonville, Maryland Simpsonville is an unincorporated community in Howard County, Maryland, United States. History People and nature have long flourished beside the Middle Patuxent River. Over 12,000 years ago, Native Americans hunted deer and gathered acorns and ...

Freetown, Maryland Atholton is an unincorporated community in Howard County, Maryland, United States. A postal office operated from May 26, 1897, to November 1900 and again from 1903 to July 1917. Atholton was founded at the crossroads of Old Columbia Pike, Guilford ...

*Athol, Catonsville - The Gundry Sanatorium.{{cite book , title=The Bulletin of the Medical and Chirurgical Faculty Volume 9, Issue 10 , author=Medical and Chirurgical Faculty of the State of Maryland , page=142 Houses completed in 1740 Houses in Howard County, Maryland Howard County, Maryland landmarks Buildings and structures in Columbia, Maryland 1740 establishments in Maryland