Longwood Plantation was a forced-labor farm in Glenwood in 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 ...

, United States. The Longwood

plantation A plantation is an agricultural estate, generally centered on a plantation house, meant for farming that specializes in cash crops, usually mainly planted with a single crop, with perhaps ancillary areas for vegetables for eating and so on. The ...

was started by Dr. Gustavus Warfield (1784-??), son of Dr. Charles Alexander Warfield, a doctor and wealthy landowner in Howard County, where he owned an estate called Bushy Park. Gustavus graduated in 1806 from the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...

and returned to Howard County to practice medicine with his father. The elder Warfield died

intestate Intestacy is the condition of the estate of a person who dies without having in force a valid will or other binding declaration. Alternatively this may also apply where a will or declaration has been made, but only applies to part of the estat ...

in 1813, and Gustavus eventually took possession of part of his father's estate. In the 1820s, he built a manor house, part of which stands today. The name Longwood originates with the

Longwood House Longwood House is a mansion in St. Helena and the final residence of Napoleon Bonaparte, the former Emperor of the French, during his exile on the island of Saint Helena, from 10 December 1815 until his death on 5 May 1821. History Longwood " ...

where

Napoleon Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...

was exiled in

Saint Helena Saint Helena () is a British overseas territory located in the South Atlantic Ocean. It is a remote volcanic tropical island west of the coast of south-western Africa, and east of Rio de Janeiro in South America. It is one of three constitu ...

. Rather than the typical practice of naming estates after land patents which would have included "Ridgley's Range" or "Ridgley's Great Park". Warfield practiced medicine and ran his forced-labor farm in the house; he would keep patients in a loft above his office if they were unfit to travel. It feature numerous outbuildings and a smokehouse. The Warfields built a graveyard for people they enslaved; it sits to the south of the house. In 1860,

Robert E. Lee Robert Edward Lee (January 19, 1807 – October 12, 1870) was a Confederate general during the American Civil War, towards the end of which he was appointed the overall commander of the Confederate States Army. He led the Army of Nort ...

visited Longwood to visit his wife's first cousin, George Washington Parke Custis Peter. He returned to visit in July 1870. A will made out in 1865 by Warfield's wife, Mary Thomas Warfield, bequeathes various parts of the property and the people she enslaved to her daughters.

References

{{reflist, 2 Houses in Howard County, Maryland Plantations in Maryland Glenwood, Howard County, Maryland

See also

References