Pemberton Park is a 262-acre park and former

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 ...

located in Wicomico County, Maryland that encompasses Pemberton Hall.

History

In 1726, Colonel Isaac Handy purchased 960 acres of undeveloped land from Joseph Pemberton. In 1741, Handy built Pemberton Hall. Handy died in 1762. At the time of his death, he owned 1,500 acres of plantation land and 16 slaves. In 1961, the building was purchased and restored by the Pemberton Hall Foundation. In the 1980s,

Wicomico County Wicomico County () is located in the southeastern part of the U.S. state of Maryland, on the Delmarva Peninsula. As of the 2020 census, the population was 103,588. The county seat is Salisbury. The county was named for the Wicomico River, whic ...

created a 260-acre park surrounding the house. Also on the property are slaves quarters, a milk house, a well, and a well sweep. A submerged wharf, the Mulberry's Landing Wharf, was discovered on the property through

underwater archeology Underwater archaeology is archaeology practiced underwater. As with all other branches of archaeology, it evolved from its roots in pre-history and in the classical era to include sites from the historical and industrial eras. Its acceptance has ...

and

dendrochronology Dendrochronology (or tree-ring dating) is the scientific method of dating tree rings (also called growth rings) to the exact year they were formed. As well as dating them, this can give data for dendroclimatology, the study of climate and atmos ...

. The wharf was built in 1747 and is the oldest documented bulkhead wharf in the United States. In 2019, the Natural Resources Conservation Advisory Committee of Wicomico County began removing

Japanese knotweed ''Reynoutria japonica'', synonyms ''Fallopia japonica'' and ''Polygonum cuspidatum'', is a species of herbaceous perennial plant in the knotweed and buckwheat family Polygonaceae. Common names include Japanese knotweed and Asian knotweed. It is ...

from the park, which is an invasive species.

Pemberton Hall

After it was built in 1741, Pemberton Hall continued to have tenants until the 1960s. An attached kitchen was added to the house in 1786. The last tenant, Seth Taylor, owned Pemberton Hall from 1931 to 1963 Pemberton Hall was then purchased and restored by the Pemberton Hall Foundation.

References

External links

*, including photo from 1998, at Maryland Historical Trust
Pemberton Park website
{{National Register of Historic Places in Maryland Parks in Maryland National Register of Historic Places in Wicomico County, Maryland