Rigbie House, also known as "Phillip's Purchase", is a historic home located at Berkley,

Harford County, Maryland Harford County is located in the U.S. state of Maryland. As of the 2020 census, the population was 260,924. Its county seat is Bel Air. Harford County is included in the Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD Metropolitan Statistical Area, which is al ...

. It is a -story, frame and stone structure built about 1781. It was one of a series of forest outposts fortified against the Indians and representing Lord Baltimore’s claim of 1632 to land extending north to the 40th parallel. In April 1781, it was the place where the

Marquis de Lafayette Marie-Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de La Fayette (6 September 1757 – 20 May 1834), known in the United States as Lafayette (, ), was a French aristocrat, freemason and military officer who fought in the American Revoluti ...

’s officers quelled a mutiny that might have prevented his army of New England troops, who had been headed homeward, from turning south again to join General Greene and General Washington at Yorktown, in which case that battle might never have been fought. ''Phillip's Purchase'' was a tract of land inherited by Colonel Nathaniel Rigbie in 1708. He moved to the area, originally consisting of approximately 2,000 acres, in 1730 with his wife Cassandra Coale. They built the Rigbie House in 1732. The land covered much of what is now

Berkley, Maryland Berkley is an unincorporated community in Harford County, Maryland, United States. Rigbie House was listed on the National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's o ...

and

Darlington, Maryland Darlington is an unincorporated community and census-designated place in northeastern Harford County, Maryland, United States.National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

in 1973.

References

* Beims, Constance R., Christine P. Tolbert (2003). ''A Journey Through Berkley Maryland: a tapestry of black and white lives woven together over 200 years at a rural crossroads''. Baltimore: Gateway Press, Inc.

External links

*, including photo from 1968, Maryland Historical Trust website * Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Maryland Houses in Harford County, Maryland Houses completed in 1781 Historic American Buildings Survey in Maryland National Register of Historic Places in Harford County, Maryland {{HarfordCountyMD-NRHP-stub