Samples Manor is an

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a region that is not governed by a local municipal corporation. Widespread unincorporated communities and areas are a distinguishing feature of the United States and Canada. Most other countries of the world either have ...

in Washington 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

Kennedy Farm The Kennedy Farm is a National Historic Landmark property on Chestnut Grove Road in rural southern Washington County, Maryland. It is notable as the place where the radical abolitionist John Brown planned and began his raid on Harpers Ferry, V ...

was listed on the

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 ...

in 1973.

History

On October 1, 1764, a patent was approved for 10,160 ¼ acres in extreme southern Washington County, (then Frederick County) Maryland for a prominent businessman named John Semple of

Charles County Charles County is a county in Southern Maryland. As of the 2020 census, the population was 166,617. The county seat is La Plata. The county was named for Charles Calvert (1637–1715), third Baron Baltimore. Charles County is part of the Wash ...

. Such large properties were categorized as manors in colonial Maryland, with their own unique laws. The tract was named Keep Treist by Semple, but took on the popular name of Semple's Manor, which became “''Sample’s Manor''.” John Semple was an innovator in colonial America with unique vision and goals. He was not attentive to his financial affairs, however, and within a decade of acquiring Keep Treist, John Semple was bankrupt. Most of Keep Treist would be acquired by the Frederick Forge, later to become the Antietam Iron Works. By the mid-19th century much of the forest had been harvested and converted to charcoal to fuel the iron works. The cleared land was then sold for farms and lots. These land sales increased after the unexpected death of Iron Works owner John Brein in 1849. The most famous resident of Sample's Manor would only live there for four months in 1859 at the nearby

. The abolitionist John Brown and his cadre of followers would make history on October 16, 1859, with their raid on the U.S. Armory, three miles away at

Harper's Ferry Harpers Ferry is a historic town in Jefferson County, West Virginia. It is located in the lower Shenandoah Valley. The population was 285 at the 2020 census. Situated at the confluence of the Potomac and Shenandoah rivers, where the U.S. stat ...

. The Sample's Manor Church of God is thought to have originated ''circa'' 1850. The cemetery holds generations of ancestors to many who live nearby yet today. Sample's Manor and the Kennedy Farm were the unlikely site of a major development plan by prominent African Americans in the 1960s. "John Brown's Farm" included performances by dozens of the top R&B musicians of the late 20th century.

References

Unincorporated communities in Washington County, Maryland Unincorporated communities in Maryland {{WashingtonCountyMD-geo-stub