West St. Mary's Manor is a historic house on West St. Mary's Manor Road in rural St. Mary's County, Maryland. Built in the 1780s according to

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 ...

and with a four-room center-hall plan, and is located on the first recorded English land grant in what is now

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 ...

. It was designated a

National Historic Landmark A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the United States government for its outstanding historical significance. Only some 2,500 (~3%) of over 90,000 places listed ...

in 1970.

Description

West St. Mary's Manor is located across the St. Mary's River from

St. Mary's City, Maryland St. Mary's City (also known as Historic St. Mary's City) is a former colonial town that was Maryland's first European settlement and capital. It is now a large, state-run historic area, which includes a reconstruction of the original colonial set ...

, the first capital of the

Province of Maryland The Province of Maryland was an English and later British colony in North America that existed from 1632 until 1776, when it joined the other twelve of the Thirteen Colonies in rebellion against Great Britain and became the U.S. state of Maryland ...

. It is a -story brick and frame construction. The gable end walls of the house are brick with double chimneys, while the front and rear walls are clapboard. A brick "chimney pent" is situated between the projecting chimneys at both ends. The front elevation, facing south, is five bays wide, while the north elevation is three bays. The interior comprises four rooms about a center hall running through the house. The main rooms are on the south side, with smaller rooms on the north. All of the first floor rooms have wainscoting and fireplaces. The chimney pents serve as closets for the main rooms. The center hall is divided by an arch, with a stair to the rear.

History

West St. Mary's Manor originally included granted to Captain Henry Fleet in 1634, the earliest grant recorded in Maryland. The house was believed to have been built between 1700 and 1730, possibly by the family of Daniel Bell who was one of 15 leaseholders for the larger property. However, tree ring analysis or dendrochronology established a later date in the 1780s. The house's architecture is typical of the transition from smaller earlier colonial houses, typically just two rooms, to larger homes with a center passage. The house has been renovated and expanded with historically sympathetic additions.

References

External links

*, including photo in 2000, at Maryland Historical Trust * {{National Register of Historic Places in Maryland Houses completed in 1730 Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Maryland Houses in St. Mary's County, Maryland Historic American Buildings Survey in Maryland National Register of Historic Places in St. Mary's County, Maryland National Historic Landmarks in Maryland

Description

History

See also

References

External links