Towson Favorites

Favorite thing: In addition to the main house the following places on the grounds are notable. (See the map in the Off the Beaten Track tip.

The Entrance Gates are over three fourths of a mile from Dulaney Valley Road. The gates serve to separate farm fields from the artistically landscaped part of the estate.

The Family Cemetery is where a tomb was built in accord with the will of Charles Ridgely, the builder of Hampton and houses the remains of over thirty family members. Many other graves surround the tomb.

The Formal Gardens were first laid out about 1810, the gardens are terraced or falling gardens, a type found most often in the mid-Atlantic region.

Greenhouses were used to prepare bedding plants and flowers for the gardens. In the latter half of the nineteenth century, the Ridgelys used thousands of bedding plants at a time in the parterres.

The Ice House was used to store ice for use in cooling drinks and making ice cream in the summer. It was filled with ice from local ponds.

The Stables - the first of these stables dates to the construction of the mansion, the second to about 1850. They housed thoroughbreds and trotters used for racing.

The Orangery was designed to grow citrus trees, the Orangery was the height of opulence in the 1820s.

Fondest memory: The last time I visited Hampton in 1970, it was a damp cold spring morning. I took this picture of the brave daffodils blooming there.