8/13/15 - Hollofield, MD

We lazed around camp this morning, had coffee and Jim made breakfast sandwiches.  Around 11 am we drove north of Baltimore to Towson and toured Hampton National Historic Site.  This was a vast estate that in 1790 encompassed 25,000 acres.  The Ridgelys made their huge fortune in tobacco, grist milling, and iron making,  Much of the family fortune was made in selling cannons and ammunition to the Continental Army during the revolutionary war.  The main manor house was the largest private home in America when it was built. There are original slave quarter buildings at the estate as well as a 1745 overseers house.  The estate was owned by the Ridgely family continuously from 1745 until 1948  when it was acquired by the National Park Service.  This was the first National Historic Site.  Almost all of the house furnishings are original.  

After the tour we drove into Baltimore and went to the Baltimore Museum of Art, walking past Johns Hopkins College.  This museum has the largest collection of works by Henri Matisse in the world.  Then we went to The Brewer's Art brewpub and had a beer.  After returning back to camp I cooked supper and we sat outside until it turned dark.