Show THEIALTIMORE MANOR Piagnificence of the Fine Old Stately Mansion ESTATE MUCH DIMINISHED p Originally it Comprised Sixteen I Hundred Acres Now But Three Acres arc Left The Mansion in a Fair State of Preservation and Traces of Former Beauties Survive in the Surroundings The Henry Clay Room and Other Kooms Called After Famous Men Washington July 15 When drunKep I ness gfitnbllng and horseracing were the badges of hue gentleman In this country Lord Baltimores magnificent and commodious manor at Rlversdale eight miles from Washington on the Baltimore Ohio railroad and near the famous old dueling groundsof Bladensburg was the choicest plaecjn the then sparsely settled section for the rich pleasure and recreation hurt ers lo assemble Much of the former beauty and grandeur of Lord Balti mores home is still In evidence and In many respects the splendid mansion Id as perfect as when constructed more than HO years ago but the thousands of acres which comprised the estate now blossom with hundreds of happy homes and the ceaseless musical hum of busy life is heard on every hand Indeed Illversdalo is now one oC Iho Justoutoftown parts of the national na-tional capital and all that Is left oC the miles of acres of the Balilmoro mansion estate Is the mansion Itself and three ucre of ground immediately surrounding IL Tt Is I a treat to visit the old home Its spacious hallways and airy apartments bring visions and thoughts of departed greatness of old Lord Baltimore and his descendants ghostly figures of past ages The anS dent place is rich with traditions and reminiscences lighted by sunshinfc shadowed by l passing clouds The winds through the quaint gablas breathe weird stories of low requiem and aeollan songs of the long ago Memory goes back to the lime when irlckmaking was unknown iii ibiS country the brick and material to build the home for Englands son being brought In Bailing vessels from Eng and The materials were landed at a point in St Marys county Md and rom there transported In wagons to the site of building What an undertaking under-taking in those days The house contains con-tains forty rooms and the architect was Henry J Stler a wealthy banker of Antwerp who on account of political politi-cal reasons fled his native country 1IIs building Is distinctly English In architectural style the frescoed cell lug and carved woodwork yet remaining In a good atatc of preservation in many of the rooms especially the drawing rooms dnd main Imllways It is a study tif ancient architecture stucco stuc-co worlc 0 4 9 The rooms are High celllngod and spa iclpus and the finishing were asJlno i inonQy coujUu > tha v jlrawlng oom being originally ioeied with mliirors and the mantelboard imthls oom was sold few years agp for 5000 Jt is of the finest workmanship and said to be the handsomest piece of marble ever brought to this country for any purpose The east drawliig voom was Qqually as splendidly finished fin-ished but on an entirely different style the walls being painted to represent a fox chase the fox dogs and hunters being painted as near lifelike as the finest painter could produce and the scene ot chase extending entirely around the largfc room Some years ago this beautiful and costly work Was covered over with paper and Its beauty forever marred Between the two drawingrooms is the old ballroom In which cavaliers and dames danced the stately minuet or lively reel beneath the light of myriads If candles In costly cost-ly candelabra One can Imagine he hears the swish of silk trains as beauties glided by with their courtly escorts The windows of the ballroom open on a rear veranda where a beautiful landscape land-scape picture greets the eye Throughout Through-out the grand old building the ceilings and cornices arc covered with ancient mouldings of unique designs ana the great hallways are roomy and alry and arein the old English style Queer ramifications are witnessed on every hand from the large wine eel lars to the garret Down In the cellar where the wine vaults are still intact can be found a dozen or more queer underground rooms in which are stored Innumerable oldtime cooking ovens bakers dishwarmers coffeeurny brasskettles and such like all of pattern pat-tern long since gone out of style While the underground portion of the mansion Is gloomy andweird If thele are any skeletons secreted In the passageways your correspondent failed Id find them The antique library is a study Ihe beaudful bookcases of solidmahogany and cedar being Jn almost a perfect I state of preservation Adjoining the jlftrury was thetgYfratRaitlinoro family vault In whlfch viis kept Stored rich old silver ancVvaluables of every character char-acter When the vdult Wris wallqd up a few years ago and In tearing nwUy a l portion of the masonry there wits found a parchment dated 172S signed by King George JJL appointing Bcr1t Calvert father of the sixth Lord Bal1 tlmore collector of Internal revenues In the province of Prince George now Prince George county Md Another scaled document was signed simply Ball I more and risked for the doJJv cry of negroes land and stock lo hid son An old bill receiptedby a New York dry coeds firm and dated 1331 was for 51S70D7 Wine bills forfabulous j sums were found going to jnhow that Lord Baltimore asa high cntertalnqr a o Adjoining the beautiful library lathe la-the conservatory and It if claimed that the finest camcHaH then the fashionable fash-ionable flower were lo be found there Some of the same beautiful flowers which were Lord BaltimofcR h I pride are now In the White Tlonsc conservatory conserva-tory and arc the finest specimens In the world From the conservatory you en tor Ihft carriagehouse and here you will find the old family carriage of Englands non The metal and woodwork are Rtlll good but relic hunters have stripped off nearly all the leather and clotji furnishings The vehicle resembles to some extent a cfidvood > coach A few years ago sonic one stole the cOat of arms and the Latin Inscription Manly deeds feminine word Ascending a roundabout round-about stairway we enter the second utory of the building and are guided along the long hallway to a roam near tho center of lie building which is 1 known as the Henry Clay bcdpham i bur1 that great statesman havIng been on terms of Intimacy with Charles B Calvert who wa a member of the Thirtyninth Congress Chiy vas a frequent visitor to the Baltimore manor while lie wa in the Senate and j this room was setapart for him The j massive mahogany furniture Is i still j kept intact the heavy arm chair haw beun torn to pieces by rellchunt I and strange to say the silver candle < stick and water pitcher still remain I an does the solid mahogany wardrobe I lined wilh redtir which weighed 700 pounds Perhaps this latter fart has it kept It In its place Then comes the Daniel Webster and Gen Lafayette rooms on the Hume fioor but none of the oldtime furniture Is to be found In these In the second story are a number of bedchambers all of more or loss historical Interest But It Is In T the atllo or gallery whore the atmosphere atmos-phere is filled with the dust of a century cen-tury and a half where can bo found the evidences of past greatness fore arc old haircovered trunks large and stout solelcathcr valises great cedar chQBts oldfQshloned massive bedsteads bed-steads brass fenders card tables and many such articles Then above the garret which goes the whole length 1 of the house Is the cupola from vhloh can be seen the historical Bird ensburg dueling grounds and all lie country around the points whore the British landed and made their maroh Into Washington and laid the capital and While House la ashes Years ago an old bell was hung In the cupola The bell was a present to Baltimore In 1SU from his friends in Home The deeptoned metal was blessed by the Pope I before starting across the At I lantlc No one seems to know what became of the bell unless It be that it was stolen after the house was left unoccupied as It was for several months but now it Is carefully guarded guard-ed In the good old days the mansion was approached by a semicircle roadway road-way encircling the eastern section of the undulated lawn extending more than a mile to the lodgekeepers fortified for-tified lookout 6n the old stage road running from Washington lo Baltimore Balti-more No one dared to enter the then splendidlykept grounds without permission per-mission of the lodgekeeper who had armed assistants stationed at evqry great Iron post of the huge gateway The Baltimore estate proper Included within Its confines nearly 1GOO ncrcs taking In all the level plateau from Spa Springs Blandensburg to Point Branch and up to what Is npw the Maryland Agricultural college but then known as the Rossburg where was the most historical tavern on the staro road leading from the far Wcst and North to the national capital At Rosaburg the Senators Congressmen and noted men of the day stopped and rested from their long journey There was great rivalry between the taverns at Rossburg and Bladensburg and If old stories are to be believed there were rich food and rare viands at both places but Bladensburg was the more popular on account of the wonderful curative powers of the water of Spa Springs a water which Is now extensively exten-sively sold all over the country SAn S-An old relic for which the owner of the Baltimore manor has refused largo sums of money Is a cannon eaten through by the rust of ages This Implement Im-plement of death originally came from England and was used l during Bacons rebellion It was taken from a submerged sub-merged fort on the Potomac and presented pre-sented to Lord Baltimore by the monks of St Marys There was another cannon can-non found at the same time and this Is now at the Statehouse Annapolis The one Drcsonle < r to Lord Baltimore was by 1 his direction placed Just to the left ot the massive porch leading Into the manor and there with tIm shells which wero found with It has remained until the present The summerhouses built of iron are still In a good state of prescrvatlonbut lie ono of wood which stood on the small Island in the center of the lake was burned a few years ago In this place lie rich lord had beautiful and costly boats and on Its water were swan and elder ducks and oow the lake Is covered with watcrlHIos and aquatic flowers What was Once the most beautiful Mower yard In all the country Is now a sea of wild wpeds and plants with occasionally an Immense hedge of moss roses then and for many years after the most popular of all flowers flow-ers Immediately facing the manor is still the costly fountain beneath t1 spread Ing trees There were originally three large metal swans which reared their stately heads but some one sidle oneof them and other portions of the beauti ful fountain have been taken away Beautiful picturesque and ronantlc Is the long hedge leading to the oc tagonalshaped barn onehalf mile removed re-moved from the manor ThiSfhcdge of mock orange was made at the first set tlement of the place and thq trees have grown until now the roadway bj covered with an Interlocking hedge growth ma king a beautiful shaded walk and drive and with the fragrance of the wild honeysuckle which climbs In and out among the hediro the entire distance a moro beautiful and peaceful place would be difficult to find The Immense barn resembles a cyclorama building and was built to accommodate 500 horses nnc cows with storage rooms abpvq for hay and other provender in 3SS5 a spork from a parsing engine on the Baltimore Ohio railroad set fire to the slave quarters and cvcry build ing was destroyed The slave quarters occupied a position between the manor and the bnun and one negro man Ilonry Ewell is still living near the barn In a dwelling occupied by the keeper of the barn In the days of Baltimore Balti-more Ewell says that his parents and grandparents Were slaves of the owner of the estate Baltimore manor is now owned bv Sirs Fannie Cordon of Washington and Is practically unoccupied the owner keeping it Jooked after by trusted people peo-ple who have nothing to dosave stay there show visitors around and answer questions C A HAMILTON |