NPS Set atop the hill at the center of the park is Hampton Hall. As Captain Charles Ridgely’s agricultural ventures at Northampton expanded, he chose to establish a new seasonal retreat on the property. Construction of the five-part Georgian style mansion began in 1783 under the oversight of builder and master carpenter Jehu Howell (died 1787). Local craftsmen, enslaved African-Americans, and indentured servants labored to complete the massive undertaking. At its completion in 1790, with 24,000 square feet and 31 rooms, Hampton Hall was believed to be the largest private home in country, and currently the mansion stands as one of the best surviving examples of Georgian architecture in the United States. 
NPS/Tim Ervin The architecture of the mansion and landscape design are characterized by proportion, balance, and symmetry, and were intended to recreate a traditional European villa with an English aesthetic. Hampton Hall’s relationship to the space and structures around it illustrates a sharp contrast in the history and culture of the surrounding landscape. Domestic service buildings surround the mansion to support the Ridgely family's lifestyle. Formal gardens, designed for leisure and recreation adorned the south side of the estate, while fields of hay, corn, and other crops were planted for profit and tended and harvested through the work of enslaved African Americans and indentured servants on the north side. By design, all these activities fall within site of the cupola of Hampton Hall and its owners, and the siting of the mansion clearly illustrates social hierarchy and relative status of those occupying the highlands and lowlands of Hampton. |
Last updated: July 29, 2020