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Many records exist showing that enslaved people at Rose Hill sought their freedom by running away when John Grahame owned this property (1788-1833). Meanwhile, when David O. Thomas owned the property (1853-1876) no such records have been found. This is not necessarily a statement on the conditions on the property but more about the changing make up of Frederick County. As more and more enslaved people were manumitted in the county, family ties made it harder to run. In the case of the Thomas family, members of the Robinson family were spread across multiple properties, multiple enslavers, and with varied terms of service left. Knowing you or your family members would be manumitted usually at age 30-35 made it less enticing to runaway and risk being sold into slavery out of state and away from your family for good.

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In April 1831 the barn and tolaces house burned with a pile of rye. The spark was said to be from the chimney of the dwelling or quarters, leading us to believe that at least some of the quarters where those who were enslaved lived were probably near this location. 

The Barns

In 1748, a German immigrant named Hans Peter Hoffman purchased this land (at the time around 225 acres) from land speculator Daniel Dulaney. Here he and his family built a log cabin, cleared more of the land each year, and grew crops such as wheat, oats, barley, and flax. Governor Thomas Johnson, the first official governor of Maryland after British rule, purchased the property from Hoffman in 1778. He gave the property to his daughter Ann Grahame as a wedding present. John and Ann Grahame built the manor house sometime around 1792 and lived here until John's death in 1833 and Ann's death in 1835.Colonel John McPherson, Jr. took ownership of the property after John Grahame's death due to a mortgage on the property. From 1837-1852 the property changes over a few times until 1853 when David O. Thomas purchases the property and lives there through the Civil War until his death in 1876. Thomas' family sells the property in 1906 to real estate agent Noah Cramer who rents the property out for many years to tenant farmers.Noah and his son James lease the manor house out to Agnes Rice who transforms the house into a tea room and inn. Her nieces Lydia and Clair operated the tea room for her until the early 1930s. Many of Frederick's socialites attended dinners and card games in the parlor and dining room and charity events for causes like the Red Cross were also held on the property.Sometime after the Tea Room closed James Cramer brought his family to live at least partially during the year at Rose Hill. In 1957 his daughter Alice inherited the property. Part of the land was purchased to build Governor Thomas Johnson High School and the Coke a Cola Factory. In 1968 the remaining 46 acres was purchased by the Frederick County Commissioners for a park. In 1972 the Children's Museum of Rose Hill Manor opened its doors.

Rose Hill Manor Parks and Museums is a children's museum-fit for all ages. Explore the lives of those who lived on the property from the 1740s-1960s as well as areas of Frederick County history. Our park includes the Manor House, a Log Cabin, the Carriage Museum, the Farm and Family Building, Historic Gardens, and two barns. Enjoy both the outdoors and our indoor interpretive spaces.  

Rose Hill saw passing troops and encampments in both 1862 and 1864 as fighting occurred all around Frederick. As the war went on Abraham Lincoln created a military order to allow for the enlistment of African Americans both free and enslaved. David Robinson (formerly enslaved by the Thomas Family), at the time free, his son Adam (18), also free, and his two sons Nelson and James, still enslaved, enlisted in the army in 1863. By fighting Nelson(22) and James (21) would have escaped slavery earlier than their terms of service of 30 years. 
Due to the fact that Maryland had not seceded from the Union the Emancipation Proclomation had no effect on the status of enslavement for families like the Robinsons.  Therefore to prevent their continued enslavement or the chance of being sold away from their families, men like the Robisons took the opportunity to enlist and serve in the United States Colored Troops as a way of ensuring their freedom.
Tragically David and Adam were killed in action in the campaign leading to the siege of Petersburg. The grief felt by the Robinson family at this loss can only be imagined.
In 1864 when emancipation became effective in Maryland thanks to the efforts of soldieres like the Robinsons there were 12 formerly enslaved individulas living and working here at Rose Hill. 
 They were 
      Miranda (believed to be a Robinson relative) who was 36 years old
       Ellie, 18 years old
       Elijah 16 years old
       Marian 14 years old
       Annie 11 years old
      Harriet 9 years old 
      Maria 6 year old
      Billy 23 years old
      Mary Nichols 29 years old
      Lucy Nichols 12 years old
      George Nichols 5 years old
      Nannie Nichols 7 months old

 

East Field 

This home was built by Ann and John Grahame sometime around 1792. Ann was the daughter of Governor Thomas Johnson and given the property as a wedding present. Like many people in the "Era of Good Feelings" personal and economic experiences caused John Grahame to expand and then scale back his land holdings and property. Unfortunately caught up in the fortunes and disasters of the Grahame family were the enslaved people. In 1827 John's son Thomas suddenly died. His young daughter Ann Rebecca inherited Walley, his wife, and their three children. Also enslaved and passed down to Ann Rebecca were Lenere, Edward, Peter, Sally and her child, and Lucinda and her child. In 1830 Peter, Anne and their children Eliza and Ben were mortgaged by John Grahame to his brother in law. Also included in that mortgage were Lucinda and her sons George and Charles and three others: Bill, Charles, and Polly. As you can see not only did Grahame's economic situation cause uncertainty in the lives of these people but through these two events we can tell that originally some of these families weren't living together before 1827. Then in 1831 Ben was sold away from his family. These three events leave many questions and heartbreak, families did not always stay together and instead were moved around the families of their enslavers or beyond.

Welcome to Rose Hill Manor Park and Museums. The museum was established in 1972 to commemorate a key figure in the American Revolution and founding era, Thomas Johnson, first Governor of Maryland. However, this property was occupied by many families from the 1740s-1960s. Among those that lived here were dozens of enslaved people. Our goal in this tour, as part of our broader mission to tell all the stories of the inhabitants of Rose Hill, is to tell the stories of the free and enslaved African Americans who were part of Rose Hill and how their experiences fit in the larger context of Frederick and Maryland History. 

The Manor House

In 1853 David O. Thomas owned Rose Hill Manor. His family owned many nearby farms. The images below tell the story of the Thompson family who were enslaved by the Thomas family for at least 20 years. 

Front Yard

Enslaved women who lived here including Polly, Ann, Eliza, Sarah Ann, Hester Ann and Susan, had many skills that were monopolized by the Grahame family. Women who were skilled in sewing or cooking were seen as more valuable and marketable, a fact John Grahame used to his advantage in 1825 when he listed for sale several women who "are good housemaids, cooks and seamstrsses." Enslaved women who were skilled at sewing would have not only been expected to do simple sewing such as mending for the Grahame family, but at the same time she would have sewed her own clothing, clothing for other enslaved people, and her family. This marketability threatened the security of the enslaved women as her skills might increase her likelihood for being rented out or sold as was the case for the women enslaved by the Grahame family in 1805 and 1825 based on newspaper advertisements placed by John Grahame.

The German settlers that first purchased Rose Hill, the Hoffmans, built a log cabin on the property similar to this one. After they sold the property to Thomas Johnson it is believed it was converted into the quarters for at least some of the enslaved people on the property. Frederick County also had a large Free Black population. Many of them worked as laborers on plantations alongside those enslaved. At Rose Hill a man named Osborn Dorsey lived on the property as a free Black in the 1860s. He would have shared quarters like these with those enslaved by the Thomas family.

Log Cabin

John Grahame was one of the Commisioners for the building of the Baltimore Frederick Turnpike which began construction in early 1800s. One man, Leonard, who had been enslaved by John Grahame and then sold to William Schley knew these roads well as he often served as carriage driver for the Grahame family. In a notice posted in the newspaper in 1827, William Schley mentions that Leonard was occasionally the coachman, as well as being "a house servan." In 1827, Leonard along with other men enslaved by the Grahames, Jim Chase, John, Charles, Edward and Daniel sought their freedom. The notices which were posted by William Schley &amp; John Grahame give us a description of each of these men as well as their primary work and a glimpse into their relationship with one another. All of these men sought the opportunity for freedom rather than face being sold South as they had watched happen to a number of their family and friends over the previous few years. In light of the familial turmioal occassioned by the death of John Grahame's only son Thomas in February these six men carefully planned and timed their flight for freedom. Leonard and Daniel were noted as having positions "in the house" that would have offorded them more intimate information on the thoughts and plans dicussed by Schley and Grahame. Jim Chase was noted by John Grahame to be his "confidential servant". This intimate position, as well as, his position as a preacher for the African Bethel Church in Frederick would have provided Jim with the knowledge, rescources and connections to lay the groundwork for their flight to freedom. Between June 30th and July 2nd 1827 (on a weekend that Americans celebrate freedom) these men took their opportunity and headed for Pennsylvania. In additon to being forced to drive their enslavers along the various roadways some enslaved individuals were forced to labor in building these roads. Moses, another man enslaved by John Grahame was sentenced in August of 1802 to a two year term in building the national road then under construction between Frederick and Baltimore. Moses had been convited of burglary by the court and was forced to labor in constructing the new national road. The infrastructure for travel and transporation of goods on which businesses and men like John Grahame were so reliant were built by the hands, sweat and tears of enslaved and free Black people. In 1832 a cholera epidemic spread through the world and Frederick was not spared. Workers along the C&amp;O canal and the B&amp;O railroad brought the disease from Baltimore. Many free African Americans worked on both of these projects and went home each night to live in crowded conditions. This led to a large number of cases of cholera among free African Americans and their families in Frederick. During the period of the property history when the Thomas family occupied the Manor house they had two free Black men, Samuel Key (1850) and Osborn Dorsey (1860) who were listed on the census records as working and living on the property. Free Black people such as Samuel Key, Osborn Dorsey, and David and Anne Robinson faced many restrictions on them related to travel and transportation. This was due to extreme fear in Maryland of the ever growing free Black population which white people felt threatened their physical safety and societal standing. Such restrictions included:<ul><li>African Americans were banned from piloting vessels without at least one white person on board</li><li>Permits were required to travel by train or boat and only by day</li><li>Free Blacks not employed by a white person were required to spend one day working on public roads a year</li></ul>

Transportation was a key part of life in the 19th century. In a time where methods of travel overlapped, Frederick saw itself at the crossroads. Rose Hill itself sat in between two large roads (today Route 15 and North Market Street). The Johnson and Grahame families were heavily involved in developlment of early transporation systems.   From work on the Potomac Canal project to the building  of the National Road.   The enslaved and free populations in Frederick also contributed heavily to those advancements. 

The Carriage Museum

The smokehouse and the summer kitchen were the domain of the enslaved Black men and women who prepared the food and maintined the fires. These spaces were places where the knowledge and skill passed down through generations were utilized and exploited by the Grahame and Thomas families. The hands that care for the animals, butcherd the meat and prepared it for others' consumption were rarely allowed the opportunity to enjoy the tatste themselves. In 1831 a law required free Blacks to buy permits to sell bacon, pork, beef, mutton, rye, oats, gunpowder, and alcohol and could only be granted with the recommendation of three white people. Legal regulations such as these demonstrate the value of preserved meat and the limited access that enslaved and free Blacks had to it. Both free and enslaved Blacks were often accused of stealing meat. If you were free, being caught stealing could result in being sold back into slavery for life. Samuel Key, a free Black who worked for David Thomas was accused of stealing unknown objects from the nearby farm of James Finney in 1852. A warrent was issued for his arrest in 1853 and apparently Samuel Key went on the run as no further court records have been found.

Our office building today served as the smoke house and summer kitchen for Rose Hill during the periods when the Grahame and Thomas families occupied the manor house. Animals such as pigs and cattle were raised by enslaved people on the property and then preserved in the smoke house for eating year round. A lot of work went into raising, butchering, and smoking an animal, meaning these cuts of meat were valuable and important to everyone as a main source of their diet. 

Smokehouse

Field hands experienced heavy wear and tear on their bodies. Peter was described in a mortgage of the property as "Old Peter" even though he was still in his 50s. In less than 20 years Frederick planters were less likely to keep people enslaved long enough to become "Old". As Frederick County transitioned to more of a grain based economy, enslaved people became expensive to feed and clothe, especially those whose bodies were crippled or broken down. Many planters, like the Thomas family manumitted their enslaved people between the ages of 30-35, keeping the children of those people enslaved until they too turned 30-35.

Many different crops were grown at Rose Hill. Sale advertisements show that enslaved field hands such as Charles, Bill, and George were familiar with growing tobacco, rye, and wheat among other crops. Frederick County had a diverse and changing agricultural make up throughout the 19th century. During the time of John Grahame tobacco, rye, and wheat were all commonly grow. However as the market for tobacco became oversaturated and the soil depleted, farmers transitioned to rye and wheat.  

Rose Hill Manor Park & Museums

The Barns

Introduction

Backstory and Context

Additional Information