| Gray Rock | |
|---|---|
 Charles E. Miller Library on section of Gray Rock Property | |
 | |
| General information | |
| Type | House |
| Location | Ellicott City, Maryland |
| Coordinates | 39°16′2″N76°51′26″W / 39.26722°N 76.85722°W |
| Construction started | 1813 |
Gray Rock is a historic plantation home located in Ellicott City, Maryland. [1] [2]
Gray Rock (also called Grey Rock) is situated next to Font Hill Manor, a plantation house built in the 1700s by Admiral Hammond. Caleb Dorsey of Belmont had three sons. Thomas Beale Dorsey, became the Attorney General of Maryland, and later assembled the farm at age 55 in order to be closer to his other two brothers. The farm was created in 1813 from many tracts of land including, Pinkstone's Delight, Fifth Edition, Ben's luck, Rebecca's Lot, Gaither's Adventure-Ferry Bridge. In 1816 Freeborns Progress-Smith's Fortune and Addition to Freeborns Progress were added. In 1817, Ben's Delight, John's Luck, The Triangle, and Kelly's Neglect were assembled.
The home is a four-bay by one-bay wooden structure standing two and a half stories tall based on a clapboard-covered log home that predates the 1813 purchases. An additional 1+1⁄2-story stone house is on the property that served as quarters for two families. The property also included several large wooden barns and a carriage house. The farm was situated along the Baltimore-Frederick turnpike road. [3] It is now surrounded by a residential cul-de-sac at 3518 Angus Valley Trail. [4]
Thomas Beale Dorsey of Thomas died at Gray Rock on 6 September 1828 at the age of 60. [5] The property passed to his daughter Sarah and her husband Dr. Arthur Pue in 1837 after the death of her mother Achsah Dorsey. (Pue was the family doctor to Peter Gorman and their son, Senator Arthur Pue Gorman). On 7 May 1848 the farm was inherited by their son Thomas Beale Dorsey Pue. In 1859, his father sold the 404 acre farm to James Mackubin for $32,000 (~$789,133 in 2021). In 1879, John H Herbert claimed a crop of 523 and 1000 bushels of Fultz wheat from two of Gray Rock's fields. [6] In 1867, 43 acres were split off to Mackubbin where the MacAlpine Manor was built. The property was sold and leased back to MacKubbin until his death in 1904 when it was sold to the Sloatfield family finalized in 1911.
On 14 May 1943, former Howard County Commissioner Charles E. Miller purchased the farm and farmed it until 1980. The Miller Land Company was established in 1964 to develop the land. The property was subdivided into 300 acres, several small plots, a plot donated to the library, and a 50-acre section that he planned to donate for a hospital. In 1974, the government denied permission to build a hospital and the Grey Rock Community, Inc. was formed to carry on the mission to donate the land to help the community. Upon Charles Miller's death in 1979, Paul L. Miller became its president.
During the 1980s and 1990s, the Gray Rock Farm community was built. The access road to the farm became Gray Rock Drive. Other streets were laid and 250 homes were built on half acre lots.
In 2002, Grey Rock Community, Inc. found a partner to build a retirement community on the 50-acre plot and the Miller land was donated to the effort. Carroll Lutheran Village at Westminster, MD was the partner in establishing the community. In 2016, they opened a Continuing Care Retirement Community (CCRC) that provides independent living in apartments and homes, assisted living, and nursing care. In 2020, the Lutheran Village at Miller's Grant had 350 residents and 150 employees.
That completed the distribution of the Miller property, culminating in the Gray Rock Farm community and donation of land to the Miller Library, the First Lutheran church, and the Lutheran Village at Miller's Grant retirement community.
Oakland Mills is one of the 10 villages in Columbia, Maryland, United States. It is located immediately east of Town Center, across U.S. Route 29.
Doughoregan Manor is a plantation house and estate located on Manor Lane west of Ellicott City, Maryland, United States. Established in the early 18th century as the seat of Maryland's prominent Carroll family, it was home to Founding Father Charles Carroll, a signer of the United States Declaration of Independence, during the late 18th century. A portion of the estate, including the main house, was designated a National Historic Landmark on November 11, 1971. It remains in the Carroll family and is not open to the public.
Long Reach, one of ten villages composing Columbia, Maryland, United States, is found in the northeast part of Columbia along Maryland Route 108. Started in 1971, it is one of the oldest villages, and comprises four neighborhoods: Jeffers Hill, Kendall Ridge, Locust Park, and Phelps Luck. The village, with an approximate population of 15,600, is governed by five elected village board members through "Long Reach Community Association, Inc." The Village Office is located in Stonehouse, the community center, which opened in 1974.
Dorsey's Search is a parcel of land patented by John Dorsey of Hockley-in-the-hole (1645–1714) in Baltimore County. The 479-acre (194 ha) property adjacent to the north branch of the Patuxent river was surveyed by Richard Beard in December 1684, and granted to Dorsey in March 1696. The property lying between "Long Reach" and "Elk Ridge" was resurveyed in March 1723 to include 750 acres (300 ha). After several generations of inheritance, a series of legal disputes were held over the land by Rezin Hammond and Richard Ridgley in 1820. In 1827 the property exchanged hands to Robert Oliver, builder of Oakland Mill, who combined it with multiple properties totaling 2,300 acres (930 ha). George Gaither acquired the property in 1838. John Dorsey's grandson, "Patuxent" John Dorsey of "Dorsey's Search" built Dorsey Hall at the site.
Woodlawn, is a historic slave plantation located at Columbia, Howard County, Maryland. It is a two-story, stuccoed stone house built in 1840 with wood frame portions constructed about 1785. It was part of a 200-acre farm divided from larger parcels patented by the Dorsey family. The design reflects the transition between the Greek Revival and Italianate architecture styles. The home is associated with Henry Howard Owings, a prominent Howard County landowner and farmer, who also served as a judge of the Orphan's Court for Howard County. Owings purchased the property in 1858 and died at Woodlawn in 1869. The former tobacco farm produced corn, oats, hay, and pork. The majority of the property surrounding Woodland and its slave quarters were subdivided by 1966 and purchased by Howard Research and Development for the planned community development Columbia, Maryland, leaving only 5 acres surrounded by multiple lots intended for development of an Oakland Ridge industrial center and equestrian center. The summer kitchen, smokehouse, corn crib and stable built about 1830 have been replaced by a parking lot.
White Hall is a historic home located at Ellicott City, Howard County, Maryland, United States. It consists of three sections: the east wing, dating from the early 19th century, the center section, and the west wing. In 1890 the house was partially destroyed by fire and rebuilt in 1900. Three outbuildings remain on the White Hall property: a small square frame workshop; a smokehouse-privy; and springhouse.
Troy, also known as Troy Hill Farm, is a historic slave plantation home located at Elkridge, Howard County, Maryland, United States. It is associated with the prominent Dorsey family of Howard County, who also built Dorsey Hall.
Waverly Mansion is a historic home located at Marriottsville in Howard County, Maryland, USA. It was built circa 1756, and is a 2+1⁄2-story Federal style stone house, covered with stucco, with a hyphen and addition that date to circa 1811. Also on the property are a small 1+1⁄2-story stone overseer's cottage and a 2-story frame-and-stone barn, and the ruins of a log slave quarter.
Round About Hills or Peacefields is a historic slave plantation home located at Glenwood, Howard County, Maryland. An alternate address for this house is 14581 McClintock Drive, Glenwood, Maryland. It was built about 1773 on a 266-acre land patent and consists of a 1+1⁄2-story frame house with a stone end. Thomas Beale Dorsey inherited the property in 1794 then exchanged his interest in the plantation with Thomas Cook's stagecoach wayside town Cooksville.
Charles E. Miller (1902–1979) was an American politician and businessman in Howard County, Maryland
The Belmont Estate, now Belmont Manor and Historic Park, is a former plantation located at Elkridge, Howard County, Maryland, United States. Founded in the 1730s and known in the Colonial period as "Moore's Morning Choice", it was one of the earliest forced-labor farms in Howard County, Maryland. Its 1738 plantation house is one of the finest examples of Colonial Georgian architectural style in Maryland.
Daisy is an unincorporated community located at the northwest tip of Howard County, Maryland, United States.
Oakland or Oakland Manor is a Federal style stone manor house commissioned in 1810 by Charles Sterrett Ridgely in the Howard District of Anne Arundel County Maryland. The lands that became Oakland Manor were patented by John Dorsey as "Dorsey's Adventure" in 1688 which was willed to his grandson Edward Dorsey. In 1785, Luther Martin purchased properties named "Dorsey's Adventure", "Dorsey's Inheritance", "Good for Little", "Chew's Vineyard", and "Adam the First" to make the 2300 acre "Luther Martin's Elkridge Farm".
Elioak is an unincorporated community in Howard County, Maryland, United States. It was the home of the "Pushpin Farm", a 200-acre slave plantation purchased in 1724 in the Howard District of Anne Arundel County by Col. Edward Dorsey and which is the site of many prominent Dorsey family graves. The postal community was named after the Elioak plantation built by Owen Dorsey, Judge of the Baltimore Orphans' Court. A postal office operated in the community from 12 June 1893 to 15 September 1922. Local farm orchards were known for prize winning apples and pears. Local families such as the Kahler, Miller, and Worthington claimed Elioak as home while they served in World War I. After the war, the name fell out of use.
Bethesda is located in Ellicott City, Maryland within Howard County, Maryland, United States. The home is sometimes mistakenly referred to as "Dower House" because a small dower house exists on the property. A "dower" is a widow's share for life of her husband's estate, so a dower house is where a widowed mother would live when her son and his family inherited and moved into the main house.
Walnut Grove is a historic plantation home located in Clarksville, Maryland, Howard County, Maryland.
Roxbury Mill is a historic flour and grist mill located in Glenwood, Howard County, Maryland, now part of the Howard County Farm Museum.
Arlington is a historic slave plantation located in Columbia, Howard County, Maryland, now part of the Fairway Hills Golf Course.
Mount Joy is a historic slave plantation in Ellicott City, Howard County, Maryland, which has a current address of 5000 Executive Park Drive.
Chews Resolution Manor, also known as Avoca, Resolution Manor, is a historic home and slave plantation located south of Ellicott City, Howard County, Maryland.