On the occasion of the 250th anniversary
Hammond-Harwood House has a personality all its own. To walk through its rooms or to contemplate its architecture is an experience of being immersed in history. We live in the now, but the house itself has a long life to look back on.
Let us imagine Hammond-Harwood House looking back on all of those who have been a part of its long history. Beginning in 1774 and continuing until today in 2024, so many people have walked the floors, admired the views from the windows, dusted the moldings, cared for the furniture and paintings. They have enabled the house to exist for these 250 years so that we today, and hopefully generations in the future, can appreciate and learn from its history. So let’s hear from Hammond-Harwood as she thanks those involved in her life.
Thank you, Matthias Hammond, young, wealthy and ambitious, who wanted a fancy town home in Annapolis.
Thank you, William Buckland, the genius architect who thought, “why not adapt an Italian villa designed in the 16th century to this new city of Annapolis?”
Thank you, enslaved men and indentured artisans, masons, carpenters, plasterers, and carvers who labored on the construction. Thank you, Oxford, the only worker enslaved by Buckland whose name we know.
Thank you, Judge Jeremiah Chase and wife Hester, helicopter parents who bought the house for their daughter Frances and her husband Richard Loockerman in 1811.
Thank you, Frances and Richard, and your many children, for bringing the excitement and chaos of family life to the house. We appreciate your lively time here and sympathize with your disappointments and tragedies.
Thank you to the enslaved women and children who lived and labored here. Juliet, Mary and Matilda Matthews, the boy Harry, and others unnamed – we know enough about you to want to know more, we honor your work here, and we acknowledge your trauma.
Thank you, St. John’s College for purchasing the house in 1926, saving it from ruin.
Thank you, ladies of the Federated Garden Club in Baltimore who recognized the importance of the house and saved it again in 1938 after a national fundraising campaign. You formed the HHH Association, still a private non-profit organization, and started the museum’s important collection of paintings, furniture, and decorative pieces.
Thank you, Hammond-Harwood House directors and staff members over the past 40 years who have undertaken extraordinary preservation measures to keep the house beautiful.
Thank you, board members whose oversight has kept the mission clear and focused. Thank you, volunteers, docents and guides, and financial supporters.
Thank you, artisans who continue to work at Hammond-Harwood House – Bill and Jim, Bob, Jack, Sprigg and Pablo, Drake, Betsy, Susan, and other talented folks who love their craft and help make HHH the outstanding example of architecture and design that it is.
Hammond-Harwood House owes gratitude to all.
Barbara Goyette, Executive Director
