Last Time You Visited a SMC...
- Thread starter my-thyme
- Start date
Clem72
Well-Known Member
Haven't visited, so I don't know if they are proper manor homes or not. I think the correct context is that they were owned by Nobility, though they didn't need to live there. In the case of southern maryland I would assume a lot of the large very old estates were established by the various lords (Calvert/Baltimore/whoever) and some tenant lived there and had people work the farms and send the money back to the Lord.
The house I grew up in, Howard County, was on a farm that was a 2000-acre pension land grant around 1690. Not sure if it would qualify as a "manor" but it ended up being pretty large after several additions to the original 1 1/2 story log cabin, in 1804 and 1864. My step father bought the farm from the last descendants of the original grantee. The graveyard had a separate section for slaves and one of the old slave quarters - a log cabin situated over a creek, with no electricity or plumbing - was not only still standing, it came complete with a very old black feller that was descended from the slaves that once worked the place.
Sotterley Manor was the personal home of George Plater (1735–1792), the sixth Governor of Maryland, not one of your various lords. He would regularly attend church services at St. Andrews Church (now St Andrews Episcopal Church), even having a special chair (throne) to seat him. His slaves would also attend, sitting in what is now the choir loft. Governor Plater was an active parish member, serving twenty-eight years as a vestryman.
Clem72
Well-Known Member
I don't know why you are getting upset about the term "various lords".
I was using the actual definition of the word manor, not the colloquial slang you can throw about for any "estate". If you aren't part of the British or Dutch Nobility your property isn't a "manor" and every person living in a single-wide trailer on a piece of property they own can make as much claim to having a manor as any governor of Maryland. Do you call Martin O'Malley's personal residence a Manor? If not, why not? Because he didn't attend services at St. Andrews Church? (otherwise I don't understand why you brought up the church connection).
I don't know why you think I am upset for providing the history on Sotterley. The facts I lists are easily obtained and can be used to fill in the blanks. If I had known responding to your post would be interpreted as a personal attack I would have refrained.
Clem72
Well-Known Member
Sorry, I interpreted it as a disagreement when you highlighted the text "various lords" from my post and said he was "not one of your various lords" which makes it sound like I was giving incorrect information.
There must have been a codicil in the family will that deeded him to the property.
Clem can be a pretty touchy feller, especially on Mondays.
And Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays.... Any day of the week that ends in Y.