The front porch of the mill house, where my mother was born, and lived the first few years of her life.
When I last spoke to you, it was all about the amazing personal experience of visiting my great-grandparent’s home, Boscobel. Here’s the rest of the story:
Boscobel is situated high on a hill above the Monocacy River and Brush Creek. The builders of the stunning house made their money as millers, and so, at the base of the driveway is the Mill House. My great-grandparents were not millers, but farmers. And early in their marriage, my grandparents resided in the stone Mill House at the base of the long driveway up to Boscobel. In addition to my personal history, all of this ground was part of the Battle of the Monocacy, sometimes called The Battle that Saved Washington. Here’s a look:
The mill house. These iron anchors were used to brace a house. There would be a corresponding S on the opposite side, with iron running between to brace the sides of the house.
Beautiful stonework.
More modern bracing.
The mill pond
The National Park Service has created a very pleasant, walkable path through the woods, along the stream to a view of the railroad bridge where the Battle of the Monocacy took place.
A charmingly dilapidated structure along the footpath. I’ll have to ask my mother what this was (if it was around during her time on the property).
The stream bed of Brush Creek, which runs through the property and feeds into the Monocacy River.
The Monocacy railroad bridge, where intense Civil War fighting took place.
From our family home, we were inspired to see the rest of the Monocacy Battlefield Park. Of course what really interested me were the homes. The next stop was the Thomas House. Ironically, though my maiden name is Thomas, I have no relation to the prior owners of this historic property.
The sky was perfect the day we were here. And this vista is vintage Frederick County, an area I’ve called ‘home’ all my life, and love dearly. This is the bank barn of the Thomas home. Dr. Thomas purchased this farm early in the Civil War to avoid the fighting in Baltimore. Yet the war found him anyway.
As the Thomas house was not open, we had to be content with admiring the grounds. Here’s another classic Frederick County, Maryland vista.
And so, on to the Worthington Farm, where the Thomas Family took refuge when the fighting intensified around their own home. I just LOVE this driveway. This is the way a real driveway should look. It put me in mind of so many of the country lanes we encountered as we traveled through England.
Peaking through a break in the tree line of the Worthington House driveway, I spied another family farm. This was the farm of my grandmother’s brother, and is in his family to this day.
Coming out of the tree coverage, you turn a curve in the lane and are greeted by this vista ahead of you.
And of course we had to get a closer look, open or not . . .
The Worthington home.
The house was locked, so we settled for looking through the wavy-glass windows. With the plaster and bannister gone, you can really get a sense of the construction and architecture of this classic American house.
We couldn’t get in, and had to settle for shooting these pictures through the old wavy-glass windows (no mean feat!). I just love seeing the construction. And the effect of the chippy green paint is perfection itself!
The view from the back of the Worthington house.
I just love the quirky positioning of the windows. And noticed the difference in the scale of the doors. I wish the original porch was still in place. It was probably a covered porch, and very charming.
Our last look at the house before we left. You can always tell a Civil War site by the presence of a cannon. Artillery aside, I love the three trees positioned so beautifully in front of the house.
So there’s the nickle tour of the Monocacy Battlefield, and my family’s old stomping ground. I can’t wait to go back when it’s a bit cooler and walk through the grounds. I think we’ll pack a picnic lunch this fall and make a day of it!
If you’d like to learn more about it, here’s the official site.
Thanks for reading,
Virginia