Main Hampton Mansion Tour Page
The northeast room on the first floor of Hampton Mansion is the parlor known as Captain Ridgely’s Parlor, which refers to Captain Charles Ridgely, the first owner of the house. (The name was actually used by the construction workers.) The room, however, is decorated as it would have been for a tea party in the late 1700s or early 1800s when the second owners, Charles Carnan Ridgely and his wife Priscilla Dorsey, lived in the mansion.
The only aspect of the room that is not of the time period is the wallpaper, which wasn’t part of the Hampton decor until 1855. The Ridgelys kept detailed records on all home construction and improvement expenses, and this date marks the first time payments were made to contractors for wallpaper. Prior to this, most rooms were painted a light bluff or a light grey. When the National Park Service took over the property in 1948, all wall paper, which was faded and peeling, was striped and the interior was painted based on the original colors. I have seen photos from 2004 where this room was painted, so for whatever reason, the National Park Service added the wallpaper in recent years.
There are no rooms in the house decorated as they would have been when the Captain and his wife Rebecca Dorsey (sister of Priscilla) lived in the mansion because they only lived there for a short time before the Captain died. They moved into the house in December 1788, though it was not completely finished and minor work would continue until 1790. The Captain had a stroke and died on June 28, 1790. His portrait hangs over the fireplace; Rebecca’s portrait hangs on the wall to the left.
In his will, the Captain gave Rebecca the choice of the large overseer’s house and eight acres—part of the farm down the road where the Ridgelys lived during the construction phase—or the mansion, which was being built when he wrote his will. Because the Ridgelys had no children, the rest of the estate was left to his nephew, Charles Ridgely Carnan, whom he and Rebecca had helped raise. In fact, Carnan and Priscilla were living at Hampton Mansion at the time of the Captain’s death. The only caveat was that Charles had to change his name to Charles Carnan Ridgely, which you can imagine he did as quickly as he could get down to city hall.
Rebecca and Carnan did not get along. To remedy the situation, the two worked out a deal in which she agreed to give up her ownership of all Hampton property in exchange for Carnan purchasing for her 244 acres of land at another location, building her a house, a carriage house, and a stable, fencing in the property, and paying her £1000 a year for the rest of her life. She lived another 22 years.
With a few exceptions, use of any photograph on the National Park Planner website requires a paid Royalty Free Editorial Use License or Commercial Use License. See the Photo Usage page for details.
Last updated on April 16, 2024