9030 Sharpsburg Pike, Hagerstown , Maryland 21733

Square Footage:8600

Bedrooms:7

Bathrooms:3 full / 1 half

Year Built:1803

Lot Size:25+ acres

Listing Agent:Long & Foster Real Estate, Inc.

For More Details:888-966-4759

Historical Hagerstown Home in Fairplay
The 8,600 square foot three-story stone manse fondly known as Rockland was constructed in 1803 by Colonel Frisby Tilghman, son of Maryland's first Attorney General (biography to follow).  Built on one of Washington County's original land grants, Widow's Mite, Rockland is considered one of the County's most significant historic properties. Tilghman had assembled an estate of 1,110 acres by the time of his death in 1847, making it the largest slave holding estate in the County. The major area of significance of Rockland is its architecture; particularly its Victorian period alterations.

Historical Designation
Rockland is listed on the Maryland Inventory of Historic Sites and is eligible for inclusion in the National Register of Historic Places. Given the important association to James Pennington, who earned international recognition for his human rights advocacy and an autobiography of his early life in slavery (biography to follow), Rockland has also been designated as an official site of the National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom by the U.S. Department of the Interior. Rockland is noted in such historic publications as Charles Varle's 1808 map of Washington of Fredrick Counties and the 1877 Washington County Atlas. References to Rockland can also be found in numerous modern publications which include: Scharf's History of Western Maryland, Patricia Schooley's Architectural Treasures of Washington County, Maryland Life magazine as well as numerous County and State historic brochures. Rockland has also been featured in Antietarn Cable's Mini-Series "Historic Homes of Washington County."

The Structure
The house is a three-story, seven bay stone and brick dwelling (which was previously white stucco, probably beginning in the late 19th Century when other Victorian enhancements were made). The house consists of two sections reflecting two distinct building periods. The larger south section is square with four bays in its front, side and rear walls. Its windows are relatively larger with six light double-hung sashes at both levels with interior shutters. The main entrance is located in the third bay from the south end of the house. A neoclassical pedimented entranceway with fluted pilasters and dentil cornice trim surrounds the doorway. A semi-circular fan light with ray mullions is present over the door. A matching doorway is present at the rear of the house opposite the front entrance and for a large portion of the year the sun rises and sets through these magnificent doorways.  The north portion of the structure is three bays in length and is also constructed of stone. The earliest portion of the house, it is smaller in size than the south section, its windows mostly six-over-six light sashes. The main entrance is located in the center bay of the east wall. The doorway is framed very simply and is topped with a four-light transom, and the door shows six raised panels. A three-bay entrance porch extends along the north wall.

Late 19th Century
The Victorian enhancements to the mansion were likely made in the last part of the 19th century when the house, then on 256 acres, was purchased by General Thomas T. McKaig for $25,000 (equivalent to $6.5M in today's dollars) who married one of Frisby Tilghman's daughters, Margaret. The most dominant feature is the Federal-style suspended staircase in the south wing, which spirals from the ground floor to the third floor attic. An oval skylight with curved muntions illuminates the stairs. Originally this staircase terminated in a belvedere, but this feature was so deteriorated that it was replaced by a widow's walk. The house was in a state of disrepair until being rescued by Ed and Donna Stavish in 1991, the other significant features are original. Fanlights above the doors on the second floor echo that of the first floor entrances, original woodwork and doors, drawn plaster cornice moldings, ceiling tracery and ceiling medallions thankfully remained intact and were preserved during the renovations.

Modern Improvements
Michael Moreland and Jason Daisey purchased the property from the Stavishs in the Spring of 2004 and picked up on the structural renovations and modern infrastructure improvements, continuing with such projects as installing central air conditioning for the entire house, completing several unfinished bedrooms, as well as the painting, decorating and finer details. To support their penchant for entertaining, Michael and Jason recently completed an extensive kitchen remodel as well as constructing a 3,000-bottle wine cellar in one of the basement rooms. Avid equestrians and fox hunters, they have made significant renovations to the smaller bank barn as well as installing fencing and establishing paddocks. Michael and Jason have also embarked on an extensive landscaping plan, having recently installed the formal gardens and walkways surrounding  the house as well as planting over 300 trees and shrubbery.

Systems
400 Amp electric with significant expansion available updated circa 1995 and 2005, 3 high efficiency central air units with 5 zone damper/temperature control, oil and hot water furnace and hot water with 6 zone temperature control installed circa 1995, electric baseboard heat with individual room temperature control, central station monitored state-of-the-art alarm system, updated plumbing throughout.

Equestrian Features
The property site includes a turn key horse farm, with lush fenced pastures, a 3 bay shop with oil furnace and 200 Amp 110/220 electric service, large hot and cold water insulated wash stall, 4 bay carport with run in and dog kennel, 7 stall bank barn with tack/feed room and grooming stall, carriage house/office with heat and electricity, large bank barn (capacity for 16 stalls), auxiliary buildings' roofs painted in 2007, the original summer kitchen and spring house intact, and the original family cemetery.

Colonel Frisby Tilghman
Frisby Tilghman was the eldest son of James Tilghman of Queen Anne's County, Maryland, on the Eastern Shore of the Chesapeake Bay. Like many sons of planters from eastern Maryland, Frisby migrated to the western part of the state in the late eighteenth century, where land was plentiful and comparatively low-priced. Trained as a doctor, he married the wealthy Anna Maria Ringgold and turned his hand to farming instead. He helped found a local agricultural society and an academy and earned a reputation as a progressive farmer. Active in civic life, he served four terms in the Maryland House of Delegates, promoted the C&O Canal project, served on bank boards of directors, and formed and commanded a militia unit (he was known as Colonel Tilghman). Although Tilghman was progressive in agriculture, education, and economic development, he was conservative on issues of slavery and slaveholding. He initiated laws that tightened controls on enslaved people in Washington County, including limiting the number of miles they could travel on Sundays, traditionally their day off when they were often granted passes to visit family members living elsewhere. He instigated the closure of a Sunday School for free blacks operated by local Methodist and Lutheran churches for fear that "slaves should get some benefit of it."  Despite Frisby Tilghman's wealth and prominence, a man that he owned as a slave earned wider and more enduring fame. Jim Pembroke, later known as James W. C. Pennington, earned international renown for his human rights advocacy and an autobiography of his early life in slavery. Pennington's memoir affords a window into slave society on the edge of the South that continues to be acclaimed and widely read.

James W. C. Pennington
Born Jim Pembroke, James W. C. Pennington escaped from slavery at Rockland, the home of Frisby Tilghman, in Washington County, Maryland, in 1827. From this modest beginning he eventually won world renown recognition. After staying six months with Quakers William and Phebe Wright in Adams County, Pennsylvania, Pennington settled in New York.  Working first as a coachman, he found spiritual guidance from Presbyterian minister Dr. S. H. Cox and experienced a religious awakening in 1829. At the same time he became involved in abolitionist activities and found them compatible with his study of religion. For a while he taught black children at a school in Long Island. In 1834 he moved to Connecticut where he audited classes in Theology at Yale University and pastored Temple Street Congregational Church, a black congregation. Under his leadership, his church championed abolition and civil rights, and Pennington spoke widely on those issues. He also supported temperance and African missions, but denounced the colonization movement to send free blacks from the United States to settle in Liberia. In 1841 he wrote and published one of the first histories of Africans in America. The same year he became founding president of the Union Missionary Society and raised money for the kidnapped Africans on the slave ship Amistad to return home. As the Connecticut delegate to the World Anti-Slavery Convention in London in 1843, Pennington developed an international reputation as a human rights advocate.  Pennington kept his enslaved status secret for decades for fear of discovery and capture, but ultimately found power in it. In 1844 he enlisted an intermediary to contact Frisby Tilghman and negotiate the purchase of his freedom, but the $1,000 price Tilghman set was too high. Pennington publicly told the story of his early life in The Fugitive Blacksmith, first published in 1849. It sold briskly and remains one of the most acclaimed of all slave narratives. That same year the University of Heidelburg recognized his international achievements by awarding him an honorary Doctor of Divinity degree. He attended world peace and abolition conferences in Great Britain and spoke publicly to raise consciousness and funds for the cause. Meanwhile, the United States passed the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850. Abolitionists in Scotland, fearing for Pennington's safety, helped him raise money and successfully purchase his freedom from Tilghman's estate administrators in 1851. He returned to the United States the same year. He pastored Shiloh Baptist Church in New York City but experienced difficulties in the position and resigned in 1855. His involvement in the Underground Railroad included his own escape, his book, and his assistance to freedom seekers including several family members. In 1848 he raised $50 at Shiloh to help Paul Edmonson purchase his two daughters after their thwarted escape from Washington, DC, on the Pearl. Until his death in 1870 he continued teaching, ministering, and advocating human rights.