Endangered Maryland 2009

4. HANDSELL Bricklayer David Lewis and his wife, Carol, bought an old, long-vacant, battered plantation house just off the Nanticoke River in 2004, figuring they’d recycle and sell it. Once he learned the colonial and Native American history of Handsell, his Dorchester County home, however, Lewis put off his for-profit sale plans permanently. According to Lewis, in 1665, one of the town’s richest merchants, Thomas Taylor, was granted 700 acres of land called Handsell along the Nanticoke River near Chicone Indian Town. (In 1704, this land was made part of a Native American reservation by an act of the Maryland Assembly.) Today, Handsell is one of the county’s last remaining 18th-century brick houses. The current house was built in mid 1700 by the Steeles, a prominent Maryland family, and still retains some original paint from that period. The house, which never had plumbing or electricity, was home to about 92 slaves, some of whose descendents still live nearby. In 2005, Lewis formed the nonprofit Nanticoke Historic Preservation Alliance Inc. (NHPA) and received a Maryland Historic Trust grant so that he could preserve Handsell and open it to the public. After using the property as a successful archeological site for Boy Scouts this summer, he hopes to encourage the county school system to utilize the site in its curriculum. Recently, Lewis was ecstatic to recover and purchase 107 letters written at Handsell during the 1760s through the 1850s. Found in a trunk in New England and being sold on eBay for their postmark, the letters contain juicy gossip and recipes. Lewis is in the process of transcribing the letters and intends to make them publicly available. “This unique property has survived more than two centuries and is in a near pristine state in interior and exterior appearance,” says Dr. Ray Thompson, a history professor at Salisbury University. “The interior of the home is remarkable for the purity of the original architectural and painting details. The fortunate lack of development of the surrounding area has meant that the property has much the same ambience it would have had in the late 18th century, when the home was originally constructed.” While repair work has begun, funds are still needed to structurally stabilize the house. For a more in- dept h look at Hands ell, vis it w w w.Mary landLife.com. http://www.MarylandLife.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Endangered Maryland 2009

10 New Sites Worth Saving Endangered Maryland 2009 Meet the Endangered Maryland Selection Committee 1. Brumbaugh-Kendle-Grove Farmstead 2. Falkland Apartments 3. Friendship Hall Linwood Village 4. Handsell 5. High Winds Gun Club 7. The Mechanic Theatre 8. Mount Nebo African Methodist Episcopal Church 9. St. Patrick's Catholic Church 10. Upton Mansion Historical Community Awards Endangered Maryland 2008 Update

For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.