Difference between revisions of "Belmont (Baltimore, MD)"
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== History == | == History == | ||
− | + | Soon after settling in Baltimore in 1778, [[Charles François Adrien le Paulmier d’Annemours|le Paulmier d’Annemours]] built a house on a 50-acre estate outside the city and laid out an elaborate formal garden. The house and garden appear in [[Charles Varlé]]’s ''Plan of the City of Baltimore'', drawn in 1797 [Fig. 1]. [[Charles Varlé|Varlé]] indicated that the garden was laid out in the [[geometric style]], with [[ parterre]]s in circular and triangular formations. An orderly row of fruit trees flanked the garden on one side, complemented on the opposite side by a [[grove]] of more naturally dispersed trees. <ref> James D. Kornwolf, ‘’Architecture and Town Planning in Colonial North America’’, 3 vols. (Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2002), 2: 752, [https://www.zotero.org/groups/54737/items/itemKey/4VT9CII8 view on Zotero]. In 1792 [[Charles François Adrien le Paulmier d’Annemours|le Paulmier d’Annemours]] commemorated the 300th anniversary of Columbus’s arrival in the New World by erecting at Belmont the first monument honoring the explorer to be erected in the United States. The monument, which can be seen in [[Charles Varlé|Varlé's]] 1797 plan, was a 44-and-a-half-foot high [[obelisk]] fashioned of brick covered with stucco. It stood in a [[grove]] of cedar and ash trees about 100 yards from the house. The simple [[obelisk]] bears the inscription "Sacred/to the/Memory/of/Chris. Columbus/Octob. XII/MDCC VIIIC.” <ref> Herbert Adams and Henry Wood, ‘’Columbus and His Discovery of America’’, Johns Hopkins University Studies in Historical and Political Science, Tenth Series, vols. 10 and 11 (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press, 1892), 30, 70-71, [https://www.zotero.org/groups/54737/items/itemKey/ZQK7G8QE view on Zotero]. </ref> [[Charles François Adrien le Paulmier d’Annemours|Le Paulmier d’Annemours]] sold Belmont to Archibald Campbell in 1796 and thereafter the estate passed through many hands. A writer describing the state of Belmont in 1880 observed, “the grounds around the old mansion house, although sadly out of repair..., are still inviting and [[picturesque]], with their box-wood [[walk]]s, bordered roadways lined with rows of cedars, fine old fruit trees, and rosebush clusters here and there.” <ref> Article published in ’’The American’’ (Baltimore), November 19, 1880, quoted in Herbert Adams and Henry Wood, ‘’Columbus and His Discovery of America’’, Johns Hopkins University Studies in Historical and Political Science, Tenth Series, vols. 10 and 11 (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press, 1892), 34, [https://www.zotero.org/groups/54737/items/itemKey/ZQK7G8QE view on Zotero] . </ref> Belmont was demolished in 1936 and in 1963 the Columbus monument was moved to its present location across the street from Herring Run Park on Harford Road in Baltimore. | |
Revision as of 02:06, March 6, 2015
Belmont was a house built in 1778 on a 50-acre estate just outside of Baltimore, Maryland. The original owner was Charles François Adrien le Paulmier d’Annemours, Consul General of France for Virginia and Maryland from 1779 to 1793. It was the site of America’s first monument in honor of Christopher Columbus.
Overview
Alternate Names: Barnum’s Hotel; Samuel Ready Orphan Asylum
Site Dates: 1778-1796
Site Owner(s): Charles François Adrien le Paulmier d’Annemours; Archibald Campbell; Zenus Barnum; Samuel Ready Orphan Asylum (from 1887)
Site Designer(s): Charles François Adrien le Paulmier d’Annemours
Location:
View on Google Maps
View the Columbus Monument on Google Maps
History
Soon after settling in Baltimore in 1778, le Paulmier d’Annemours built a house on a 50-acre estate outside the city and laid out an elaborate formal garden. The house and garden appear in Charles Varlé’s Plan of the City of Baltimore, drawn in 1797 [Fig. 1]. Varlé indicated that the garden was laid out in the geometric style, with parterres in circular and triangular formations. An orderly row of fruit trees flanked the garden on one side, complemented on the opposite side by a grove of more naturally dispersed trees. Cite error: Closing </ref>
missing for <ref>
tag Le Paulmier d’Annemours sold Belmont to Archibald Campbell in 1796 and thereafter the estate passed through many hands. A writer describing the state of Belmont in 1880 observed, “the grounds around the old mansion house, although sadly out of repair..., are still inviting and picturesque, with their box-wood walks, bordered roadways lined with rows of cedars, fine old fruit trees, and rosebush clusters here and there.” [1] Belmont was demolished in 1936 and in 1963 the Columbus monument was moved to its present location across the street from Herring Run Park on Harford Road in Baltimore.
--Robyn Asleson
References
J.M. Dickey, Christopher Columbus and his Monument Columbia (1892), pp. 73-78. Memoirs by Charles François Adrien Le Paulmier le Chevalier D’Annemours Monument City Blog: http://monumentcity.net/2009/04/12/columbus-obelisk-baltimore-md/
- ↑ Article published in ’’The American’’ (Baltimore), November 19, 1880, quoted in Herbert Adams and Henry Wood, ‘’Columbus and His Discovery of America’’, Johns Hopkins University Studies in Historical and Political Science, Tenth Series, vols. 10 and 11 (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press, 1892), 34, view on Zotero .