Index

There are many African-American architectural resources throughout Maryland, located from Western Maryland to the Eastern Shore. These buildings and landscapes tell us much about the lives of the slave and free African-Americans who occupied them. These sites represent a variety of uses from homes to public buildings, such as schools and lodges.

The buildings discussed here are at various stages in the preservation process. There are a few buildings in the early stage of preservation, rescued from deterioration due to abandonment and neglect. Others have been in continued use through the years and are still standing as a result of adaptive reuse. They all, however, provide insight into the public and private lives of those who used them.

The goals of this project are to increase awareness of the wide range of threats to the historic built environment of Maryland and to provide assistance in preserving this landscape. We hope to encourage more individuals and groups to save significant historic African-American architectural resources by providing examples of buildings that are in various stages of the preservation process.

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Documentation Process

Terminology

Works Cited

This project was funded by the Maryland Historical Trust through a matching funds grant from the Fiscal Year 2003 Historic Preservation Grant Program (Non-Capital Projects). The sites were chosen based on the threats they faced, state and local preservation priorities, and the way in which their documentation would expand existing knowledge relative to African-American architectural traditions. The field work, research, writing, and web design were completed by the Center for Historic Architecture and Design at the University of Delaware.

The team of workers from CHAD included many members:

Rebecca J. Sheppard, Project Director
David L. Ames
Rochelle Bohm
Jamie Ferguson
with
David Amott
Jonathan Bernhardt
Darrell Cook
Daniel Claro
Kristen Hill
Jeffrey Klee
Kathryne Larrivee
Jason Smith
Jeroen van den Hurk

Project coordinators at the Maryland Historical Trust include:
Marcia Miller
Thomas Reinhart

Special thanks to all the property owners who allowed us access to the buildings, supplied us with background information, helped with field work and endured many phone calls to schedule field work and verify information

Underground Railroad
National Park Service
Network to Freedom