By Dr. Brenna Spray, Outreach & Communications Officer
When interpretation is removed or minimized at historic sites, it sends a message. It raises questions about whose histories are considered central — and whose are treated as secondary or expendable. In Maryland, the history of slavery and liberation is not abstract or distant. It is rooted in specific places: homes, workshops, waterfronts, villages, and landscapes that still exist today. Across the state, local museums and historic sites are working to interpret the lives of enslaved people through exhibitions, archaeology, art, and on-the-ground experiences that visitors can see and walk through themselves.
“After Harriett,”from Joseph Holston’s Color in Freedom, Joseph Holston: Journey Along the Underground Railroad exhibit (2022-2023) at the Washington County Museum of Fine Arts.
The sites highlighted below are a selection of the many places where the history of enslavement and emancipation is addressed directly and thoughtfully. Together, they show that these stories are not confined to one region, but are woven into the very fabric of Maryland.
Western Maryland and the Catoctin region
At Catoctin Furnace (Frederick County), the Catoctin Furnace Historical Society explicitly interprets the lifeways and foodways of enslaved Africans, free African Americans, and immigrant laborers who lived and worked in this ironmaking community. Through preserved structures, archaeological research, and interpretation, visitors learn how iron production depended on enslaved labor. The site also includes the African American Cemetery, where many enslaved workers and their descendants were buried. Together, the industrial landscape and burial ground make clear that slavery in Maryland was not limited to farms and plantations, but also powered early industry and economic growth.
A short drive northwest, Hagerstown’s Jonathan Street(Washington County) serves as an important landscape for understanding slavery and the pursuit of freedom in Western Maryland. At the Old Jail enslaved people were held after escape attempts or prior to sale, physically embedding the history of the slave trade within the city’s downtown. Because of its proximity to major transportation routes and the Pennsylvania border, Jonathan Street also became a critical pathway to freedom and later emerged as the heart of the city’s Black community where homes, churches, and support networks flourished. Today, the street is interpreted through markers, walking tours, and preservation projects like Preservation Maryland’s work at 417 Jonathan Street. Together, these sites illustrate how the transition from enslavement to freedom unfolded within everyday spaces of a single town.
Central Maryland
In Baltimore City, the Reginald F. Lewis Museum of Maryland African American History & Culture offers some of the most direct and comprehensive interpretation of slavery in the state. Past exhibitions such as “Understanding Slavery through the Stearns Collection” and “Freedom Bound: Runaways of the Chesapeake” (now a virtual tour) placed enslavement and escape at the center of the narrative. As a border state, Maryland experienced slavery, freedom seeking, and emancipation in complicated and often overlapping ways. The Lewis Museum embraces that complexity, helping visitors understand how slavery shaped daily life, labor, and movement across the state, while also highlighting acts of resistance and self-emancipation. The museum provides a statewide context that connects individual stories to larger systems.
In Montgomery County, the Josiah Henson Museum and Park (Bethesda) interprets slavery through the life of Reverend Josiah Henson. His 1849 autobiography describes his experience of enslavement in Maryland, the betrayal of promises made to him, and his eventual self-emancipation with his family. The site is located at a former plantation where Henson was enslaved, grounding his story in a physical landscape visitors can walk through. By focusing on a single life, the site helps visitors understand how slavery operated on an individual level, through things like labor, family separation, and negotiations over freedom. Henson’s story connects personal experience to broader systems of enslavement and resistance, making the history of slavery more immediate and personal.
In Prince George’s County, Riversdale Historic Site & Museum (Riverdale Park) is explicit about centering the lives of enslaved people documented in the site’s records. Interpretation draws on surviving documents to tell the stories of individuals such as Adam Francis Plummer, whose writings provide rare insight into life under enslavement and after emancipation. Rather than focusing solely on the property’s owners, Riversdale uses records, landscape, and ongoing research to recover — and name — the people who were enslaved on the property. This approach shows how historic sites can move beyond traditional narratives to foreground the experiences and contributions of enslaved individuals whose labor sustained the estate.
Southern Maryland
Commemorative to Enslaved Peoples of Southern Maryland, image from the Washington Post
At Historic St. Mary’s City (St. Mary’s County), visitors encounter interpretation that directly addresses slavery in Maryland’s early colonial capital. The Commemorative to Enslaved Peoples of Southern Maryland is an immersive, on-site experience designed to honor the lives of enslaved people and encourage reflection. Through text, design, and landscape, the Commemorative centers the experiences of people whose labor underpinned the colony’s growth. The site makes clear that the history of Maryland’s first capital cannot be told without acknowledging slavery as a foundational part of its development. By situating the Commemorative within the larger historic landscape, Historic St. Mary’s City connects political history to the lived realities of enslaved people.
The St. Inigoes plantation landscape(St. Mary’s County) is deeply significant for understanding Jesuit plantations, enslaved labor, and archaeological research in Southern Maryland. Some of the documented sites are located on the Webster Field Annex / Patuxent River Naval Station, which can mean limited public access. Public-facing interpretation is often available through research partners and digital public history projects connected to St. Inigoes including the Still, We Speak project and the Georgetown Slavery Archive. Even when buildings are gone or access is limited, archaeology and documentation can still bring enslaved lives into view.
Eastern Shore
Medallion in the Rackliffe exhibit
Rackliffe House(Worcester County) is an 18th-century plantation house near Berlin that interprets daily life on Maryland’s Eastern Shore during the early years of the United States, providing a setting for understanding how agriculture, labor, and land shaped the region over time. Rackliffe House has recently expanded its interpretation to show how the experiences of the enslaved connected to those of the Native and European histories at the site. A current exhibit, “The Enslaved at Rackliffe House and Worcester County,” uses archaeology and historic records to show how enslaved people were essential to the estate’s operation and long-term survival. By focusing on individuals and families tied to Rackliffe and neighboring properties, the site connects the history of enslavement to Worcester County’s past and present communities.
James Webb Cabin (Caroline County) offers a rare glimpse into everyday life for mid-19th-century African American families on Maryland’s Eastern Shore. Built around 1852 by James H. Webb, a free African American farmer, the one-room, hand-hewn log cabin was home to Webb, his wife Mary Ann, their children, and Webb’s father. Mary Ann and the children had previously been enslaved, showing how freedom and enslavement often existed side by side in the region. Constructed from materials gathered nearby, the cabin features an open fireplace, a small loft accessed by a ladder, and a “potato hole” used for storage. The Caroline Historical Society maintains the cabin, offering visitors the chance to learn about the history of enslavement and freedom on a human scale.
The Chesapeake by Water
The Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum (Talbot County) interprets the history of the Bay as a working landscape shaped by shipbuilding, fishing, trade, and transportation and has increasingly highlighted the experiences of enslaved and free African Americans whose labor sustained the Bay economy before and after Emancipation. One key theme explored through exhibitions and programs is the maritime dimension of the Underground Railroad, like “Sailing to Freedom: Maritime Dimensions of the Underground Railroad.” On the Chesapeake, self-emancipation was not always follow roads or rail lines. Many enslaved people found their freedom by using coastal routes, aboard ships or smaller watercraft. Based upon the book, Sailing to Freedom by Dr. Cheryl LaRoche the exhibition expands the understanding of how freedom was achieved and that the history of enslavement also lived on docks, aboard boats, and along tidal shorelines, not just on plantations.
At the northern edge of the Chesapeake, the Havre de Grace Maritime Museum (Harford County) interprets the city’s long relationship with the Susquehanna River and Upper Bay. Embedded within that story is a focused exploration of local Underground Railroad activity and African American freedom seeking. Rather than presenting the Underground Railroad as a single route or organization, the exhibit emphasizes networks of individuals, families, and river communities, highlighting the risks faced by both those escaping and those who helped them. By focusing on local stories, the museum shows that freedom seeking was neither abstract nor distant, but rooted in specific communities and places.
None of these sites tells the full story on its own. Taken together, though, they show how deeply the history of enslavement is embedded in Maryland’s landscapes. These histories are grounded in research uncovered, documented, and shared by institutions and communities. They are tied to roads people still travel, rivers people still work on, and buildings people can still walk into. Visiting these places is one way to better understand how the past continues to shape the state we live in today. Share with us the comments of this post where you have visited that does a great job sharing this important history!
MHT is excited to announce the FY26 recipients of our Historic Preservation Non-Capital grants! Funded through the Maryland Heritage Areas Authority Financing Fund, this grant program supports a wide variety of research, survey, planning, and educational activities involving architectural, archaeological, or cultural resources.
This year, a total of $300,000 is being awarded to non-profit organizations and universities for a diverse slate of nine projects across the state. Below are descriptions of all the projects awarded:
An Archeological Survey of Hockley – Patapsco Heritage Greenway ($26,000)
Phase I and II archaeological investigations will be performed at Hockley (HO-387), believed to have been built between 1763-1764 as a forge master’s dwelling for an iron works known as The Baltimore Company. Goals include assessing if there are intact archaeological resources at the site and determining the locations of the industrial buildings associated with the old forge master’s home. The project includes hiring 1-2 graduate student assistants to help perform excavations, supervise volunteers, and catalog artifacts.
Hockley Forgemaster’s House, MHT staff photo.
Of Kings, Queens, and Common Rafters: Maryland’s Early Roof Frames – The Lost Towns Project ($61,000)
This project, a focused architectural investigation of early roof framing, will document approximately ten buildings representing a broad cross-section of the extant architectural record in Maryland, emphasizing diversity in geography, building type, and structural complexity. Final products will include scans of all field documentation, six 3D models, an interpretive report, and photographic documentation of each site.
Roof frame at Bordlington in Queen Anne’s County, photo by Willie Graham
Foundations of Maryland: Archaeological Survey of Early Kent Island – Historic Kent Island ($40,000)
Coordinated archaeological survey will be conducted across historically linked landscapes on Kent Island, Maryland’s earliest English settlement. Tracts with previously identified early colonial archaeological resources will be systematically surveyed and examined to better define site boundaries. Previously unsurveyed tracts with early settlement histories will also be surveyed to locate new resources that better characterize the early 17th-century landscape of Kent Island. The project will use archival analysis, GIS mapping, remote sensing (GPR, magnetometry, LiDAR, photogrammetry), and targeted shovel testing to identify and evaluate surviving cultural features. Shoreline loss, development pressure, and natural decay pose imminent threats, making this a time-sensitive undertaking.
Kent Island, Lake, Griffing, and Stevenson Atlas, 1877
Our Lady of Mount Carmel: Preserving 100 Years of Education – Our Lady of Mount Carmel School ($19,000)
This project includes the preparation of a National Register nomination for Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church and School in Essex, Maryland. The complex includes five buildings, constructed between 1920 and 1960, reflecting the Mission Revival and Mid-Century Modern styles. This property also espouses the broader significance of immigration and labor history in Baltimore County.
Our Lady of Mount Carmel School. MHT staff photo.
Phase I Archaeological Testing of the Springfield Farm Site – Washington County Historical Society ($15,000)
The project will conduct a Phase I archaeological survey on two parcels of land owned by the Town of Williamsport, which contain the core of the 18th- to 19th-century structural complex known as the Springfield Farm and once owned by Revolutionary War Brigadier General Otho Williams. The goal of the project is to identify and document archaeological and cultural resources on the property in order to develop a site management plan. This will be achieved by conducting archival research, informant interviews, collections review, systematic surface collection and shovel test survey, artifact processing and analysis, and a report with a collection database.
Springfield Farm, photo courtesy of Washington County Historical Society.
Resilience: Surveying and Documenting Anne Arundel County’s Queenstown Community – Severn Improvement Association ($30,000)
This project will document the historically African American community of Queenstown in northern Anne Arundel County as a survey district in the Maryland Inventory of Historic Properties. In partnership with the University of Maryland Libraries, the Severn Improvement Association will also complete oral history interviews with senior residents about the evolution of the neighborhood, including traditions and milestones.
Queenstown Rosenwald School, photo by Sherri Marsh Johns
Oak Spring Historic District – Montgomery Preservation ($29,000)
This project will produce a National Register nomination for the Oak Spring Historic District, a community of 84 single-family residences designed by the architectural firm Deigert & Yerkes and constructed between 1964 and 1966 in Montgomery County. Oak Spring represents a turning point in regional development when local builders began applying modern architectural ideals to speculative suburban housing; houses in the district exemplify mid-century modern residential architecture through low-pitched roofs, broad eaves, large picture windows, efficient interior plans, and natural materials of brick and wood.
Oak Spring, photo courtesy of applicant
Waverly Main Street Historic Buildings Rehabilitation Feasibility and Planning Study – Baltimore Neighborhood Business District ($58,000)
Maryland Inventory of Historic Properties (MIHP) documentation and building conditions assessment reports will be prepared for approximately twelve to fifteen structures within the Waverly Main Street Historic District along Greenmount Avenue in Baltimore. These historic commercial buildings, constructed between 1880 and 1960, retain distinctive architectural features and reflect more than a century of neighborhood-based commerce, including Black-owned businesses, immigrant storefronts, automotive-era service buildings, and early 20th-century retail architecture.
Commercial Buildings in Waverly Main Street Historic District, photo by Paul Burk
Trowels to Teaching Program – Towson University ($22,000)
In 2025, Towson University held the first Trowels to Teaching workshop for Maryland K-12 teachers at North Point State Park. The goal of the workshop was to provide an opportunity for teachers to become familiar with the process, importance, and goals of the field of archaeology in order to effectively infuse these topics into their classrooms and promote responsible archaeological stewardship in Maryland communities. This project will fund a return to North Point State Park in 2026 to conduct a second year of the workshop and investigate a different site, a buried cultural horizon at the precontact Krankowski Site (18BA631).
Trowels to Teaching, Part 1. Photo courtesy of Towson University.
Availability of FY2027 funds through the Historic Preservation Non-Capital Grant Program will be announced in late spring of 2026 on MHT’s Historic Preservation Non-Capital Grant Program webpage. Application deadlines and workshop dates will also be found on this page at that time.
For more information about the grant program, please contact Heather Barrett, Administrator of Architectural Research at MHT, at 410-697-9536 or heather.barrett@maryland.gov or Matt McKnight, Chief Archaeologist, at 410-697-9572 or matthew.mcknight@maryland.gov. For information about organizations receiving grants, please contact the institutions directly.
The Maryland Commission on African American History and Culture and the Maryland Historical Trust have awarded 29 African American Heritage Preservation Program grants totaling $5,000,000 to numerous Maryland organizations for FY 2026. These grants offer assistance to organizations and private citizens in their sponsorship of projects involving acquisition, construction, or improvement of sites related to African American heritage. This year’s grant awards range from $10,000 to $250,000. The awardees are listed below, in alphabetical order by county.
Alexandria (Alexander) Chapel United Methodist Church Cemetery ($108,000) – Chicamuxen, Charles County | Sponsor: Alexandria United Methodist Church
Jordan’s Chapel, possibly the first black church in Charles County, was established by members of the formerly enslaved Jordan family, on land they had acquired after Emancipation. At the turn of the 20th century, the present Alexandria Chapel was erected on the Jordan Chapel site, but the structure was subsequently relocated to a nearby location on Chicamuxen Road. The cemetery and former site of the chapels are located on Cemetery Road and consist of approximately one cleared acre surrounded by woodland. Funding will support the rehabilitation of the church and cemetery conservation, including interpretive signage and benches.
American Legion Mannie Scott Post 193 ($250,000) – Denton, Caroline County | Sponsor: American Legion Dept Maryland Mannie Scott Post 193
The American Legion Manny Scott Post No. 193 is Caroline County’s only African American-serving post dedicated to those who have served in active military duty in all branches of America’s Armed Forces. Post No. 193 practices resistance by improving their communities through promoting justice, freedom, and democracy. Although currently displaced, Mannie Scott Post No. 193 members continue to host African American-centered community events throughout Caroline County, including Juneteenth celebrations, parades to honor community veterans, community block parties, community cookouts, and fundraising events to assist in the building’s renovation. Funding will address securing engineering and design plans, obtaining permits, and beginning site work.
Anna Murray Douglass Heritage & Visitor Center ($250,000) – Denton, Caroline County | Sponsor: Bailey-Groce Family Foundation
The Anna Murray Douglass Heritage & Visitor Center is a two-story, ca. 1900, cross-gabled residence. The house is adjacent to the former location of the Quaker Neck Meeting House and Yard, which was demolished within the last several decades. Once complete, the building would be transformed into a cultural and educational facility focused on the life of Anna Murray Douglass, wife of Frederick Douglass and a prominent abolitionist. Funding will support acquisition, as well as the interior and exterior rehabilitation of the structure.
Ash Memorial Cemetery ($132,000) – Sandy Spring, Montgomery County | Sponsor: Beautification Club of Sandy Spring
Founded in the 1890s, Ash Memorial Cemetery serves as the last active cemetery for the historic Sharp Steet United Methodist Church, which was first constructed in the 1820s. The church was a prominent touchstone for a freedman’s settlement (M: 28-10, Brooke Road Historic District) of formerly enslaved individuals that were emancipated by the Sandy Spring Quakers as early as the Revolutionary War. The settlement was one of the earliest and largest such communities in Maryland. Many of the current residents are descendants of the original freedmen who settled in the area in the 18th and 19th centuries. Funding will support cemetery conservation, paving, signage and fencing.
Brewer Hill Cemetery ($250,000) – Annapolis, Anne Arundel County | Sponsor: Brewer Hill Cemetery Association Inc.
Brewer Hill Cemetery is the city of Annapolis’ oldest Black graveyard. Judge Nicholas Brewer originally owned the cemetery and used it to bury those he enslaved, his servants, and employees of the Black community. Among the interred are significant stories of the enslaved, such as Mary Naylor, who maintained her innocence until her hanging in 1861 for allegedly poisoning her master. This project aims to preserve the cemetery and become a place of heritage tourism in Annapolis. Funding will support repairs to gravestones and the brick wall, and replacement of the steel fence.
Catoctin Furnace African American Cemetery ($73,000) – Thurmont, Frederick County | Sponsor: Catoctin Furnace Friends Group
The Catoctin Furnace African American Cemetery, located in the Catoctin Furnace Historic District, is significant to American industrial history and the role African Americans played in the iron industry. A joint DNA research project between Harvard University, 23andMe, and the Smithsonian Institute has identified more than 40,000 descendants of African American enslaved ironworkers at Catoctin Furnace. Currently, access to the cemetery is not possible. The interpretation of the cemetery will potentially be added to other tour trails in the district. Funding will support cemetery conservation.
Chew’s Memorial Church and Cemetery ($135,000) – Harwood, Anne Arundel County | Sponsor: Chews Memorial United Methodist Church
Chew’s Memorial Church, originally named “Chews Chapel,” was founded in 1846. The church represents over 175 years of African American history and culture in Anne Arundel, making it one of the oldest congregations in the county. Funding will support window and door replacement, a GPR survey, drainage improvements, carpentry work, and architectural and engineering services.
Sumner Cemetery ($45,000) – Cumberland, Allegany County | Sponsor: Cumberland Historic Cemetery Organization, Inc.
Established in 1884 by the Laboring Sons of Cumberland, a mutual aid society for and by African Americans during Reconstruction, Sumner Cemetery is the earliest organized African American burial ground in Alleghany County. The Cemetery is the burial site for United States Colored Troops Civil War veterans, as well as formerly enslaved individuals, educators, faith leaders, and early black civic leaders. Funding will support cemetery conservation, including repair and restoration of extant markers and interpretive signage.
Point of Rocks Colored Cemetery ($129,000) – Point of Rocks, Frederick County | Sponsor: The Point of Rocks Colored Cemetery 1879
The Point of Rocks Colored Cemetery, located in Point of Rocks, was established in 1879 on land purchased by the nearby Colored Methodist Church. The cemetery is the resting place of African Americans who were formerly enslaved, veterans of the Civil War, both World Wars, and the Korean War. Funding will support work at the cemetery, including ground penetrating radar, grave marker conservation, vegetation removals, signage, accessibility improvements, and the construction of a retaining wall and fence.
Charles Sumner Lodge No. 25, GAR ($40,000) – Chestertown, Kent County | Sponsor: GAR Post 25 Inc., (t/a “Sumner Hall”)
Charles Sumner Post #25 is the only remaining African American Grand Army of the Republic lodge in Maryland (of 28 originally constructed), and one of only two African American GAR lodges remaining today in the United States. The GAR was the principal fraternal association of Civil War veterans and America’s only integrated 19th-century social organization. Most of the men who founded the post were former slaves. The Post served as a hub for Chestertown’s African American community until 1985. The building is used for exhibits and events. Funding will support the replacement of front and back steps, window sill repair, siding repair, awning installation, and repainting of the exterior.
Goshen Farm ($51,000) – Annapolis, Anne Arundel County | Sponsor: Goshen Farm Preservation Society, Inc.
Goshen Farm, located in Cape St. Clare, is a mid-18th century Colonial-era farmstead that relied on the labor of enslaved African Americans. In the 1970s, the Anne Arundel County School Board purchased a portion of the property to build a school. Subsequently, the Goshen Farm Preservation Society was established to protect and preserve the historic farmstead and to educate the public on the inhabitants of the farm. In 2025, the site was officially recognized by the National Underground Network to Freedom. Funding will support improvements to the entry drive.
Orchard Street Church ($250,000) – Baltimore, Baltimore City | Sponsor: Greater Baltimore Urban League
The original Orchard Street Church was built in 1837 by enslaved and formerly enslaved African Americans. and served as a stop on the Underground Railroad. The church was eventually demolished and rebuilt in 1882 in a blend of Italian Renaissance and Romanesque Revival styles. In 1903, a Romanesque-style Sunday school wing was added. The building restoration plans were resumed when the Greater Baltimore Urban League acquired the building in 1989 and adapted it for civic use. Funding will be used to rehabilitate the building, including waterproofing and framing repairs.
Havre de Grace Colored School Museum and Cultural Center ($147,000) – Havre de Grace, Harford County | Sponsor: The Havre de Grace Colored School Museum and Cultural Center, Inc.
The original Havre de Grace Colored School is a two-room building constructed in 1910 by Harford County Public Schools to educate primary-school-age Black children. In 1930, a four-room brick addition was constructed to serve as the first public high school for African American students in Harford County. Prior to the construction of the high school, Harford County’s African American students had to travel to Baltimore City, Cecil County, or Pennsylvania to receive a high school education. The property is used as a museum and cultural center. Funding will support the rehabilitation of the slate roof.
Frederick Douglass Summer House ($149,000) – Highland Beach, Anne Arundel County | Sponsor: Town of Highland Beach
The Frederick Douglass Summer House is a Queen Anne-style frame dwelling that was constructed in ca. 1894 as a summer home for Frederick Douglass, who unfortunately did not live to see the project’s completion. The building is the oldest standing dwelling in Highland Beach – the first African American municipality in Maryland – and is currently used as a museum space for the Frederick Douglass Museum and Cultural Center, which hosts educational and cultural programming. Funding will support the rehabilitation of the exterior and interior of the building, including structural improvements and repair of the turret.
Hopkins Educational / Community Building ($250,000) – Highland, Howard County | Sponsor: Hopkins United Methodist Church
In 1949, Highland Elementary School (the current Hopkins Educational / Community Building) was opened by Howard County Public Schools as a dedicated learning community for African American students. Originally opening as a two-room school, it was remodeled in the early 60’s to add a third classroom. The school was traditionally associated with Hopkins United Methodist Church, which operated the Hopkins Chapel Colored School beginning in 1883 and the first Highland Elementary School beginning in 1926. Repurposed as the Hopkins Educational / Community Building, it continues to provide support services to the community as a hub offering intergenerational programming around health, wellness, youth development, senior citizen engagement, housing, and food insecurity. Funding will support exterior and interior rehabilitation of the building.
Galilee United Methodist Cemetery ($38,000) – Mechanicsville, St. Mary’s County | Sponsor: St. Mary’s College of Maryland
The Galilee Methodist Episcopal Church Cemetery, located in Mechanicsville, was established ca. 1880 on land purchased by the Galilee Methodist Episcopal Church, an African American congregation. The cemetery contains the remains of Civil War veteran J. E. Cully of Co. A, 9th United States Colored Infantry. Once conserved, the cemetery will provide a space for genealogical research and interpretation of the post-emancipation lives of African Americans in St. Mary’s County. Funding will support cemetery improvements, including fence installation, seating, and the installation of interpretive kiosks.
Mander House Museum ($250,000) – Worton, Kent County | Sponsor: Mander House Museum Limited
The Mander House Museum is located in Kent County and aims to tell the story of local African American freedmen and their contributions to the county before the Civil War. The museum will also share the stories of the residents who fought in the Union Army. Funding will support the rehabilitation and adaptive reuse of the building.
Boys’ Village of Maryland Cemetery ($200,000) – Cheltenham, Prince George’s County | Sponsor: Maryland Department of Juvenile Services
The Boys’ Village of Maryland Cemetery was first constructed in the late 1800’s, soon after the opening of the House of Reformation for Colored Boys. The House of Reformation for Colored Boys was a black-only youth correctional facility established only nine years after slavery was abolished in Maryland. The institution implemented a system of convict leasing and corporal punishment, and the cemetery was established for children who had died at the facility. The cemetery was largely forgotten until recently, when the Department of Juvenile Services rediscovered the cemetery in 2024. While there are over 230 known burials, only a small section is marked by headstones, while others are marked with cinderblocks, and many are unmarked. If approved, the funding will support a cemetery conservation project that includes ground-penetrating radar, marker restoration, new markers, interpretive signage, memorials, and permanent benches.
John Howard House ($250,000) – Brookeville, Montgomery County | Sponsor: Maryland Department of Natural Resources, Park Service
The John Howard House in the Patuxent River State Park is a two-story balloon-frame house constructed in 1869 by George Enoch Howard. The house remained in the Howard family until 1943. It was acquired by the State of Maryland as part of the DNR resident curatorship program. Funding will support exterior rehabilitation of the house.
Mt. Pleasant Acres Farms ($226,000) – Preston, Caroline County | Sponsor: Mt. Pleasant Heritage Preservation Inc.
The house at Mt. Pleasant Acres Farms was constructed in 1860. Harriet Tubman’s father was emancipated and granted ten acres there, after several years of attempting escape. In 1854, Tubman led her brothers to freedom from this region. The house sits upon Mt. Pleasant Acres farmland with ancestral ties to the Tubmans and represents the history of a Black land-holding farmstead in the region. The farm aims to utilize the house for future programming that honors traditions of Black agrarianism, oral histories of the region, and the legacy of the Tubmans. Funding will support interior and exterior rehabilitation of the house so it may be used for public education.
Sanaa Center Project ($250,000) – Baltimore, Baltimore City | Sponsor: Pennsylvania Avenue Black Arts and Entertainment District
The Sanaa Center, located in the Old West Baltimore Historic District, is in the heart of the Pennsylvania Avenue corridor. The project will be an expansion of the pre-existing Harris Marcus Center and new construction on 12 vacant lots in the 1900 block of Pennsylvania Avenue. The avenue is known for its African-American-owned entertainment venues. However, the Sanaa Center project aims to fill an unmet need for Black-led start-ups, creative enterprises, and arts entrepreneurs. The project will also provide the space to expand and increase Black Arts District’s educational programming so that it can engage a wider audience. Funding will support early-stage construction and site activation to prepare for vertical construction.
Old Pomonkey High School ($250,000) – Bryans Road, Charles County | Sponsor: Pomonkey High School Alumni Association
Old Pomonkey High School served as the first African American public high school in Charles County. Established in 1922, the original frame building was replaced in the 1930s by a one-story structure with high ceilings, large windows, and Colonial Revival styling. In the 1950s, a one-story gymnasium wing was added; this is currently the only portion of the building that remains after a fire in the 1980s destroyed the 1930s portion. The building will become a cultural center and museum, with the 1950s wing rehabilitated and the 1930s portion ultimately rebuilt. Funding will support interior rehabilitation of the building.
St. James AME Church Gravel Hill ($137,000) – Havre de Grace, Harford County | Sponsor: The St. James A.M.E. Church of Gravel Hill Road, Inc.
One of the oldest African American churches in Harford County, St. James A.M.E. Church traces its roots to 1849 when one congregation encompassed a wide swath of Harford County. In 1864, members of the Gravel Hill community constructed their own church building, which also served as a school and social hall. Adjacent to the church is St. James A.M.E. Cemetery, where several Civil War veterans are buried. Extensive renovations and additions to the gable-front, frame church were completed in the 1970s and 1980s. Funding will support the interior and exterior rehabilitation of the church as well as cemetery conservation efforts.
St. James Free Methodist Church ($129,000) – Quantico, Wicomico County | Sponsor: Raising the Foundation at St. James Free Methodist Church
St. James Free Methodist Church aims to preserve the historic building that has been a part of the community for 127 years. The church intends to create a Living History Educational Center to collect and share the testimonies of struggle, resistance, and growth. Funds will support an interior and exterior rehabilitation project, including masonry, floor replacement, and site work.
Chesapeake Lodge Number 48 / Jessie J. Shanks Lodge Number 137 ($250,000) – Havre De Grace, Harford County | Sponsor: The Most Worshipful Prince Hall Grand Lodge F. & A.M. of Maryland & Its Jurisdiction, Inc.
The masonic hall located in the Havre De Grace National Register Historic District serves several branches and chapters of the Prince Hall Grand Lodge of Maryland, including the Chesapeake Lodge Number 48 and the Jessie J. Shanks Lodge Number 137. These lodges were established in the early twentieth century to provide a path to Freemasonry for African Americans and an important community hub. Today, the lodges host voter registration drives, food drives, and school supply giveaways. Funds will support structural repairs and the rehabilitation of the building and grounds.
American Hall ($115,000) – Hagerstown, Washington County | Sponsor: The Most Worshipful Prince Hall Grand Lodge F. & A.M. of Maryland & Its Jurisdiction, Inc.
American Hall, located in Hagerstown Historic District (NR), aims to restore the building so it can contribute to the Hagerstown Historic District and Heart of the Civil War Heritage Area. The project intends to create a new Civil War and Civil Rights themed destination in the Civil War tourism corridor that Hagerstown is central to, attracting visitors in the region visiting Civil War sites. Funding will support architectural drawings, structural work, rehabilitation of the building, roof, gutter, and downspout replacements, and an accessible bathroom addition.
Union Street United Methodist Church ($250,000) – Westminster, Carroll County | Sponsor: Union Street United Methodist Church
The Union Street United Methodist Church was constructed ca. 1866 in brick church with a later central tower on the front and nave extension at the rear. It was built on land donated by Amos and Rebecca Bell – land granted to them after they gained freedom. The church was designed by a self-educated former slave, Rev. John B. Snowden (1801-1885), and is distinguished by intricate brick corbeling at the eaves and gable end. After the Civil War, the church operated a Freedman’s Bureau school; classes were likely held in the church until the school building was completed in 1869. The church building was expanded in 1983. Funding will support interior and exterior rehabilitation of the building, including window repair and masonry work.
West Liberty United Methodist Church ($170,000) – 2000 Sand Hill Road, Marriottsville, MD 21104, Howard County | Sponsor: West Liberty United Methodist Church
The West Liberty United Methodist Church cemetery is the sacred burial grounds for many African American residents from the surrounding Henryton and Marriottsville communities (formerly Alpha, Maryland) dating back to the 1800s. Individuals buried at this cemetery include veterans from the Civil War, World War I, World War II, Korean War, and Vietnam War. Many of the deceased who were once hospitalized at the Henryton State Hospital and the Maryland Tuberculosis Sanatorium, which was established to treat African Americans with tuberculosis, were also buried there. The cemetery has connections to Howard County’s first all-black high school, as well as to those buried at the Catoctin Furnace African American Burial Ground in Frederick. Funding will support a cemetery conservation project that seeks to restore and reconstruct damaged and buried monuments.
Margaret Jenkins House ($226,000) – Baltimore, Baltimore City | Sponsor: The Women’s Housing Coalition, Inc.
The Margaret Jenkins House was built in 1868 by Phillip Hanson Hiss as his personal home. By 1889, Margaret Anne Austin Jenkins had raised enough money to purchase the residence and open it as an orphanage called St. Elizabeth’s School. In the 1950s, the orphanage was repurposed to serve as a nursery for Black children in the community. In 2007, the Women’s Housing Coalition and Homes for America purchased the home to serve the unhoused population. Funding will support exterior rehabilitation of the property.
by Dr. Zac Singer, State Terrestrial Archaeologist
The Maryland Fluted Point Survey documents stone projectile points made by the Paleoindians who lived in Maryland between 13,000 and 10,000 years ago. A fluted point has distinctive channels, or “flutes,” struck from the base to help secure the stone tool onto a shaft. The survey systematically records information about these points, recovered during excavations or identified in collections, including their history of discovery and contemporary ownership, locational information, fluted point type, and stone raw material. By collecting data in a statewide survey, researchers can begin to identify patterns that might shed new light on the lives of Paleoindians.
Through the survey, researchers became interested in a distinctive stone called “weathering amber chalcedony,” which fluted point makers used in Maryland and the surrounding Mid-Atlantic region. The stone – an amber-colored chalcedony that occasionally develops a white patina – was primarily used to make stone tools toward the end of the Pleistocene (or “Ice Age”). Later people did not regularly use this stone, perhaps because the limited supply was mostly used up, or because later people had different strategies for procuring stone.
Piney Grove Site
Located in Reisterstown, the Piney Grove site (18BA483) was discovered in 2001, when archaeologists from the Maryland State Highways Administrations and Goodwin and Associates conducted archaeological investigations in advance of a proposed intersection improvement project. Piney Grove yielded chipping debris of weathering amber chalcedony, suggesting a quarry-related workshop where Paleoindians found large chalcedony cobbles and then knapped them into stone tools. The chipping debris including overshot flakes, end thinning flakes, and channel flakes suggests 13,000-year-old Clovis fluted point production — or in other words, stone tools made by one of the earliest widespread cultures in North America.
Because this chalcedony is so clearly associated with Ice Age inhabitants in the region, finding a source area of the stone can help answer important research questions. Archaeologists can study the production process for shaping cobbles into stone tools, for example, or the location of the stone and potential factors that influenced the procurement of this stone, like its visibility, ease of collection, and associated with preferred landscapes and habitats.
MHT archaeologists returned to Piney Grove in October 2024 to attempt to locate additional intact archaeological deposits. Over the five-day project, volunteer archaeologists excavated 56 shovel test pits in a four-meter grid in an effort to locate stone tools and chipping debris associated with the chalcedony.
While the vast majority of the test pits did not yield artifacts, five did recover weathering amber chalcedony, including seven pieces of chipping debris and one fragment of a scraping tool called a sidescraper. The scraping tool fragment is the first formal tool made of the stone to be found at the Piney Grove site, since the 2001 excavations primarily documented stone tool production areas, where tools were made and carried away to be used elsewhere.
Three shovel test pits that produced chalcedony artifacts are located nearby each other, which indicate that the 2024 investigation identified an intact activity area where people made and used tools in the past.
Chalcedony Geological Study
MHT is collaborating with the Maryland Geological Survey to study the formation and geological distribution of the weathering amber chalcedony to better understand how past people may have found and collected the stone to make tools. So far, research has focused on chalcedony float (or cobbles) found in association with serpentinite rocks in Baltimore County. The chalcedony is being examined macroscopically, microscopically, and geochemically to identify the composition of the stone and where the stone originally formed. This information, in turn, will help reveal potential sources of chalcedony and additional insights into ancient toolstone procurement techniques and the movements of early peoples in Baltimore County.
Left to right: chalcedony float found in Baltimore County; chalcedony thick section slice; microscopy photograph of chalcedony patina.
$3,750,000 in Tax Credits Awarded | Estimated Total Cost – $15 Million
The Ambassador Theater is one of Baltimore’s finest and most intact examples of Streamline Moderne architecture and a distinguished work of nationally recognized theater architect John J. Zink. Completed in 1935, it reflects a pivotal moment in Zink’s career as he shifted from ornate Art Deco to the sleek modernism that shaped his later theaters. Its streamlined façade—with black brick banding, vitrolite accents, and cast-stone medallions—retains exceptional integrity, and the interior still reflects its original layout, including rounded stairs, niches, and plaster grilles. Rehabilitation efforts will restore character-defining features such as the marquee and vertical blade sign and preserve significant interior volume and recreating its historic curved walls. The renewed building will be operated by Ambassador Arts as a cultural hub for theater, education, and the performing arts.
Buildings 50 & 54 – Crown, Cork, and Seal Highlandtown Plant(Eastern Avenue, Baltimore City)
$1,752,940.38 in Tax Credits Awarded | Estimated Total Cost – $20 Million
Buildings 50 and 54 (c. 1914-16, 1931) were originally constructed with Building 54 as cork storage and Building 50 as warehouse space as part of the Crown Cork and Seal Company’s Highlandtown Plant, a historic factory complex associated with bottlecap making. The overall intent of the project is to create production space and artist studio space focused on blacksmithing, metalworking, ceramics, and fire arts.
$5,250,000 in Tax Credits Awarded | Estimated Total Cost – $58 Million
The Court Square Office Building is a 17-story Gothic Revival tower in Baltimore’s Business and Government Historic District. A uniquely ornate style for a high-rise building at the time, it features a flat roof with crenelated terra cotta pediments with bas relief and other Gothic detailing. It was purpose-built as a commercial office building in 1927 and was one of the city’s first high-rise office structures. Now sitting vacant as a result of a fire in 2021, it will be rehabilitated into an extended stay hotel and restaurant to serve downtown Baltimore.
Shofer’s Furniture (South Charles Street, Baltimore City)
$3,366,445 in Tax Credits Awarded | Estimated Total Cost – $16.8 Million
The former Shofer’s Furniture showroom building is located in the Federal Hill Historic District. The building dates to 1886 though its current architectural features date to ca. 1893 when Meyer C. Hecht, owner of Hecht’s Company Furniture Store, purchased it and added the stylistic elements that are in keeping of numerous other Hecht’s stores in the area. In the 1930’s Harry W. Shofer purchased the building and ran it for many years as Shofer’s Furniture showroom and store. The store permanently closed in 2021, and the building is currently vacant. The proposed project will re-open large window openings and reconfigure the interior spaces to allow for ground-floor commercial spaces with apartment units above.
12 West Chase Street (Baltimore City)
$600,000 in Tax Credits Awarded | Estimated Total Cost – $3 Million
Located in Baltimore’s Mount Vernon Historic District, this Greek Revival townhome was built c. 1890 as an elaborate single-family home with a doctor’s office and later served as headquarters for the Independent Order of Odd Fellows’ Sovereign Grand Lodge. Now owned by Native American LifeLines, it will be transformed into a cultural center for Urban American Indian and Alaskan Native communities across Maryland, with spaces for a dental suite, mental health counseling, business center, a large teaching kitchen, and other gathering areas.
Old Hyattsville Post Office (Baltimore Avenue, Prince George’s County)
$149,908.80 in Tax Credits Awarded | Estimated Total Cost – $749,544
Located in the Hyattsville Historic District, the ca. 1925, masonry building formerly housed a post office and dates to when this section of Hyattsville was rapidly developing along Baltimore Street, a main commercial corridor in this area. In 1935 the building became a bakery, then a sub shop, and later a church. The currently vacant building will be rehabilitated with new windows and a storefront system as well as interior finishes and will contain spaces for two retail tenants.
Odd Fellows Hall (South Washington Street, Talbot County)
$600,000 in Tax Credits Awarded | Estimated Total Cost – $3 Million
This former Meeting Hall for the International Order of Odd Fellows (IOOF) sits prominently on the corner of Washington and Dover Streets in the Easton Historic District. Eclectically designed and built in 1879, the building retains a number of IOOF symbols and original decorative features, a highly intact meeting hall on the fourth floor, and is still known today as Odd Fellows Hall. As a result of this rehabilitation project, the building will house a folk-art museum for one of the pre-eminent collections in the United States that includes original pieces of IOOF history.
Heist Building (South Potomac Street, Washington County)
$308,266.39 in Tax Credits Awarded | Estimated Total Cost – $4 Million
Constructed in 1885, the Heist Building is a three-story brick commercial structure located within both the Hagerstown Historic District and Hagerstown Commercial Core Historic District. Throughout its history it has served several commercial uses, as well as a home for the Fraternal Order of the Eagles. The street-level storefront has undergone significant alterations over time, and the decorative cornice has been removed. Both features will be restored and reinstated to achieve a more historically appropriate street presence based on historic documentation. The building will retain its first-floor commercial use and introduce new apartment units on the second and third floors.
Moller Pipe Organ Co. Building (North Prospect Street, Washington County)
$5,000,000 in Tax Credits Awarded | Estimated Total Cost – $21.9 Million
The Moller Pipe Organ Company building is a late-19th century industrial factory building that occupies a large site north of downtown Hagerstown and immediately adjacent to the former Cumberland Valley Railroad Yards. This evolved industrial building is two- to three-stories in height, masonry construction, and has a central, expansive three-story high production space with large arched windows with projecting wings for industrial manufacturing and office spaces. At one point in time the Moller Pipe Organ Company was the largest producer of pipe organs in the country and was in business on this site for over 100 years. Currently vacant, the building will be converted into 65 residential units, 55 of which will be affordable housing.
Washington Street School (West Washington Street, Washington County)
$3,754,748.40 in Tax Credits Awarded | Estimated Total Cost – $18.7 Million
Located approximately one mile northwest of downtown Hagerstown, this large school sits on an elevated rise in the West End neighborhood. The Washington Street School was constructed in three building campaigns, starting in 1916 with a three-story Beaux Arts section. In 1941, the Board of Education built an addition to the school in the form of two wings on either side of the original school building. This was quickly followed by another addition in 1946 to house a combined gymnasium and auditorium and connector to the original building. The school closed in 1977 and since has had several different commercial uses though it is currently mostly vacant. The former school building will be rehabilitated into a senior living facility with eighty-four independent living units and a memory care facility.
By Jessica French, National Register Administrator
Lumbee people standing on the stoop of the Baltimore American Indian enter (October 1985) from Baltimore News American photo archives, courtesy of the Hearst Corporation
In the heart of Baltimore’s Upper Fells Point neighborhood stands the Baltimore American Indian Center and Heritage Museum, a symbol of perseverance, cultural pride, and community for generations of Indigenous people. Located at 113 South Broadway, this mid-19th-century rowhouse, once a typical example of Greek Revival architecture, now also embodies a living history of the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina and other Indigenous communities who made Baltimore home.
On September 23, 2025, the American Indian Communities in Baltimore City, 1885 to Present Multiple Property Submission — prepared by Ashley Minner and RK&K — was officially accepted by the National Register of Historic Places. As part of that submission, the Baltimore American Indian Center was officially listed in the National Register. This work was funded by FY20 and FY22 National Park Service Underrepresented Communities grants.
A Home for Baltimore’s Indigenous Community
“Elizabeth Locklear: promoter of Indian heritage in Baltimore,” Dome (Jan 1974), a publication for the employees of Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions
Founded in 1968 as the American Indian Study Center, the organization emerged from the growing Lumbee population in Baltimore after World War II. Lumbee families migrated from Robeson County, North Carolina, seeking work and opportunity in northern cities while maintaining deep cultural and family ties. By 1972, the group had purchased its permanent home on South Broadway, transforming the former Catholic Community House into a welcoming space where Native people could gather, celebrate their heritage, and access vital social services.
The Center’s enduring influence is rooted in the leadership of its three Lumbee co-founders: Elizabeth Locklear (1928–2019), Rosie Hunt (1941–2007), and Herbert Hoover Locklear (1932–2000). Their vision shaped a vibrant intertribal community, ensuring that Indigenous Baltimoreans could celebrate their identities while building new connections far from home.
Over time, the Center became a cornerstone for Baltimore’s Indigenous community — a place for pow wows, youth programs, language classes, and cultural workshops, as well as a crucial support network for those adjusting to city life. In 2011, the establishment of the Heritage Museum within the Center expanded its mission to include public education, preservation, and storytelling about Native experiences in Baltimore. Under its founders’ guidance, the Center evolved from a local gathering place into a cultural anchor that continues to support education, health initiatives, and the preservation of Lumbee and intertribal traditions today.
A Building That Tells a Story
Originally constructed around 1843, the Center’s building is a Greek Revival rowhouse with distinctive features that now reflect Indigenous design and symbolism. The stained-glass fanlight above the main entrance incorporates the four sacred colors — yellow, white, black, and red — representing the cardinal directions in many Indigenous cultures. Inside, a mosaic of the Pinecone Patchwork, inspired by a traditional Lumbee quilt pattern, welcomes visitors at the entryway.
A vibrant mural on the south façade, first painted in 1980 by Daniel Nicholas (Munsee-Delaware) and retouched in 2015 by Dean Tonto Cox, Sr. (Lumbee), continues to express community identity and artistic pride. The building’s later addition (a multipurpose hall completed in 2008 with support from a Maryland State Bond Bill) created a gathering space for pow wow drumming, youth basketball, and cultural celebrations.
Young Indian Muralists at Work (Baltimore Sun, July 24, 1980)
The Baltimore American Indian Center and Heritage Museum National Register listing recognizes the Center’s importance in Ethnic Heritage (Native American) and Social History, as well as its deep connections to Baltimore’s broader patterns of migration and community formation.
While Upper Fells Point has long been known for its immigrant roots, this designation expands that story by honoring the Indigenous families who helped shape the city’s cultural landscape and ensuring their contributions are preserved for future generations.
Continuing the Story
Today, the Baltimore American Indian Center remains a living space where the past and present meet through a museum, meeting hall, and cultural home. With exhibitions, community gatherings, and partnerships, it continues to share Indigenous voices and histories that might otherwise be overlooked.
Louis Campbell (Lumbee), Celest Swann (Powhatan), and E. Keith Colston (Lumbee/Tuscarora) in regalia on S. Broadway (Photo by Edwin Remsberg 2017, from the Baltimore Reservation website)
These images came from the Ashley Minner collection at UMBC, which pertains to Baltimore’s contemporary urban American Indian community, with a focus on citizens of the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina who migrated to Baltimore in the mid-20th century and their descendants.
Our History, Our Heritage 