The Claggett Center is rich in history dating back to prehistoric times. The Archeology Society of Maryland conducted field sessions at Claggett in 2007 and 2008. Those excavations unearthed thousands of artifacts left by a native American people that inhabited the Monocacy River banks between 1300 and 1500 AD.
The earliest recorded history of this property dates to 1730 when the land was patented as Buckingham House and granted to Edward Spriggs, a Colonel in the British Army and a well known pre-Revolutionary War land speculator. Later names on the deed include families of German and English descent such as Tanneyhill, Cunningham, Schnertzell, Hosselback, and Baker. John Hasselbach purchased this 300-acre farm with its stately mansion in 1811. At his death in 1840, the plantation was supported by the labor of 34 enslaved house servants and farm laborers.
In 1898 Daniel, Joseph, and William Baker, founded the Buckingham Industrial School for Boys on the property. The Baker family endowed the school as an institution where poor white boys might have a home and received a good education. The enrollment averaged 50 Buckingham Boys between the ages of 6 and 18. In addition to their industrial education the boys took care of gardening, milking, canning, and tending the orchards. The school closed in 1943. In 1950 the property was donated to the Episcopal Diocese of Maryland and renamed Bishop Claggett Center after Thomas John Claggett, first bishop of Maryland.
Buried in a tiny cemetery cradled in the valley at the Claggett Center are the remains of members of the Hasselbach family along with at least two people of African descent who were enslaved.
Learn more: https://www.claggettcenter.org
Claggett Center
3035 Buckeystown Pike
Adamstown, MD 21710
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