WA-III-030 Kennedy Farm (John Brown's Headquarters)
Architectural Survey File
This is the architectural survey file for this MIHP record. The survey file is organized reverse- chronological (that is, with the latest material on top). It contains all MIHP inventory forms, National Register nomination forms, determinations of eligibility (DOE) forms, and accompanying documentation such as photographs and maps.
Users should be aware that additional undigitized material about this property may be found in on-site architectural reports, copies of HABS/HAER or other documentation, drawings, and the “vertical files” at the MHT Library in Crownsville. The vertical files may include newspaper clippings, field notes, draft versions of forms and architectural reports, photographs, maps, and drawings. Researchers who need a thorough understanding of this property should plan to visit the MHT Library as part of their research project; look at the MHT web site (mht.maryland.gov) for details about how to make an appointment.
All material is property of the Maryland Historical Trust.
Last Updated: 03-12-2004 WA-111-30 1859 - Kennedy Farm (John Brown's Headquarters) Chestnut Grove Road Sharpsburg Private
The Kennedy Farm, or John Brown's Headquarters, is a simple
rectangular 2 1/2 story country farmhouse--a composite of brick, log, and stone
construction--with a double-tiered porch under an overhanging roof. On the
principal facade, the first story is of uncoursed rubble stone and the second of
common bond brick. Most windows are 6/6 sash with plain trim. The house is 4
bays wide on the southeast facade and 2 bays deep, although the gable ends
have only a single window on each floor including the attic. The northeast gable
end has no second-floor window, and that on the third floor holds only four lights
in the lower sash, and the top three lights of the upper sash are covered over.
The principal entrance is in the second bay from the southwest end of the
southeast facade. The gable roof, through which there is a small interior chimney
about 1/3 the way from the southwest gable end, is covered with sheet metal. An
outside stairway runs flush against the southeast side from the lower to the upper
tier of the porch. This porch now has square columns and straight rails, although
a 19th century photograph shows a balustrade. A former rear porch appears to
have been removed. A 19th century photograph shows the rear facade of the
building in a combination of construction materials, with 2/3 of this facade being
constructed of logs. The building appears substantially as it did at the time of
Brown's raid on Harpers Ferry. w Pi-JJI-30
The Kennedy Farmhouse was the headquarters where John Brown and his band planned and began their daring and inflammatory raid on Harpers Ferry in October 1859. The Kennedy Farmhouse is the structure most closely associated with the raid, beside the enginehouse at Harpers Ferry where Brown staged his final defense. The raid, called by Samuel Eliot Morrison one of the two
"startling portents of the 'irrepressible conflict,"' intensified Southern fears of slave rebellion and Southern suspicion of northern intentions. The effect was a major polarization of the sections intensifying the inevitability of conflict. WA-1IT-c30
~zo r4-1'J..4-04- - UNlrEO STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR sTATEt For"' 10-300 (Rell, 6·72) NATIONAL PARK SERVICE Maryland 1'.t COU... TV! NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES Washington INVENTORY - HOMIHATIOH FORM FOR'NPS USE ONLY IENTP 11~ NAME COMMON: ' Kennedy Farm ANDIOA HlllTORIC: John Brown's Headquarters; Kennedy Farm .. 12 .. l-O~ATION '· -. 9 .!_AE£,.T_~~~ NUMBE~: Chestnut Grove Road .. CITV OR TOWN! CONORESSIONAL DISTRICT: Samples Manor STATE I CODF: COUNTY: I CC'OE Maryland I Washington I CLASS! F !CATION .. ' : ·~· .. CATEGORY ACCESSIBLE QWNf'RSHIP STATUS (Checlr One) l TO THE PUBLIC z 0 Ol1trict Cl Building 0 Puhl le Pul.llc Acquisition: 0 Occupi.;d Yes: 0 0 RHtricted · D Site 0 Structure 100 Prlvote D In Procen :lQC. Unoccupied UnrHtricted 0 Object Both O Being Considered 0 Preservation work a cye No I In proarel!" ·P_fl.E.~~N '!° USE (Checl< One or More ea Approprfete) 0 Agricultural 0 Government 0 Pork 0 Tran1portation 0 Comments 0 Corr.merclal 0 Industrial 0 Private Residence 0 Other (Specify) 0 Educational D Miiitary 0 Rellglous 0 E ntertalnment 0 Mu1eum 0 Scientific ·- z OWNER OF PROPERTY ''·· IOWNC:R. NAME1 ..... > Mr. John Phil! ips, et al ~ w STREET AND NUMBER: "' w 4946 Butterworth Place CITY OR TOWN: STATF.: -:oDF Washington o:c. 1$ •. ~l()CATION OF J:.EGAL OESCRl~TION . ' COURTHOUSE, REGISTRY OF OEE05, ETC: ' n 0 c Washington County Courthouse z •T.REET AND NUMBER1 ... ..< Cl TY OR TOWN: STA•E COOi: Hagerstown Maryland (6.•. f1f!f>_RESEN!_AJIQN IN EXISTING SURVEYS I TITLE OF SURVEY: .. ...z Historic American Buildine:s Survev lJ -< DATE OF SU,.VEY1 1~!>8 l1 Federal 0 State 0 Co..,.ty 0 Local z ,.. : DEPOSITORY FOR SURVEY RECOROI: c r Division of Prints and Photo2raphs "'.'"'I •TREET AND NUMBER: "U Library of Con~ress (Annex) I.i '· CITY OR TOWN: STATE: CODE I-.._, ( Washington D.C, "I>1 ' ... i ..... ") "'I ,'J . .__ '---'~· American Political & Military Affairs, 1828-60. (TI1cme) - Wfl-///-30 /'· DESCRl~.T_l_O~---- __,__ _..______._,;._ __ ~ _ _.;... _ _.;... ______...... _-t (Clleclr One) 0 E•cellent .J Good Q ,_., 0 o. ... ,_.... 0 Rvlfta 0 u...... CONDITION .,.="------( C II ec Ir On•> (Clteclr One) XlC'.8 A ltarad 0 Unaltared I 0 Mova.I 0 OrltlMI Sita Dl!:ICRIBE THC PRICllCNT AND DRIOINAL (If lrnown) PHYllCAL APP CAR ANCIC The Kennedy Farm:"John Brown Headquarters is a simple rectangular 2-1/2 story country farmhouse--a composite of brick, log and stone construction--with a double-tiered porch under an overhanging roof. It is 4-bays in length with a 2-bay depth, although the stucoed sides have only a one bay-center alignment of windows. Window trim is plain. Windows are of double-hung sash 6 over 6 lights. The gabled roof , through·which there is an interior chimney, is covered with sheet metal. An outside stairway, runs flush against the south ) east side from the lower to the upper tier of the porch. The building appears substantially as it did at the time of Brown's raid on Harper's Perry. m m - z u -t \ "'c: n -t . I I . " .. .-:1 : '• '- : f ·~ ".o I ." 0 % -- ( - .....::::.------I'· SIGNIFICANCE . t .... PERIOO (Checlr One or More•• Approptlele) O Pre-Columbia~ I . 0 Uth Ce"tury 0 18th CentUfy 0 20th Century O 15th Century 0 \7th Century XX J91h Century SPECIFIC CATEISI (lfApplk•l>le andKnown) AREAi OF llCNIFICANCE. (Checlr On• or.,,,,. •• Approprl•••) Aborlglnal 0 Eclucatlon ~ Political · 0 •Urbo" Planning O Prehl1torlc O Engineering 0 Religion/Phi. 0 Other (S,..clf)') 0 Hl1toric ·. O lnclu1try lo1ophy 1 O Agrlc'11tut•· l · D Invention O Science O Architecture O Len1heope O Sculpture 0 Q Art I' 1 "' ' ' Arch.lt~c\J1il · · d s~c:1~i!\iu!!d. ~ O Co"'"'erce 0 Llteroture ltorion O Com"'unlcatlona 0 Military O Thuter O Con~ervofllln .1. •. ·o· Mu1\c- • 0 Tron1porlotion STATEMllNT 01" llGN."jlC,-'NCE .. _ t - The Kennedyi farmhouse was the headquarters of· John Brown and his band in which he planned and from which he executed his daring and inflanunatory raid on Harpers Ferry in October 1859. Other than the % enginehouse at Harpers Perry where.Brown staged his final defense 0 and which has been moved, the Kennedy Farmhouse is the structure most closely associated with the raid. Called by Samuel Eliot Morison one of the two "startling portents of, the 'irrepressible conflict,"' the raid intensified southern fears of slave rebellion and southern suspicion of northern intentions. The effect was a major polarization of the sections intensifying the inevitability of conflict. - % ,. ~ . .. I : w : I w I I } I .• . - ., I - I ( ( (continued) £;\i e~I ,.,11r1 ,, 1 C:OUftTT' 1 Washington "TER OF HISTORIC PLACES FOR'NPS USE ONl.Y \_ MOMIMATION FORM I ,/ LVA-/11-30 ,,.,,,. 10-3000 L ED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR JTAT& .1 Uuly 1969) HA TIOHAL PARK SERVICE Maryland / .. NATIONAL REGISTER Of HISTORIC PLACES COUNTY Washington INVENTORY • NOMINATION FORM FOR NPS USI! OHL Y &NTl'llY NUN••"" I DAT• (Continuation Sheet) I (N1a11>er all Oftlrl••) 8. Significance: (1) John Brownts Headquarters; Kennedy Farm History John Brown was a fanatic but not an insane abolitionist. As early as 1847 he nurtured a plan for the forcible liberation of the slaves. With his family's assistance he organized resistance to the Fugitive Slave Act and gave open encouragement and comfort to slave escapes. In 1855 he moved his militant operations to Kansas which had become the conspicuous form in which free-soil and slave adherents would do bloody ( combat in the name of "popular sovereignty." He rose to prominence at [ Pottawatomie in 1856 for the revenge slaying of S pro-slavery men and his defense at Ossawatomie against a band of pro-slavery Missouri raiders. Brown's ultimate plan was to establish a sort of fugitive· slave republic in the mountains of Virginia or Maryland. By force of arms, he hoped, this slave refuge might maintain itself against attack. He appears to have believed that what he needed was a bold stroke that would startle the nation to action, draw adherents to his cause, 'and leave no room for compromise. As it was to turn out, it gained him no recruits but it did further deflate the possibility of peaceful settlement. That - bold stroke was to be a strike against the Federal arsenal at Harper's Ferry, Virginia, and the capture of the town. In the summer of 1858, Brown planted his confederate·, John E. Cook, in town to familiarize himself with the city and the layout of the armory. A year later, Brown arrived from Kansas with his small band set out on Independence Day to locate a headquarters for his campaign. He rented the two-story farmhouse 7 miles away in Maryland from the heirs of Dr. Booth Kennedy. Giving his name as "Isaac Smith," he posed as a cattle buyer from New York while he spent the next 3 months pondering battle maps and vital statistics. His ranks swelled a bit with the arrival of family and a handful of eccentric idealists .. He began to store military hardware at the farm--15 boxes of Sharps rifles and Maynard revolvers and hundreds of pikes to arm liberated slaves. Brown gathered his handful of recruits upstairs and revealed his plan to them. On October 16, his small band seized the armory and took several hostages. The following day Colonel Robert E. Lee arrived with a company of U.S. Marines and cornered Brown and his men in a fire-engine house. Surrender ing, he was brought to trial at Charles Town for insurrection against the State of Virginia, found guilty and hanged on December 2, 1859. -· ·- -- -··~ ...... ,,..ft ITAT .. '· WA-II/ -3 o _;)OR BIBLIOGRAPHICA :FERENCES Morison and Cormnager, The Growth of the Americnn Republic, Oxford University Press, 2 vols., New York, 1952. Oates, Stephen B., To Purge Thi~ Land With Blood: A Biography of John Brown, Harper and Row, New York. Sanborn, F; B., The Life and Letters of John Brown, Negro Universites Press, New YorK. f 10. GEOGRAPHICAL DAT-' ·. L. AT I TU DE A ND l tlN-G-.·,-T-U-D·-E--C-O_O_R_D_l_N_A_T_E_8 __ __,-~--·-L.~,-=T~I T::":U":':C'=l!'-A:-:NC"."~~L.~('::":N~G~I T.,..'-JD""E~C-O_O_R-.D-IN-,-T-E-,..._ -~ DEFINING A AECTANGL.E L.OCATING THE PRODl!'ftTY 0 DEFINING THu. ca.NTiin POINT OF ... PHOP.ERTY 1----.------...... ------·-f R i---- . - OF L.1£5.S TH~"!. TEN ACRE• . - . CORNER L.ATITUDE l..ONGITUDE 1..ATITUDE l..ONGITUDE Degre•• Mlnul•• Secondo Degre•• Minute• Se.cond1 Deo•••• Mlnute1 S.conda o., .••• MlftUtH S.conea 0 . 0 NW . . . 39° 22' 47" 77• 42' 56. NE 0 . . 0 I .. SE 0 . . 0 I . ~w II I . 0 . •. APPROJllMATE ACREA_c:..·~':'.~M~NATED PROPKRTY1 l. 77 ae . l'-18T Al..L. IT ATES AND cOUf.ITIEI FOR PROPKRTIEI OVERl..APPIN't STATE OR COUNTY llOUNDARIKI "' STATE1 CODE COUNTY CODE m m ITATE1 CODE COUNTY1 -· CODE ITATl:1 CODE COUNTY: CODE z "' STATE1 CODE COUNTY: CODE -t ::a rr. FORM PREPARED BY . -~ ~ . ,., c: NAME ANO TITL.E: Benjamin Levy, Senior Historian n ORGANIZATION ·01vision -of-History, o£ifce 0£- Arch:ioiogy-and ___ !DATE -t and Hic:f'nTiC". =-~ . ·nn tJ .. +~nnn1 Pa ... ,, c: ...... -1,.... C./1C./7'l STREET ANO NUMllER: 0 z CITY OR TOWN: STATll: CODE p2. STATE LIAISON OFFICER Cl:RTIFICA]'10N NATIOHAl.. REGISTER VERIFICATION As the de•ignated State Liaison Officer for the Na I hereby certify that this property la included ln the tional Hi•toric Preservation Act of 1966 (Public Law 89-665), I hereby nominate this property for inclusion Notional Realllter. In the National Register and certify that lt has been "valuated accordlNI: to the c-·lterla and procecluea set forth by the National i:»ark Service. The recommended Director, Ofllce of lrcll_I..,,. and Hfelorfc Pree•r-11- level of significance of this nomination la: National O State O Local 0 Name ------ATTEST: Title ------Keeper of Tlte National Reflater ( n .... -· Date (1.J.; ( ------~------...... / I I w_~ )J~- .3o i- r:.r .,, -.. '" ,.. ·~ .... , / . ,,,.,, ' · ·.· (-_, i _,,-~ ,\ . I I I "· ·- \ I ··....;· \( ~ I .... I ) • ' I ./ ..: · ~l ·' / .. . , ...:-.. /' ·. ./~ , ._ :.'-J;n1. ._., , .- r.11 • •I I ,° ;, ) /,.,' ( /i·lt ,, , !· · r'~-- ;.. . .: -< ~ ./- .· ., ' -"'-:-..... ,,. <;. y . \. ! ·~· -~ • I . ~ .. ' !~ • • ';r ·' ·,_. \ ,, ,....,, I • -, 1 ,-. .::1 -~ t:et:.m. I. ' I I' -: ~ ... : ! =-':: . ~ .. /~ .1~· :1 . 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'""'" • hA-77T -ot; The Kennedy Farm-"The John Brown Farm" Samples Manor Vic. , Washington Co. , MD View from SSE HABS No. MD- • Hl ~.l"l v.: C h:i1.:.R GA1~ BU1LIJ1M.J~ ~un\tt:Y (Library of Congress Negative) __J_a_c_k_E_._B_o_u_c_h_e_r _ __...1Photographer Date Dec. 19~ -----~l.> f.N4 -JlI. -O?tJ Kennedy FallJl- "The John Brown Farm" Samples Manor Vic., Washington Co., MD View from east of northeast elevation HISTORIC AMERICAN BUILDINGS SURVEY (Library of Congress Negative) Jack E. Boucher ,Photographer DateDec . , 19~ The Kennedy Farm - "The John Brown Farm" Samples Manor Vic., Washington Co ., MD Northeast elevation HISTORIC AMERICAN BUILDINGS SURVEY (library of Congress Negative) _ __..,I..... a...,,,c..., k_....f_..,B0,,...1.... 1 c.. b""'e_.r __ ,Photographer "late Dec . • 19-5.S- Samples Manor Vic. , Washington County The Kennedy Fann - "The John Brown Farm" Northeast end of attic • HISfORl_C AMERICAN BUILDINGS SURVEY {Library of Congress Negative) Jack E. Boucher --..;;...;.;_;~....:.______,Photo grapher Date Dec . 58 ---·------·'I9 - WA-111-03? The Kennedy Farm - "The John Brown Farm" Samples Manor Vic., Washington Co . , Md. Southwest end of attic " ' HI~ TORIC AMERICAN BUILDINGS SURVEY (Library of Congress Negative) Jack Ii' 8oucheP ,Photographer Date Dec. , 19_i! lvA -.III -0 3o Photocopy of original photo in Memorial Hall, Deerfield, Mass . Kennedy Farm- "The John Brown Farm" Sampl es Manor, Washington Co . , MD HISTORt.C AMERICAN BUILDINGS SURVEY (library of Congress Neeative) ______,Photograph er Date ------· 19 Photocopy of original photo in Memoxial Hall, Deerfield, Mass . Kennedy Farm-"The John Brown Farm" Samples Manor Vic., Washington Co., MD - HISTORIC AM ERICAN BUILDINGS SURVEY (library of Congress Negative) ______,Photo grapher Date ------· 19_ WA-JI[-0 3o The Kennedy Farm - "The John Brown Farm" Samples Manor Vic. , Washington Co . , MD Second Floor room--view of stairs to attic . ' HISTORIC AMERICAN BUILDINGS SURVEY (Library of Congress Negative) .Jack E Boucher ,Photographer Date Dec. , 19~ WA-IJI.., o 3o WA -JI[ -30 " I f.W ~/'\. .., G At.l T 1-4 ~i-l.l.\ (!), ~.i\ I\\E.S -bl-4N BrtOW~ <5 FAR..N\ 1(73 Vl~~l...S.(::i.To-N ~/ ~~ . ' -~ \v . . ., -