Perry Hall's History

Perry Hall is proud of its history.  While the community has grown by leaps and bounds, there is also a rich heritage and an appreciation for Perry Hall's deep roots.

The Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries:  Early Settlement

Hundreds of years ago, northeastern Baltimore County was explored by nomadic Indians who came south from present-day Pennsylvania to hunt for game in the bountiful Chesapeake Bay region. These tribes were dominated by the terrifying Susquehannocks, who intimated smaller Indian clans and held dominion over the area until Europeans settled Maryland in the Seventeenth Century. The Susquehannocks used present-day Joppa Road as a trail to the west.

Captain John Smith encountered the Susquehannocks in 1608 when he made the first European exploration of the Gunpowder River. Smith's expedition initiated intense industrialization along the Gunpowder River, and by the Eighteenth Century, northeastern Baltimore County was the site of numerous mills, furnaces, and forges. A small settlement emerged near present-day Cowenton and Joppa Roads, home to woodcutter families who lived in cramped log cabins.

These squalid conditions contrasted vividly with the life of the Gough family, the wealthiest residents of northeastern Baltimore County. In 1774, Baltimore businessman Harry Dorsey Gough purchased a 1,000-acre estate called The Adventure. This estate included much of northeastern Baltimore County, and Gough renamed it Perry Hall after his family's home near Birmingham, England. He completed a mansion that became known for its great gardens and distinctive architecture, rivaled only by Hampton House near Towson. The painting on the right shows the grand Perry Hall estate around 1805. Gough's private driveway to Baltimore, which later became Belair Road, can be seen rolling into the distance.

One night in 1775, Gough was converted to Methodism by his slaves. Methodism swept the American colonies during the American Revolution, appealing to slaves and poor backcountry families who were left out of the economic mainstream. Gough frequently attended "camp meetings" near the settlement at Joppa Road and Cowenton Avenue, and he arranged for the construction of a chapel at the site. This is now Camp Chapel United Methodist Church. Gough and his wife Prudence also befriended Methodist minister Francis Asbury. It was at Gough's mansion where Asbury and other Methodist leaders stayed as they journeyed to Baltimore for the historic 1784 Christmas Conference. Asbury became the first Methodist bishop at this meeting, depicted in the painting on the right by Thomas Coke Ruckle; his friend Harry Dorsey Gough can be seen seated in the left foreground, and Prudence Gough is dressed in white in the right foreground.  

Although Harry Dorsey Gough later left the Methodist religion, he remained respected for his work safeguarding Methodist pioneers during the American Revolution, when their pacifist views were unpopular.  Thousands of people reportedly attended his funeral in 1808.  For all these reasons, Perry Hall has sometimes been called "the cradle of American Methodism."

The Nineteenth Century:  "Germantown"

The Perry Hall estate deteriorated in the Nineteenth Century. A fire destroyed the east wing, and the plantation never regained its colonial grandeur and prominence. It was sold in 1875 to Eli Slifer and William Meredith of Philadelphia, who divided the property and sold the lots to immigrant families, many of whom were from Germany. That is how the tiny village came to be known as "Germantown." These farmers raised "stoop crops" like celery and carrots. 

Germantown, which rested near the intersection of Chapel and Belair Roads, was a small but self-sufficient farming village. The 1902 telephone directory listed only 26 numbers, including five saloon owners, seven storekeepers, four farmers, the justice of the peace, the undertaker, and the schoolteacher. Germantown had its share of taverns, and at the end of a long day in the fields, a trip to the local saloon was a nightly tradition for many. Local patrons were often joined by travelers on their way along Belair Road, a major turnpike from the city to the country.

With German and Irish immigration, new Catholic and Lutheran churches were built in the community. For most families, entertainment meant gathering together on the front porches of the farmhouses, where families would hold dances and young men would romance the girls from down the street. In time, the name "Germantown" disappeared from local maps, and the plantation moniker "Perry Hall" came to distinguish the growing village.

The Twentieth Century:  A Modern Community Emerges

In the early Twentieth Century, many families began to experiment with different ways of farming. Dairies and nurseries became common, but more adventurous families tried bottling water or canning tomatoes.

The most prominent farm was the Berg dairy, located where the Seven Courts development was later built. City families often drove out along to the countryside on the weekend, treating their children to milkshakes at the Perry Hall landmark. In the photograph on the right, the Berg dairy can be seen stretching into the hills, while Joppa Road is only a thin line in the foreground.

The years after the Second World War transformed Perry Hall from a rural hamlet into a suburban community. William "Dick" Schaefer built dozens of brick bungalows between Belair and Ebenezer Roads. He also constructed Perry Hall's first shopping center in 1961, and he owned the land where Perry Hall's public library opened in 1963. New schools popped up, the most prominent of which was Perry Hall Senior High School in 1963. Five years later, a larger building opened further down Ebenezer Road, and this original facility became the junior high school.

The photograph on the left, taken in 1979, shows Perry Hall on the brink of sudden change. Two years later, White Marsh Mall opened on old quarries near Silver Spring Road. Development consumed Perry Hall, replacing farms and forests with shopping centers, housing developments, and new businesses. The community's population reached 40,000 by 1990. Perry Hall was a busy place, far removed from its rural past, but still a community with warm hearts and friendly faces.

For more information about Perry Hall's history, go to the Perry Hall public library's detailed Web Site. For more information about the Perry Hall Mansion, go here.