Historic Homes in Our Neighborhood

by | Mar 16, 2019 | 0 comments

Our community is made up of 3 smaller neighborhoods. State road Route 99 splits our community. The Orchards to the South and Mount Hebron and Patapsco Park Estates to the North, U.S. Route 29 is a north–south United States highway that runs for 1,036 miles from Pensacola, Florida and dead ends at our neighborhood.
We have 882 homes, 36 streets and 3 historic homes in the neighborhood:
  • Mt Hebron House
  • Elmonte
  • McKenzie’s Discovery
Mount Hebron House was built by Col. John Worthington Dorsey of the Revolutionary war in 1808 for his son Thomas Beale Dorsey. The house is a two story stone structure located on Calvin Circle. It was designed by N.G. Starkwether, a prominent architect of the day. Starkwether also designed and El Monte, where one of the Dorsey daughters lived after leaving Hebron House, and which still stands on Furrow Avenue today. Thomas Beale Dorsey resurveyed his land holdings and consolidated them into one large tract called “Mount Hebron” in 1828-1830 his estate consisted of over 2152 acres, on which sat his large stone dwelling and numerous outbuildings. It has traditionally been asserted that the house was built by Dorsey’s father, John Worthington Dorsey, in 1808 as a wedding present for Thomas and Milcah Goodwin Dorsey. In 1811 Thomas Beale Dorsey became a U. S. District Attorney and in 1822 Attorney General of Maryland. Two years later Dorsey was appointed Chief Judge of the Third Judicial District. After his death “Mount Hebron” was purchased in 1864 by Henry Hazlehurst, who worked in the engineering department of the B & O Railroad. Hazlehurst started his own business and ran it until 1858, after which he retired to a house he built just outside of Ellicott City known as “Lilburn” (HO-353), and he continued to live there. Hazlehurst sold “Mount Hebron” to Henry McShane & Co.,a Baltimore bell foundry, in 1876. The mansion house at “Mount Hebron” is an unusually large and well-finished dwelling that has few rivals in the county for its period.

This house was part of the Howard County Historical Society Holiday House Tour in 2018.

The house is now owned by Mount Hebron Presbyterian Church, and is available for private functions.
Click here for addition facts, photos and history of the property.

Elmonte – also known as Twiford, is a 2 1⁄2-story country house, built of random ashlar granite in the Italian villa style, and is thought to have been completed in 1858. The House was built for a member of the Dorsey family. Miss Dorsey selected the name “Elmonte” because it meant “the wooded mount”. Italianate villa designed by architect Norris Garshom Starkweather and built circa 1858 for a member of the Dorsey family as the centerpiece of an agricultural estate. The Dorseys were descendants of Colonel Edward Dorsey, who received an early Maryland land grant around 1690. They owned many of the finest farms and plantations in Howard County and distinguished themselves in politics, law, military service, agriculture, and business. Elmonte was built for Sally Eliza Dorsey on a portion of the 900-acre Mount Hebron estate of her father, Judge Thomas Beale Dorsey Jr., which was divided among his three children after his death in 1852. Her brother William also hired Starkweather to build an Italianate villa, known as “Wilton,” across the road. Sally Dorsey’s estate included a working farm, which remained in operation until fairly recently. Elmonte house now sits on 3.11 acres surrounded by a subdivision.
This house is a private residence today.

Click here for addition facts, photos and history of the property.
Click here for additional information.

McKenzie’s Discovery – Aaron Mc Kenzie in 1817 purchased the land from Thomas B. Dorsey, and built a log house. The Mc Kenzie family held the property for 83 years.
This house was part of the Howard County Historical Society Holiday House Tour in 2018.

Today this house is a private residence. Included on the property is an AirBNB

Click here for addition facts, photos and history of the property.

Source:
Howard County Historic Homes Website
Society of Architectural Historians Website
Wikipedia
Mount Hebron Presbyterian Church