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Struggle for Freedom Project
Interpreting St. Mary's Manor
(known today as Brome Howard Inn)
Duplex and single quarters at Brome Howard, c1890s; courtesy of Historic St. Mary's City Museum.
The Unified Committee for Afro-American Contributions (UCAC) History and Research Committee invites you, on behalf of Historic St. Mary’s City (HSMC), to the second meeting to learn about a new project which will expand and develop the current “Struggle for Freedom” exhibit at the St. Mary's Manor site. UCAC has agreed to support this project and we want to spread the word to anyone with an interest in this history, especially those who may have ancestral ties to the Brome Plantation. (see family names below)
The 1840 St. Mary's Manor as viewed on its current site on Rosecroft Road. The main house and duplex slave quarters were moved in 1994 to allow archeologist to interpret the 17th century site that existed prior to the Brome plantation. Photo courtesy of Historic St. Mary's City Museum.
HSMC’s Struggle for Freedom exhibit currently focuses on the interpretation of the slave quarters on site. The new project will include additional interpretive signage on the landscape and potentially add some additional landscape elements. The overarching goal is interpreting the entire Brome plantation to put the Struggle for Freedom exhibit into clearer context.
We plan to meet on Saturday, October 17, at 10:00 AM at the manor house at 18281 Rosecroft Rd, St. Mary's City. If you haven’t visited the exhibits in the slave quarters, this will be a great opportunity.
Above are images of the interpretive signs now on the Brome site which lists the names of enslaved men women and children owned by John Brome in 1864. At the top of this page is a circa 1890s photo of a woman standing between slave quarters on the original site - her image is enlarged below. Do you know who this woman is? (The house and duplex slave quarter were moved from the original site next to St. Mary’s College in the 1990s.)
Family names of workers at the Brome farm from the 1870 and 1880 census:
Included are names from a 1867 list of "property lost during the Civil War."
Bennett, Butler, Biscoe, Briscoe, Campbell, Clarke, Dyson, Gough, Groce, Gross, Hopewell, Hornbo, Lacy, Lee, Lloyd, Neale, Walthon, Whalen, Whaling, Whalte, White
We hope you’ll be interested in following or being an active participant in this new local history project. Some of you may even have some family history to share. And please feel free to share this information with others who might be interested.
Resources:
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"Interpreting the Brome Plantation," a PowerPoint presentation by Travis Parno, Director of Research and Collections, Historic St. Mary's City Museum, August 1, 2026; 46 pages. [this document contains an overview of the history and research already completed, many details and photos of the St. Mary's Manor site, and ideas on how to further interpret the site]
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Census data at Brome Plantation for 1870, Brock, Terry Peterkin, "ALL OF US WOULD WALK TOGETHER": THE TRANSITION FROM SLAVERY TO FREEDOM AT ST. MARY’S CITY, MARYLAND 2014; Appendix B.
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Census data at Brome Plantation for 1880, Brock, Terry Peterkin, "ALL OF US WOULD WALK TOGETHER": THE TRANSITION FROM SLAVERY TO FREEDOM AT ST. MARY’S CITY, MARYLAND 2014; Appendix C.
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1867 table listing property lost by John Brome and his mother Ann Ashcomb during the Civil War, Brock, Terry Peterkin, "ALL OF US WOULD WALK TOGETHER": THE TRANSITION FROM SLAVERY TO FREEDOM AT ST. MARY’S CITY, MARYLAND 2014; Appendix D
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Hall, Emma Milburn - interviewed by Merideth Taylor on June 3, 1998; verbatim transcript, cassette recording 1 hour, 45 minutes.
