The Location--

The original farm was located on three bodies of water: the Patapsco River, the Chesapeake Bay and Bodkin Creek. This was important because all commerce was moved by water in the 17th and 18th centuries.

The Grounds--

The grounds consist of a stone house, "new kitchen" added in 1850s, a stone milk house, gardens, a cemetery, and even an active beehive. This was a working farm that produced a variety of crops during most of its history. It was a 409 acre farm at the time of the War of 1812 and currently occupies 26 acres.

The Stone House--

Hancock's house is made of stone and was built in about l785 as a middle class planter's home. This is a "one-room plan" house, 22 ft. X 24 ft., built of native sandstone. The room contains a corner cabinet which is original to the house(l780's) The house is unique as it was never modernized with electricity or plumbing, even though it was lived in until 1962.

The New Kitchen--

This is called the "new kitchen" because it was added in the l850's. Like most old farms, Hancock's had two kitchens, a winter kitchen and a summer kitchen which was located adjacent to the winter kitchen and was used for canning and soap making. The kitchen also contains a display of "pickers checks", an important part of the agricultural heritage of Anne Arundel County during the 19th and early 20th centuries.

The Root Cellar--

The root cellar was used primarily for the storage of food during the winter and would have contained bins of potatoes and apples, crocks of pickles and sauerkraut, and jugs of cider. There is also a wagon axle and pit saw blade on display, as well as an exhibit of old photographs.

The Cemetery--

The Cemetery contains the remains of all of the Hancocks who lived on the property from 1785 until 1962, except for one generation. That one, which lived in the late 1700s until about the 1820s, probably was buried in a small cemetery near the other Hancock house on the farm, which burned down in 1931. That cemetery has yet to be located. (Older residents of the community, who "remember it well", insist on placing it in different locations. Somebody should be right. The question is, which one?)