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April through October
Sundays 1-4 PM (except Easter)
Extended hours based per event.

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About the Farm

Hancock Family

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History

Events Calendar

Upcoming:

REMEMBERING CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH

June 21, 2026

JUNE 28, 2026 – OPEN FOR TOURS

June 28, 2026

PATRIOTIC PROGRAM

July 5, 2026

OLD FASHIONED PICNIC AND LOCAL HISTORY DAY

July 12, 2026

JULY 19, 2026 – OPEN FOR TOURS

July 19, 2026

DOCENT CENTER INFORMATION

Sarah Wade would like you to welcome the new partners to the America 250 trail: The Ann Arrundell County Historical Society, Middleton Tavern, Pherm Brewing Co., Made +, the Maryland League of Conservation Voters, the Resin Room DIY, Crowne Plaza, the National Cryptological Museum, Fort Smallwood, and the Anne Arundel County Archaeology Lab! We’re so pleased to have them as part of our special cohort! Huzzah!

 
She wants to make you aware of some fun updates – America 250 has partnered with Crooked Crab Brewing Co. (who partnered with Forward Brewing), Pherm Brewing Co., and Chesepiooc Real Ale Brewery and asked if they’d consider brewing beers for America250 and boy did they deliver!
 
Crooked Crab and Forward’s brew, Crab Crab Revolution, debuted last week, and she absolutely urges you to stop by and grab a pint. It’s an American pale ale that is absolutely delicious. 
 
Also, she says to be sure to make a trip to Chesepiooc on July 4th weekend for the premiere of their Beers of the Revolution, which includes a colonial ale brewed as close as possible to a surviving George Washington Recipe! Other offerings are Thomas Jefferson’s Secret Porter, Sons of Liberty Ale, and the Secretary of Beer Colonial Ale. Huzzah! 
 
Finally, this coming Tuesday, June 16th, the VAAAC staff is having an informal happy hour at Pherm Brewing Co, to cheers to their brew Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Cherries, a special cherry shandy, and you’re all so welcome to join them! They anticipate arriving around 4pm. Please come raise a glass with them and meet your partner sites too (and score points on the trail!)
 
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Split Rail Fence

The traditional “Snake and Cross” or “Zigzag” fence is based on remnants of the original fence. The 11 foot, hand split rails would have been constructed of chestnut. The chestnut blight killed most of the towering trees in the early 1900’s.

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Entrance

Hancock’s Resolution is now a Historic Park in the Anne Arundel County Park System. While farmsteads like this used to cover this county side (except this one was constructed with stone while the great majority were wood frame) this c. 1785 stone house and milk house are the last surviving authentic, restored but not renovated, farm structures left in the entire region. As such they are of singular importance. (1785 was four years before George Washington became President of the United States.

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Cook House

The owner of this two story farmhouse, Henry Alfred Cook, married Rhoda Virginia Hancock, who was born upstairs at Hancock’s Resolution. Constructed in the mid 1800s with an addition added later in the century, this house was originally located approximately a mile west of its present location. It was moved to the park in 1991 to serve as a care taker’s home.

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Bodkin Creek

In either one or both of June 12 and 14, 1608 (N.S.*) (the first date before going up the Bolus (Patapsco) River and the second date coming back down the river) Capt. John Smith and his crew entered and mapped Bodkin Creek, very probably looking for fresh water. (* “N.S” stands for “New Style”, meaning the Gregorian calendar presently in use and not the earlier “Julian Calendar”, in use at the time of his voyage.”

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Graveyard

The Hancock family graveyard contains at least 125 head and foot stones. The graves are marked with headstones made of the local sandstone, which was readily available. While many of the tombstone’s inscriptions have worn away, several from the 19th and 20th centuries are still readable including one marked “A. H.” and dated 1809, which marks the grave of Anne Hancock, third wife of Stephen. Stephen’s grave is some distance away to the left and the space between the graves may contain the graves of Stephen’s children and earlier wives.

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Farm Field

The farm field is an area where exhibition crops are planted and farming using historical methods is demonstrated.

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Bee Hives

Bee hives in boxes, baskets or even parts of hollow logs were a part of traditional farming practices. Beehives were documented on Francis Hancock’s 1832 probate inventory; honey and beeswax were important to both 17th and 18th century farms. The bees at the farm are tended by the farm’s master gardeners and housed in modern “Langstroth’s Hives.” These movable frame hives, patented in 1852, revolutionized bee keeping and are still preferred today.

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House

Stephen Hancock built the house in 1785 and Hancock descendents continued to live in the house until the 1960s. Lacking electricity, plumbing and central heating the house is largely unchanged since its construction. The house is constructed of native sandstone. Galleting is used on the entire wall surface of both the house and the adjacent milk house. It is the only known rural example of this technique in the Chesapeake region. The first floor contains one large room with plaster over hand-split lath. Original Federal period trim, including baseboards, chair rail, window and door surrounds, decorate the room as does the elaborate mantelpiece.

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Milk House

In the 18th and early 19th century dairy products were stored in the milk house. The Hancock family used the building as a grocery and dry goods store in the early 20th century until the frame building was later constructed. It also has the galleting that is also used on the house.

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Gardens

A “kitchen garden” located just outside the home consisted of both foods and herbs and ornamental plants. Kitchen gardens were common place into the 1900s. The current garden is a historically accurate reconstruction of the Hancock family garden. A grove of ancient Lilacs and a thicket of Chickasaw Plums (known to be utilized by the pre-Colonial Indian populations of Anne Arundel County) are found outside the gardens.

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Well

The well is believed to have dated from the 18th century when the house was constructed. The well remained in use until the 1950’s when the elderly Mamie Hancock could no longer manage the daily chore of hauling water for everyday use and a modern well with hand pump was installed closer to the house. Approximately 14 feet deep, the well is lined with stones “dry laid” and is untouched except for repairs at the frost line.

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Store

The Hancock family ran a dry goods and grocery store in the 20th century. The store served the local farmers, lighthouse keepers, fisherman, and oyster dredgers as well as the seasonal workers who were employed at the farm. This current building is a historically accurate reconstruction of the frame building and houses displays and a small gift shop.

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Barn Site

This is believed to be the site of an early barn. At some future date, we hope to reconstruct the barn and have farm animals.

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Trail

Self-guided Tour (map available at entrance)

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Trail

Self-guided Tour (map available at entrance)

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Bodkin Creek

War of 1812 Burning of Lion picture – wording to use: On August 24, 1814, a British raiding party, patrolling the Patapsco area in advance of their attack on Baltimore, entered Bodkin Creek and burned a “fine” American schooner they identified as being the “Lion of Baltimore”. That is the same name as one of America’s best privateers in the War of 1812 although, it turns out, there may have been more than one vessel of that name.