Excerpt from Colonial Mansions of Maryland and Delaware Some people collect old furniture, some old books. I for many years have been a collector of old houses within easy travelling distance of my home in Baltimore, and the best of my finds are to be found in this book. He who would collect old houses must possess much enthusiasm, a determination that will not be discouraged, and a fine power of walking. Fully one-half of the points that he visits because of hearsay will be found to be without interest, and of the others that he seeks out only a few insignificant facts will at first be ascertainable. A continual source of surprise to one who searches for colonial homes is how little is known about them even in the immediate neighborhood in which they have stood for so many years. The material in this book has been gathered from personal visits and studies at first hand of the houses described. Much of the literary matter has come from private papers and from the recollections of the older generation of the descendants of builders of Maryland and Delaware mansions. The photographs I have made myself. I wish to make acknowledgment of inspiration and help gained from certain indefatigable workers in history, whose researches have gone into almost every nook of the field in Maryland and Delaware. Any one who delves into Maryland archives will be sure to come across the path of Mrs. Hester Dorsey Richardson, one of the first authorities on Maryland genealogy. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.