7th – Fine warm day, went to Town and dined at Gadsbys. Purchased a Roane Colt Horse, six years old for $130. Mr. & Mrs. Harper – Mr. & Mrs. Jn. Moore came out and drank Tea ~
From the journal of Captain Henry Thompson, May 7, 1814. Courtesy the Friends of Clifton.
6th – Very fine day & warm Wind S. Mrs. T. & Charley accompanied me to Town, we return’d to Dinner. Jo. Patterson, Jacob Hollingsworth, Geo. Howard & Lloyd Rogers call’d in the evening & drank Tea ~ Paid Jn. Shangle & Jn. Bond $10 each and Charles $8 – Jn. Foos $40.
From the journal of Captain Henry Thompson, May 6, 1814. Courtesy the Friends of Clifton.
May 6th.
Latt 40° 28′ N., Long 15° 2′ W. Spoke the Surprize, Cathera, of Baltimore. Had taken 2 Prizes.
From the journal of the Privateer Armed Schooner Lawrence, May 6, 1814. Maryland Historical Magazine, Volume 3, Number 2, June 1908, p. 171-176.
5 – Very fine day – Did not go to Town but rode to the Meadows, and dined at Furley very agreeably ~ Mr. Wm. Hollins drank Tea with us ~
From the journal of Captain Henry Thompson, May 5, 1814. Courtesy the Friends of Clifton.
On May 4, 1814, after months of preparations by the Building Committee of St. Paul’s Church and builder Robert Carey Long, Rev. Dr. James Kemp gathered his congregation at the northern end of Charles Street to lay their cornerstone for their new church. In a sermon delivered at St. Paul’s Church in 1878, Revered John Sebastian Bach Hodges commented on the pressing need for a new building in 1814:
The ground upon which the Church stood, we have already remarked, was high, but that occupied by St. Paul Street and by the first five houses which front on Lexington Street counting from the corner of St. Paul had, as early as the beginning of the century, been reduced to the present level. The consequence was caving in of the hill upon which the Church stood, which, about 1811 or ’12, was obliged to be protected by a strong wall the defence proved inadequate, and the consequence was that it was indispensable to build a new Church, hence the erection of the present S. Paul’s, which was consecrated in the year 1817.
4th – Fine warm day Therm. 80 – Mrs. T went with me to Town & Mrs. Wirgman brot her out in the evening I return’d to Dinner ~ Took Jno. Foos Colt to Pasture @ $2.2 per month.
From the journal of Captain Henry Thompson, May 4, 1814. Courtesy the Friends of Clifton.
3rd – Saw my sons in the Hagers Town Stage at 3 O’Clock this morning at Ellicotts Mills all in fine Spirits, and return’d Home to breakfast, afterwards Mrs. T accompanied me to Town, and both return’d Home to Dinner – Planted Canteloups & Corn
From the journal of Captain Henry Thompson, May 3, 1814. Courtesy the Friends of Clifton.
May 3d.
Latt 45° 49′ N., Long 14° 39′ W. At half past 10 P M found ourselves along side of a Frigate; at the same time could see her lights through her Ports. Immediately Haul’d on a Wind and in a very short time lost sight of her. We were 41 days cruising from Latt 40° 43′ to 51° CO’, occasionally making the Land, from Skillings to Cape Clear, and went as far up the Channel as the Nymph’s Bank.
From the journal of the Privateer Armed Schooner Lawrence, May 3, 1814. Maryland Historical Magazine, Volume 3, Number 2, June 1908, p. 171-176.
Thanks to Lance Humphries with the Mount Vernon Place Conservancy for sharing today’s update on Baltimore’s Washington Monument.
On May 2, 1814 the Board of Managers of the Washington Monument informed architect Robert Mills that his design for the city’s planned memorial to George Washington had been selected. As the monument was the first one in the country to honor America’s first president, the board was particularly pleased that this honor could go to an American architect, a realization that the new nation was becoming cultural independent from the “Old World,” as they had declared they were politically in 1776.
Robert Gilmor and Isaac McKim were tasked by the Board of Managers to send Mills the official letter sharing the news:
Baltimore 2d May 1814
Sir,
At a meeting of the Managers of the Washington Monument thisday,agreeably to notice, to award the premium for the best design of a monument, the one furnished by you received the approbation of the board, & we as members of the corresponding committee are directed to communicate this information, & that your [draft] on Mr. Eli Simkins, their Secretary for five hundreds dollars (being the amount of the premium) will be paid at sight.Agreeably to the terms of the public notice, should you have committed to you the execution of your plan, the amount of the premium will be deducted from your Commission or contract, as the adoption of your design is presumed to be a sufficient compensation for what you have already done.
Your mo. ob. s
R.Mills,Esq. IsaacM’Kim
The design was not quite final, however, as Mills’ complex design (with many levels and tiers of inscriptions documenting the history of Washington’s life) posed some initial concerns. The height of the column worried those who lived on its intended location (at today’s Monument Square) that it might be “overturned by some shock, owing to its great elevation.” Others feared that the monument might be too expensive. These concerns continued to shape the design and location before the city laid the cornerstone to the Washington Monument on July 4, 1815.
Source: Robert Gilmor, Jr., Board of Managers of the Washington Monument, to Robert Mills, May 2, 1814, Richard X. Evans Collection, Special Collections Division, Georgetown University Library, Washington.
2nd – Fine day but cool, Wind N.W. – Went to Town, & din’d at Jo Steretts, afterwards accompanied our four eldest Sons to Pecks, on their way to School after three weeks Holydays ~
From the journal of Captain Henry Thompson, May 2, 1814. Courtesy the Friends of Clifton.