The
Benjamin Banneker Historical Park and Museum is situated on the land that was the farm of Benjamin Banneker. He was a gentleman farmer from the 1700s. His grandparents came to America and the family worked their way to freedom from indentured servitude. His grandmother worked on a tobacco farm for seven years and used the skills she acquired to make her own farm. She had children and then her son Robert had Benjamin. Benjamin helped out on the farm but was very interested in learning. He read as much as he could and at one point took apart a pocket watch and put it back together. Using that experience, he made a larger wooden clock with the gears and other parts to scale. It ran accurately for fifty years! He worked the family farm but was more interested in astronomy and mathematics. He was hired in his sixties to help survey the new national capital for the United States. Earlier, he had written an almanac that was a best seller. He sent it to Thomas Jefferson, who was also a gentleman farmer with scientific interests. Jefferson was fascinated, especially because Benjamin Banneker was a free black man. Banneker died in 1806 at the farm just outside Baltimore, Maryland.
The park has a nice museum along with plenty of wooded trails, period-style gardens, and a recreated log cabin much like Banneker's original cabin, which burned down after his death.
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| Museum from the front |
We arrived early, i.e. before the museum opened, intending to find a geocache on the property. One is hidden right by the gate. Thankfully it was a large enough cache that we could put in a travel bug we had picked up in Indiana (more on that in the next blog post).
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| Geocache location |
The cache discovery went quicker than expected so we explored the outdoor grounds to use up time before the museum opened. One garden is set up for pollinators. We saw tons of butterflies enjoying the flowers' sweet nectar. The butterflies were adapt at avoiding photography, sadly.
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| Pollinator garden |
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| A shady sun dial, maybe not as useful as it could be |
Nearby was a play area with a faux boat that my children pretended to sail. That took up a lot of time since we traveled to Ireland and back.
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| All aboard! |
A frame for a teepee stood nearby.
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| Ready for a covering |
Another nearby structure was inexplicable to us. Maybe it was the start of a garden or some other such project.
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| Posts with holes, hmmm.... |
We found a trail that let us explore the solar system. Since Banneker was an astronomer, it made sense. The youngest loved reading facts about different planets and objects in our neck of outer space.
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| Learning about the sun |
We found a turtle who was just as shy as the butterflies about photography, but not nearly swift enough to escape a shot.
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| On the path to privacy |
Another part of the path we avoided all together. I recognized the boxes below as bee hives and we saw a sign that confirmed the fact.
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| Buzz off, humans! |
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| We mean it! |
The trail also had a insect hotel which was more physically approachable but none of us made a close examination.
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| Thank goodness for zoom lenses |
The Stone House is a three-story structure built in the 1850s by the Hynes family. Joshua Hynes was a Baltimore County sheriff who also did some farming. The house passed to two other families in subsequent years. It was eventually bought by Baltimore County. The county founded the Banneker park and named the house "Molly Bannaky House" after Benjamin's grandmother.
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| The Stone House, aka the Molly Bannaky House |
By this time in our adventure, the museum was open so we went back and began a tour. We watched a video about Banneker that was very informative. Then we visited a room with some local wildlife on display.
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| Diamondback terrapin |
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| Eastern corn snake |
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| Pick up sticks players |
The museum's exhibit on Banneker's life includes a family tree, several panels discussing his life and work, and information on his impact on America.
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| Family tree |
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| Table given by Thomas Jefferson |
One display shows a replica of the clock that he reverse-engineered. At the bottom is a pocket watch that is mostly taken apart!
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| Replica of the clock |
The docent offered to take us outside to see a log cabin that was brought to the property when they converted it to a museum. The cabin is very similar to Banneker's original. He died a bachelor, so he didn't need much.
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| Cabin |
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| Herb garden |
The cabin has a lot of items related to Banneker's life. In one corner tobacco is hanging to dry. Normally, the drying would happen in an outbuilding, not in the house.
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| Tobacco |
The house has entertainment items, including musical instruments, games, and a pipe.
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| What to do at night without TV |
The house only has one room downstairs, so the fireplace was readily available. It was used for cooking as well as heating. Some experts on colonial cooking come every few months to do demonstrations. We'll have to keep an eye out for the next presentation!
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| Fireplace |
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| Herbs and jars |
The floor has a door to the root cellar where root vegetables, among other items, were stored.
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| Door |
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| Inside the door |
My children asked lots of questions and answered questions too, which was very satisfying for me.
Back outside, we saw an oven in the distance. Back in the day, they used clay ovens to bake breads, pies, and other items (but who needs baked goods beyond bread and pie?). We opened the door only to find a spider living inside. We quickly closed it again.
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| Visiting the oven |
The site is well worth the trip. They have educational programs throughout the year and another geocache further back in the trails, so we may come again.
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