Widehall
About this property
Widehall is a historic and architecturally significant house in Chestertown, Kent County, Maryland. Built by Thomas Smyth III, 1769–1770, it is a contributing property in the Chestertown Historic District. Widehall is a large, brick, 2+1⁄2-story, middle-Georgian period, city house fronting on Water Street, with the Chester River waterfront behind it. It is 50 ft (15 m) wide and 41 ft (12 m) deep, and is approached by two short flights of sandstone steps, separated by a terrace. The house's high basement is screened by a claire-voie of four brick piers topped by sandstone ball-finials, and a pair of boxwood hedges. Its five-bay street facade features a pedimented frontispiece with engaged columns, nine windows with oversided-quoin stone lintels, a double-hipped roof, three dormers with Welsh-arched windows, and a balustraded roof deck. A 6 ft (1.8 m)-wide central passage runs from the front to the back of the house, and a lateral brick chimney wall on either side of the passage divides the first floor into four rooms. The front and rear rooms on the west side are parlors, the rear room on the east side is the dining room, and the front room on the east side is the stair hall. Original features of the house include the 3-arch arcade separating the passage and stair hall, the mahogany 3-flight "hanging stairway" connecting the stair hall to the upper hall, and the broken-pedimented tabernacle-framed chimneybreast and cupboards of the dining room. "Also of importance is the front terrace, with the original retaining wall and piers between the street and house. Very few houses in Maryland boast a claire-voie." Thomas Smyth III (1730–1819) was a plantation owner, merchant, lawyer and Kent County judge. By 1769, Smyth had an agreement of sale for "Water Lot #16" in Chestertown with his stepmother, Mary Frisbie Smyth Granger (1713-c.1776). She had been his father's second wife, and widow (1741), and was the mother of his half-brother Charles (b. 1736) and his half-sister Margaret (d. 1799). Mary Frisbie Smyth subsequently married William Granger, a widower with two daughters and a son. Her two children and three step-children were minors when William Granger died in 1752, making her a widow for the second time. Because William Granger, Jr. (ca. 1749–1791) held an interest in his late father's Chestertown property, and was not yet 21, Smyth petitioned the Maryland General Assembly to allow the 20-year-old to act as an adult in the real estate transaction. Smyth's December 1769 petition provides documentation that his new house was already well under construction:In Consequence whereof the said Thomas Smyth hath erected on the said Lot a Large and Valuable Brick House and Kitchen which he was Desirous of finishing and compleating immediately[,] but being unwilling to risque so valuable a part of his Property without securing his Title to the said Land[,] which could not be done while the said William Granger was under Age[,] the said Petitioners have prayed that an Act of Assembly might pass to enable the said William Granger[,] tho' under Age[,] to convey to the said Thomas Smyth all his[,] the said William Granger[']s[,] Right Title and Estate in the said Lot of Land in as full and ample Manner as if he was of full Age.The Maryland General Assembly investigated and approved the petition. Smyth paid the agreed upon purchase price of GB£100, was granted clear title, and work on his new house resumed. He already owned the lot adjacent to the west, "Water Lot #17," having bought it from his father-in-law, Thomas Bedingfield Hands, in 1765.
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Property data from the National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service (public domain).
Description adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
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Questions about this property
When was Widehall listed on the National Register?
Widehall was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on October 31, 1972.
What type of historic resource is Widehall?
Widehall is classified as a building in the National Register of Historic Places.
What is the period of significance for Widehall?
The period of significance for Widehall is recorded as the industrial era.
Can I research the history near Widehall?
Yes. Aubrey Research reports search National Register listings, battlefield records, land patents, and other primary historical sources within any radius of a US address. A report for an address near Widehall will include this listing and all other historical records in the area.
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