Ferry Hill Plantation House (Historic Structure Report, part 1)

Built by 1820, the Ferry Hill Plantation House is a significant structure—considered architecturally, historically, and culturally. The property is located in the Conococheague District of the C&O Canal National Historical Park at mile-post 73.02. The house represents a fine example of rural Federal-style design. A great many of the property's character-defining features exist today in exceptional condition. The mansion's location at a promontory on the Maryland side of the Potomac River, with vistas out toward Shepherdstown, West Virginia, proved strategic during much of the Civil War, with forces from both the North and the South occupying the grounds and facilities at various time throughout the conflict. The plantation house pre-dated the construction of the C&O canal, an engineering marvel that ultimately traversed part of this property's land adjacent to the Potomac River. For six generations, under three families related by blood or marriage — the Blackfords, Douglases, and Beckenbaughs — the property was managed as a plantation estate. Much of the social history of the property's early years has been preserved in a series of diaries written by John Blackford, adding to the significance of the complex and increasing our understanding of its operations and economics. Captain Henry Kyd Douglas, a Confederate officer under General Stonewall Jackson's command grew up in the home and wrote memoirs.