Howard's Adventure

{{See also|History of slavery in Maryland|Tobacco in the American colonies|Economic history of Colonial Maryland}}

The house and property known as Howard's Adventure was built by Charles Hammond after inheriting the land after the death of his father in law, Captain Philip Howard in the early 1700s.{{Cite web |title=Howard's Adventure: Matthias Hammond's Country Estate |url=https://hammondharwoodhouse.org/howards-adventure-matthias-hammonds-country-estate/ |access-date=2024-08-28 |website=Hammond-Harwood House |language=en-US}} Howard's Adventure was an example of the tobacco colonies that grew along Eastern shore's Tidewater basin. The property originally was part of a parcel of 500 acres, and the original manor house on the site was thought to have been built between 1705 and 1713.{{Cite web |title=Maryland Hammond Manor House: Withdrawn National Archives NextGen Catalog |url=https://catalog.archives.gov/id/137889973 |access-date=2024-08-28 |website=catalog.archives.gov}}

Howard's Adventure would go on to be the home of Charles's son, {{Interlanguage link|Philip Hammond (plantation owner)|lt=Philip Hammond|qid=Q130008978}} and his family,{{Cite book |last=Doliante |first=Sharon J. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1KvkiaQks-kC |title=Maryland and Virginia Colonials: Genealogies of Some Colonial Families : Families of Bacon, Beall, Beasley, Cheney, Duckett, Dunbar, Ellyson, Elmore, Graves, Heydon, Howard, Jacob, Morris, Nuthall, Odell, Peerce, Reeder, Ridgley, Prather, Sprigg, Wesson, Williams, and Collateral Kin |date=1991 |publisher=Genealogical Publishing Com |isbn=978-0-8063-1293-4 |language=en}} after buying out his brother's rights to the land. Philip Hammond was a planter and slaveholder who served in Maryland's Lower House of the Assembly{{Cite web |title=Volume 44 Index - Proceedings and Acts of the General Assembly, 1745-1747 |url=https://msa.maryland.gov/megafile/msa/speccol/sc2900/sc2908/000001/000044/html/index.html |access-date=2024-08-28 |website=msa.maryland.gov}} representing Anne Arundel County from 1732 to 1760.{{Cite web |title=Philip Hammond, MSA SC 3520-573 |url=https://msa.maryland.gov/megafile/msa/speccol/sc3500/sc3520/000500/000573/html/573bio.html |access-date=2024-08-28 |website=msa.maryland.gov}} In 1728, Philip Hammond married Rachel Brice, daughter of John Brice Jr. The two would raise nine children at Howard's Adventure, seven surviving to adulthood. During Philip Hammond's time, the property was used as a tobacco plantation and country estate.{{Cite web |last=By |date=2003-07-04 |title=Organic Arundel farm milked for education |url=https://www.baltimoresun.com/2003/07/04/organic-arundel-farm-milked-for-education/ |access-date=2024-08-28 |website=Baltimore Sun |language=en-US}} Over his lifetime, Philip Hammond would become one of Maryland's largest landowners, and during his ownership of the property, the acreage of Howard's Adventure would increase beyond its initial 500 acre parcel. At the time of Philip Hammond's death in 1760, he owned 107 slaves and more than 20,000 acres of land across Anne Arundel and Baltimore counties.{{Cite web |title=Archives of Maryland, Volume 0426, Page 0398 - A Biographical Dictionary of the Maryland Legislature 1635-1789 by Edward C. Papenfuse, et. al. |url=https://msa.maryland.gov/megafile/msa/speccol/sc2900/sc2908/000001/000426/html/am426--398.html |access-date=2024-08-28 |website=msa.maryland.gov}}

After Philip Hammond's death, Howard's Adventure passed to his sons, Matthias Hammond, builder of the Hammond–Harwood House, and Colonel Rezin Hammond, builder of Burleigh Manor.{{Cite book |last=Coldham |first=Peter Wilson |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hCDH9HFnwkAC&q=%22howard's%20adventure%22 |title=Settlers of Maryland, 1731-1750 |date=2015-03-26 |publisher=Genealogical Publishing Company |isbn=978-0-8063-1500-3 |language=en}} Both Matthias and Rezin were Revolutionary War patriots and active in revolutionary Maryland politics. Matthias Hammond died young and unmarried. Rezin Hammond was similarly a bachelor, who became active in patriotic activity during the 1770s,{{Cite web |title=Archives of Maryland, Volume 0011, Page 0214 - Journal of the Maryland Convention July 26 to August 14, 1775Journal and Correspondence of the Maryland Council of Safety, August 29, 1775 to July 6, 1776 |url=https://msa.maryland.gov/megafile/msa/speccol/sc2900/sc2908/000001/000011/html/am11--214.html |access-date=2024-08-28 |website=msa.maryland.gov}} becoming a colonel in the Anne Arundel Militia by 1795. He continued in his father's footsteps as a planter and politician, serving in the Maryland Convention and House of Delegates. Unusual for a landowner at the time, Rezin Hammond led a radical wing at the Maryland Convention in support of the right to vote for all free taxpayers, regardless of their property holdings.{{Cite journal |last=Gallo |first=Marcus |date=October 1, 2019 |title=Property Rights, Citizenship, Corruption, and Inequality: Confiscating Loyalist Estates during the American Revolution |url=https://scholarlypublishingcollective.org/psup/pa-history/article-abstract/86/4/474/198269/Property-Rights-Citizenship-Corruption-and |journal=Pennsylvania History |volume=86 |issue=4}}{{Cite book |last=Cottom |first=Ric |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nHw6DwAAQBAJ&dq=%22rezin+hammond%22+maryland+&pg=PP1 |title=Your Maryland: Little-Known Histories from the Shores of the Chesapeake to the Foothills of the Allegheny Mountains |date=2017-10-16 |publisher=JHU Press |isbn=978-1-4214-2405-7 |language=en}} At his death, Rezin Hammond provided for the manumission and support of his 166 slaves.{{Cite web |title=Archives of Maryland, Volume 0426, Page 0399 - A Biographical Dictionary of the Maryland Legislature 1635-1789 by Edward C. Papenfuse, et. al. |url=https://msa.maryland.gov/megafile/msa/speccol/sc2900/sc2908/000001/000426/html/am426--399.html |access-date=2024-08-28 |website=msa.maryland.gov}} This request in Rezin's will was not honored by his heirs.{{Cite journal |last=Millward |first=Jessica |date=July 2012 |title='That All Her Increase Shall Be Free': enslaved women's bodies and the Maryland 1809 Law of Manumission |url=https://cloudfront.escholarship.org/dist/prd/content/qt63t6654w/qt63t6654w.pdf |journal=Women's History Review |language=en |volume=21 |issue=3 |pages=363–378 |doi=10.1080/09612025.2012.661158 |issn=0961-2025}}

At the time of Rezin's death, the Howard's Adventure estate consisted of 9,000 acres. Over the ensuing years, the plantation's acreage would be parceled and divided as it was passed down through the extended Hammond family's heirs.{{Cite book |last1=Chancery |first1=Maryland Court of |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3tUzAQAAMAAJ&q=Philip+Hammond+%26+Co.+maryland |title=Reports of Cases Argued and Adjudged in the High Court of Chancery of Maryland. [1811-1832] |last2=Bland |first2=Theodorick |date=1885 |publisher=M. Curlander |language=en}}

File:Howards Adventure detail.png

The original design of the manor house is unknown. In 1905, the house was described as "well preserved" and the plantation's neighboring fields all retained their original names. One of Howard's Adventure's parcels was known as "Deer Park", which was still home to the descendants of a deer herd first established by Philip Hammond in the 1700s.

In the 1970s, what remained was a two story wood frame house with a partial basement. The basement had six feet thick foundation walls of field stone, and much of the home's original wood paneling was intact. At the back of the house was a large stone that was known as a "slave auction block".

In 1974, the manor house was listed by Maryland's National Register by the Maryland Historical Trust. At the time, it was significant as it was an example of an 18th century property that was still operating in an agricultural function.{{Cite web |title=National Register Properties in Maryland |url=https://apps.mht.maryland.gov/nr/NRDetail.aspx?NRID=256 |access-date=2024-08-28 |website=apps.mht.maryland.gov}}

The Hammond burial plot is found at the property, with eleven burial markers. Philip Hammond, his wife Rachel Brice Hammond, Colonel Rezin and Matthias Hammond are known to be buried in the family plot at Howard's Adventure.

In 1978, the Department of the Navy wrote to the National Register of Historic Places to inform them that the house was targeted by vandals and burned on October 15 of that year. The property was subsequently delisted from the register.

File:Aerial view of U.S. Naval Academy Dairy Farm.tif

In the early 1900s, a typhoid epidemic traced to the commercial milk supply encouraged the US Navy to establish its own dairy farm. In 1913, the U.S. Congress acquired 800 acres of the Howard's Adventure property, including the historic manor farm and plantation house to be used as a farm to supply midshipmen at the United States Naval Academy.{{Cite web |title=U.S. Naval Academy Dairy Farm |url=https://ndw.cnic.navy.mil/Installations/NSA-Annapolis/Operations-and-Management/Dairy-Farm/ |access-date=August 28, 2024 |website=Commandant, Naval District Washington}} The farm would go on to house more than 300 cows and a staff of 15, producing up to 1,500 gallons of milk daily until 1996.[https://www.gao.gov/assets/b-156167.pdf Report to the Congress of the United States Operation of a Dairy Farm by the United States Naval Academy] Annapolis, Maryland. Department of the Navy by the Comptroller General of the United States.

In 1940, the US Navy converted the manor house into four apartments. The dairy's workers and support staff were accommodated in the former plantation house at the site.{{Cite web |last=Office |first=U. S. Government Accountability |title=Operation of a Dairy Farm by the United States Naval Academy {{!}} U.S. GAO |url=https://www.gao.gov/products/b-156167-0 |access-date=2024-08-28 |website=www.gao.gov |language=en}}

The operational costs of the dairy were under regular scrutiny. A report to Congress by the Comptroller General of the United States in 1966 strongly urged the Navy to discontinue the dairy, as its operations were not cost effective, and it was no longer needed for health reasons. The dairy continued operations, due to language in the [https://www.law.cornell.edu/topn/military_construction_authorization_act_1968 1968 Military Construction Act] that prevented its closing unless authorized by an Act of Congress.{{Cite news |last=Philpott |first=Tom |date=February 1996 |title=Points of Interest: Naval Academy Dairy Feels the Squeeze |url=https://www.usni.org/magazines/proceedings/1996/february/points-interest-naval-academy-dairy-feels-squeeze |access-date=August 28, 2024 |work=Proceedings |publisher=U.S. Naval Institute |volume=122/2/1,116}}

When signing the act into law, President Lyndon Johnson expressed concern over the inconsistency of the act's reach regarding separation of powers. The dairy was specifically mentioned.Lyndon B. Johnson, Statement by the President Upon Signing the Military Construction Authorization Act, 1968. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/238539

{{Blockquote|text=The first provision requires the continued operation of the Naval Academy's dairy farm. It provides that only an act of Congress can ever close that farm down.

Thus the Congress, which has given the Navy Department authority over the world's most powerful fleet, has withdrawn the Department's authority over 380 cows.|author=Lyndon B. Johnson|title=Statement by the President Upon Signing the Military Construction Authorization Act, 1968.|source=}}

{{Main article|Bill the Goat}}

The historic farm at Howard's Adventure has long been the home of the USNA football mascot, Bill the Goat.{{Cite web |last=Flanagan |first=Jason |date=2007-12-01 |title=Naval farm is safe, goats and all - Washington Examiner |url=https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/1312168/naval-farm-is-safe-goats-and-all/ |access-date=2024-08-28 |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |title=The Making of a Mascot - Bill the Goat |url=https://go.navyonline.com/blog/navy-mascot-goat |access-date=2024-08-28 |website=go.navyonline.com |language=en}} At the farm, Bill is cared for by Academy midshipmen, known as "Team Bill". The team mascot has been the target of regular theft by rival football teams prior to games, most notably Army.{{Cite web |last=Kime |first=Patricia |date=2021-11-23 |title=Army Gets Navy's (Wrong) Goat |url=https://www.military.com/daily-news/2021/11/23/army-gets-navys-wrong-goat.html |access-date=2024-08-28 |website=Military.com |language=en}} Bill the Goat has been kidnapped from the farm at least ten times.{{Cite news |last=Philipps |first=Dave |date=2021-11-23 |title=Army Cadets Tried to Get Navy's Goat, Again. Commanders Were Not Amused. |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/23/us/army-navy-mascot-kidnap-goat.html |access-date=2024-08-28 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}} Due to repeated thefts, the USNA has frequently had to move the animal mascots from the property prior to games for their protection.{{Cite web |last=Jackson |first=Alex |date=2013-12-12 |title=Don't steal our goat! Naval Academy takes mascot to a secret hideout |url=https://www.capitalgazette.com/2013/12/12/dont-steal-our-goat-naval-academy-takes-mascot-to-a-secret-hideout/ |access-date=2024-08-28 |website=Capital Gazette |language=en-US}} Two Bill mascots at Howard's Adventure were accidentally killed when herbicide was used too closely to their pens.{{Cite web |title=Bill the Goat |url=https://www.usna.edu/PAO/faq_pages/BilltheGoat.php |access-date=2024-08-28 |website=www.usna.edu |language=en}}

In 1997, the Naval Academy discontinued the dairy at the site to reduce costs.{{Cite news |date=2024-03-03 |title=Naval Academy to Close Its Money-Guzzling Dairy |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/local/1997/04/10/naval-academy-to-close-its-money-guzzling-dairy/728fb2bc-14f1-464d-ab6e-8b08e414e3d5/ |access-date=2024-08-28 |newspaper=Washington Post |language=en-US |issn=0190-8286}} They offered a lease of the dairy farm to Horizon Organic, to preserve the dairy's history and educate the community about organic farming.{{Cite web |last=Brewer |first=Sharon |date=April 19–25, 2001 |title=Moo-ving into the Land of Organics: At the Old Naval Academy Dairy Farm, the Cows Have a New Attitude |url=https://bayweekly.com/old-site/year01/issue9_16/lead9_16.html |access-date=2024-08-28 |website=bayweekly.com}} In 2008, the Navy granted a 30 year lease of the site to Anne Arundel County. The county looked to build the farm into a passive use regional park at the site.{{Cite web |date=2024-08-09 |title=Should Dairy Farm Become Solar Farm? These Anne Arundel Residents Say 'No' |url=https://patch.com/maryland/odenton/navy-s-solar-power-proposal-dairy-farm-concerns-gambrills-neighbors |access-date=2024-08-28 |website=Odenton-Severn, MD Patch |language=en}} In leasing the farm, the county agreed to continue to house Navy mascot, Bill the Goat at the site, and improve security.

In 2014, a five year lease was granted on the property to Maryland Sunrise Farm to operate an organic dairy at the site.{{Cite news |date=August 27, 2014 |title=Former Naval Academy Dairy Farm to be Organic |url=https://www.dairyherd.com/news/former-naval-academy-dairy-farm-be-organic |access-date=August 28, 2024 |work=Dairy Herd Management}}

A 2018 amendment to the United States Code (Title 10, Chapter 853 §8476) gave the United States Navy discretion to continue or terminate the dairy operations at Gambrills without requiring an act of Congress.{{Cite web |title=10 USC Ch. 853: United States Naval Academy |url=https://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?path=/prelim@title10/subtitleC/part3/chapter853&edition=prelim |access-date=2024-08-28 |website=uscode.house.gov}}

In 2024, the U.S. Navy began soliciting bids to convert the site to renewable energy generation.{{Cite web |date=2024-07-31 |title=Navy seeking renewable energy generation at former Naval Academy Dairy Farm in Gambrills |url=https://energycentral.com/news/navy-seeking-renewable-energy-generation-former-naval-academy-dairy-farm-gambrills |access-date=2024-08-28 |website=Energy Central |language=en}} Upon learning of the Navy's plans to convert the site, local officials and members of the community in Anne Arundel County voiced concerns, seeking to maintain the property's agricultural nature.{{Cite web |date=2024-08-24 |title=Anne Arundel executive, council members voice concerns over farming, access to land at former Naval Academy Dairy Farm |url=https://www.capitalgazette.com/2024/08/24/anne-arundel-executive-council-members-voice-concerns-over-farming-access-to-land-at-former-naval-academy-dairy-farm/ |access-date=2024-08-28 |website=Capital Gazette |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |last=Enright |first=Matt |date=2024-08-07 |title=U.S. Navy Dairy Farm Solar Proposal Draws Deep Skepticism |url=https://www.lancasterfarming.com/farming-news/news/u-s-navy-dairy-farm-solar-proposal-draws-deep-skepticism/article_e8472c4e-54dd-11ef-a9da-2334731e7682.html |access-date=2024-08-28 |website=Lancaster Farming |language=en}}

{{reflist}}

• [https://hammondharwoodhouse.org/howards-adventure-matthias-hammonds-country-estate/ Howard's Adventure Matthias Hammond's Country Estate]
• [https://core.tdar.org/collection/25313/us-naval-academy-dairy-farm-maryland US Naval Academy Dairy Farm, Maryland]. The Digital Archaeological Record
• {{Find a Grave cemetery|id=81044}}

Category:Houses completed in the 18th century

Category:Buildings and structures in Annapolis, Maryland

Category:Houses in Anne Arundel County, Maryland

Category:United States Naval Academy buildings and structures

Category:Burial monuments and structures in Maryland

Category:National Register of Historic Places in Anne Arundel County, Maryland

Category:Plantations in Maryland

Category:Colonial architecture in Maryland

Category:Demolished buildings and structures in Maryland

Category:Plantation houses in Maryland