Winter in Review: a Season of Gifts and Visitors
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In this issue: Cloverfields entertains friends, family, colleagues, and connoisseurs. Also, new research into the Hemsleys of Philadelphia and the Miller’s House.
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Henrietta Maria Earle: The Portrait of a Lady—Francis Scott Key's Poem for his Friend, William Hemsley, Esq.— A Tribute to Mary Davidson Callahan Pippin
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When twenty-year-old Henrietta Maria Hemsley (1779-1821) sat for her miniature portrait in 1799, she could not have imagined its journey through time. Nor could she have foreseen that Clover Fields, her childhood home, would be preserved to reflect the year 1784, the time when she was just five years old. Yet, this is the remarkable course history has taken. Now, after more than two centuries away, Henrietta Maria’s miniature portrait has finally returned to Clover Fields, coming full circle.
Read MoreWhat is in a name? Rediscovering the Forgotten Significance of “Clover Fields” and its Influence on Interior Decoration Decisions. Also, Wellness Tourism in the Early Nineteenth Century.
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The floorcloth’s grass-green color is particularly significant for Cloverfields, as the grounds possibly featured one of the earliest curated green spaces in Maryland. Settlers imported seeds, including clover, not native to North America, to create the first European-style lawns.
Read MoreNegotiating Friendship, Courtship, and Love in the Eighteenth Century
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In honor of the recent Valentine’s Day holiday, this month’s newsletter highlights stories of romantic relationships involving the Hemsley family. Also in this issue is new research on artist John Hesselius (1728-1778), his work, and his family connection with Cloverfields.
Read MoreIn This Issue: Discovering William Hemsley, Jr. (1766-1825) in Art and Life, CPF Acquires the Hemsley-Forman Desk and Bookcase, and Summer in Review
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The image shows a mature man, poised and confident, with wide blue eyes and a mouth conveying just a hint of a smile. Hemsley's unhappy biography is at odds with the sitter’s sanguine expression.
Read MoreIn This Issue: Completion of the Ice House, and Imagining a Summer Meal with the Hemsleys. Also, Restoration Team Members Win Four Awards.
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The reconstruction of the ice house and wellhead. Restoration Team Members Win Four Awards. Summer entertaining at Cloverfields.
Read MoreIn This Edition, a New Art Acquisition, and Reconsidering the Attic
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A life in Profile: Acquiring the silhouette of Colonel Joseph Forman, Reconsidering the Attic, The Invention of Comfort.
Read MoreSpring at Cloverfields. Plus, How to Recreate a Historic Interior and Why Did the Hemsleys Have So Many Windsor Chairs?
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Video Tour of Cloverfields’ Spectacular Gardens in Bloom. Meet Rachel Lovett, Hired by CPF to Create a Furnishing Plan and Direct Collections. Estate Inventories: What we Can Learn From Them.
Read MoreRecreating a Missing Staircase
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The Discovery of a Missing Staircase. Plus Stairs and Status.
Read MoreRecreating a 1784 Terraced Garden: Historical Landscaping at Cloverfields
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Recreating a 1784 Terraced Garden: Historical Landscaping at Cloverfields.
Kimmel Studio Architects and McHale Landscaping collaborate on an impressive and challenging task: restoring the terraced gardens at Cloverfields. Planting nearly 700 boxwoods in December of 2020, the team transforms the barren winter space into an architectural and historical feat brimming with green. With research gathered from archaeological discoveries, ground-penetrating radar, and period writings, the Cloverfields restoration team establishes a garden that no one knew existed just below the surface.
Read MoreCloverfields as of March 2021: The Main House 1705 Dormer Restoration
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Restoring 1705 Dormers on the Main House
In this newsletter, Matt Culp, a carpenter at Lynbrook of Annapolis, restores the dormers on the front of the house using a 17th Century roofing style and original hardware. A dormer is a type of roof window that projects beyond the roof plane, often used to increase the usable space in a loft or attic and to add light.
Read MoreCloverfields as of February 2021: Recreating and Installing a Seventeenth-Century Door
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The complex restoration of Cloverfields’ seventeenth-century cellar door required collaboration across four disciplines: architectural history, blacksmithing, carpentry, and millworking. Architectural historian Willie Graham, blacksmith Peter Ross, carpenter Matt Culp (Lynbrook of Annapolis), and millwork specialist Jack (Jack O’Beales Custom Millworks) combined their expertise to construct a functional, period-specific door for the Cloverfields cellar.
Read MoreCloverfields as of January 2021: The 1769 Ashlar Stucco Wall Discovery at Cloverfields
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Preservation specialists are now working on the final details of the Cloverfields restoration, including finishes and paint. And they keep making some very interesting discoveries. A few months ago, the painters were working on the 1769 paint layer, when they noticed that the stucco had been scored to make it look like ashlar.
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