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Heritage Area Spotlight!
Poplar Hill Mansion
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Guest article by Sarah Meyers, Curator
Poplar Hill Mansion was built as the manor house of a farm outside the small eighteenth century town of Salisbury. Construction began in 1795. In 1803 the builder died and his property was ordered to be put up for sale for payment of debts. The house was still incomplete.
In 1805 the title passed to Salisbury’s first surgeon, Dr. John Huston. He tried to raise the funds to build a hospital in Salisbury to no avail. Instead, he had to practice his trade in his home. During the War of 1812, homes of prominent citizens were burned by the British; however, Poplar Hill was spared. British soldiers would have known Poplar Hill was the house of a surgeon and could bring their wounded there for treatment if need be.
When the Doctor died in 1828 a full inventory of his property was taken that showed among other possessions: 42 Windsor chairs, medical equipment, fruit trees, vegetable crops, sheep, cattle, and eighteen slaves on the property. Huston’s widow Sarah inherited the property. In the late 1840s to early 1850s, she partially subdivided it, overseeing the laying out of Poplar Hill Avenue and Isabella Street. The subdivision of “Poplar Farm” continued at a moderate rate before the Civil War. From the 1870s until World War One, the extended area experienced a building boom, creating Salisbury’s first suburb, or “Newtown.” Mrs. Huston left Poplar Hill to her daughter Elizabeth, who initiated its sale to George Waller in 1881. Over the years, Poplar Hill Mansion has gone from 357 acres to just one acre. In 1970, the property was put under easement and purchased by the Maryland Historical Trust and eventually sold to the City of Salisbury in 1974. The Mansion became a museum in 1975 and is maintained by the City and the Friends of Poplar Hill Mansion.
Open every Sunday from 1:00-4:00 for free tours and other times by appointment
read more about poplar hill mansion
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