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Glen Ellen
by Dr. Charles J.
Scheve, Historian
Baltimore
County Historical Society
Some think that the waters of Loch Raven cover a castle. This is almost true, but not
quite. A castle did stand at one time close to the waters of Loch Raven's Hampton Cove and
for a time could be seen rising to the southeast above the lake's shore. Now, however,
only its ruins remain. This was Glen Ellen castle, built by Robert Gilmor III (1808-1874).
Robert Gilmor III was the son of William Gilmor and nephew of Robert Gilmor, Jr., the
renowned Baltimore art collector. He grew up at his parents' Baltimore County estate, the
Vineyard, in Huntingdon near the present Waverly. It should be kept in mind that at that
time the northern boundary of Baltimore City was Mulberry Street.
He attended Harvard University and graduated in the class of 1828, having as one of his
classmates Oliver Wendell Holmes. His father being too ill to attend the graduation, he
was joined by his uncle Robert, who apparently regarded him as a favorite nephew. After
graduation he went to Paris as an attaché there in the American legation. He then
continued his grand tour of Europe.
In England he visited the impressive residence of Sir Horace Walpole, Strawberry Hill,
built in the Gothic Revival style then in vogue. He met Sir Walter Scott and was invited
by him to visit his home in Scotland, Abbotsford, another Gothic Revival residence, built
as a castle on a hillside above the river Tyne. Both of these residences so impressed him
that he determined to build his own residence in America along these lines.
He returned to Maryland and married the beautiful Ellen Ward, daughter of Judge Ward of
Baltimore. She was 21; he 24. In 1832 he purchased a large tract of land, about 900 acres,
from Priscilla Ridgely White, daughter of Captain Charles Ridgely, which lay along the
southwestern shore of Gunpowder Falls just north of the Ridgely's Hampton and Northhampton
estates. Here he decided to built his home, a castle resembling Sir Walter Scott's
Abbotsford. He chose a similar setting, a wooded hillside overlooking a stream, Peterson's
Run, which flowed down the valley and joined the Gunpowder.
According to the plat which he had drawn up, a copy of which is in the Baltimore County
Courthouse, he divided his estate into two sections, giving each a name. The hilly and
wooded section to the east he named Ravensrock. The fields to the west he named New
Market. He decided to build his mansion on the western margin of Ravensrock. He named the
place Glen Ellen after his wife and the beautiful little glen that graced the hillside
there.
This estate would stretch today from the present lower dam over the Gunpowder to the
eastern edge of Pine Ridge golf course.
For the mansion he employed as architect Alexander Jackson Davis of the New York firm of
Towne, Davis, and Hastings, and over the next few years Davis supervised the construction
of the castle. A projecting platform of stone and earth was erected on the hillside. Stone
was quarried from the hill, and the castle built on this platform to a height of three
stories.
The first floor was a partial basement containing some bedrooms, storerooms, and kitchen
with an open hearth fireplace for cooking. At the kitchen end, across from the fireplace,
was a stairway leading down to a windowless cellar that served as a springhouse and may
also have functioned as an icehouse.
The second floor, the main floor, at the south end contained a large drawing room that
stretched the entire width of the house, about 43 feet. Parallel to this were three rooms:
an entrance hall, a ballroom, and a library.
The entrance hall, about 20 by 12 feet, had a large oak door opening onto the drive that
ran parallel to the house.
The ballroom was octagonal in shape and about 20 feet in diameter. It was crowned with a
dome that rose to the height of the third story and was lighted by a lantern window above
the roof. Just below the dome, at the level of the third story, a gallery for musicians
surrounded the ballroom.
The library, about 20 by 20 feet, ended on its west side with a large semi-hexagonal
stained glass window overlooking the valley.
From the ballroom, a hall stretched the length of the house with a door to the outside at
the north end. Along the hall to the left was the wide stairway, then the dining room,
above the kitchen. To the right were bedrooms.
The third floor comprised bedrooms on either side of a central hall. In the original plan
by Davis, the bedrooms would have been the same height as the rooms of the second floor.
But here they are compressed in height with dormer windows projecting from the sloping
slate roof.
Several towers rose above the house. The northwest tower undoubtedly served as a chimney
for the kitchen below. Several other towers on the opposite side of the house must also
have functioned as chimneys for the fireplaces in the rooms below. The tallest and most
impressive tower, the southwest, about 65 feet in height, contained a spiral stairway
leading to a lookout at its top, from which the valley to the west, south, and north could
be viewed.
This valley, New Market, was squared off into fields, orchard, vegetable garden, and
barnyard. Alongside Peterson's Run a millrace led to the grist mill (or mills, as tax
records indicate). But the most important section of this valley lay between the vegetable
garden and the barnyard, a series of paddocks for horses. Gilmor had a passion for horses
and equestrian sports. For several years he was the publisher of a sports magazine,
The
American Turf Register, devoted largely to horses. He had a racetrack, possibly two,
that lay beside Gunpowder Falls, along the northern edge of Ravensrock. He rode about the
country in a coach and four. And he ornamented his home with paintings of horses, some by
well known artists. As a country squire and gentleman farmer, what he had in mind to
operate was before all else a horse farm.
Ravensrock, the other half of the estate was quite hilly and largely wooded. It probably
served as a hunting preserve with trails for riding.
In addition to the mill(s) and barns several other buildings lay about the estate. North
of the castle stood a stone and wood carriage house with entrance onto the road that led
past the mansion. Its basement served as a stable with stone floor and stalls for horses.
Across the valley, near Old York Road to the west, stood a guest house designed as a Greek
Temple. The entrance to the estate off Old York Road had a gatehouse, we are told, beside
a picturesque half-broken arch. The remains of a stone structure in the orchard area can
still be seen at low water in Hampton Cove. It was possibly a building housing a cider
mill. One can still see traces of a stone-paved road leading from it to the mansion. He
also had a dairy. Although we know that Gilmor had slaves, we are not sure of their number
or of the location of the slave quarters.
At Glen Ellen, Robert and Ellen Gilmor raised 11 children: 9 boys and 2 girls. Three of
the boys attained public renown. The eldest, Robert, IV, became a well-known Baltimore
judge. William became a railroad president. But the most famous was the glamorous Harry,
the famous Confederate cavalry colonel who in 1864 led his battalion across Baltimore
County to burn down the railroad bridge over the Gunpowder River at Magnolia.
After the death of Robert, III, in 1874, the Glen Ellen estate was divided among his
heirs. Harry was given the portion containing the castle and lived there until his death
in 1883. His father's grandchildren and great-grandchildren enjoyed their stays in the
castle, especially during summer vacations, as noted by his grand-daughter, Ellen Gilmor
Buchanan. What child would not enjoy living in a castle?
The castle and its grounds were sold in 1883. The last one to own them was Henry
(Christian) Brack.
To supply Baltimore City with water, a dam was erected in the 1880s across the Gunpowder,
following the suggestion of Robert's son William, who had acquired the Summerfield estate
across the river. He also suggested the name for the resulting lake, Loch Raven. In 1914 a
larger dam was erected and enlarged in 1923 to a height of 240 feet above sea level. The
spreading lake gradually flooded the New Market portion of the Glen Ellen estate and came
within a few hundred feet of the castle. Since the latter relied on a septic system and
was so close to the reservoir, it could no longer be used as a residence. Parts of it were
removed to adorn other houses elsewhere, most notably the Parker's home The Cloisters on
Falls Road. After its timbers were removed for recycling elsewhere, its walls were tumbled
down in 1930. Only its foundations mark its outline today. An inglorious end for a once
glorious castle.
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