Hot House: 10131 Falls Road, Brooklandville, MD 21022
Stone house and adjacent smoke house, circa 1706, with 44’ front porch and new cedar shake roof. Award-winning historic renovation, 1996. Three bedrooms, 3.5 baths over two stories and 2,592 sq. ft. First floor master bedroom with sitting area, walk-in closet, fireplace and attached bath. Five working fireplaces, wood and gas. Entrance foyer, dining room , living room, eat-in kitchen with brick floor, cooking fireplace, pantry. Upstairs, further bedrooms, family room, office, laundry room. Unfinished basement. Pastoral views, Weil McLain gas boiler, central a/c, gardens, flagstone terrace, irrigation, on .69 acres: $559,000.
What: An evocative and character-rich home, even by historic standards. The setting, at the mouth of the verdant Green Spring Valley, was for centuries the summer hunting ground for the Susquehannock Indians (arrowheads abound). In the late 1600s, a garrison house was erected on this site to protect early Maryland settlers — hence the name Garrison Forest. In 1706, Richard Gist, grandfather of Revolutionary War hero Mordecai Gist, bought 200 acres here and built this house. He named it Turkey Cock Hall. It came into the Johnson family by marriage in 1750, and the Johnsons owned it for nearly 250 years, until 1995. In the early 1800s, the Johnsons built the Rockland Mill and its stone worker cottages, as well as the lovely hilltop manor across Falls Road. Family members still live nearby. The realtor has a further history of the house, which includes details of the magnificent renovation done on the place by current owners Courtney and Leslie Wilson. And if you can hunt down a copy of Dawn Thomas’s 1982 classic, “The Green Spring Valley: Its History And Heritage,” there is a long, vivid description of the history of Turkey Cock Hall. Today, it is as near perfection as a 300-year-old house can be, which is to say it has all of the quirks, but none of the problems. There is a surprising amount of closet space, high and wide doorways, deep window sills and plenty of light. The systems are state-of-the-art. New bathrooms, rooms of comfortable size, and all of them charming. We should all age so well.
Where: On Falls Road, a few houses north of the Ruxton Road intersection, across from Rockland Village. It’s a prime location, at the exact point where country meets city in this part of Baltimore. A mile south, and you are in Mt. Washington, on your way downtown via I-83. A mile north, and you are at Greenspring Station, heading for horse country (or Wegmans). The two finest aspects of this setting are its proximity to the Valley Inn – which has plenty of history of its own –and its view from the porch, up the hill, past the horses and barn, to the ‘old Johnson place’ perched up on top. Oh, and Baltimore County taxes, $4,550/year.
Would Suit: Old house fanciers, history buffs, historic preservationists looking for a rest.
Why: Because you lost your heart at the Indian tomahawk embedded in the kitchen floor. The four-foot high doorway leading to the study. The messages etched into the old window glass. Or the chestnut rafters of the smokehouse.
Why Not: Inside is very quiet, but you’ll hear the swish of cars on Falls Road if you’re sitting on the porch or in the garden.
NB: The 40 acres of wooded land behind the house is owned by the state of Maryland, and is protected from development.
Does anyone else find it funny that the Johnsons lived in a place called Turkey Cock Hall?