WELCOME
The Friends of Mount Harmon, Inc. welcome you to Mount Harmon Plantation.
A seventeenth century tobacco plantation located in the heart of Cecil County, Maryland,
this 290-acre estate lies on a peninsula delineated by the creeks and inlets of
the Sassafras River. This area was known as "World's End" on early maps.
PLANTATION HOUSE
The manor house is a three-story, five-bay, brick double pile structure which restoration
architect Albert Kruse dated to 1730. The house is listed by the National Register
of Historic Places. Mrs. Boden furnished the interior with hand painted chinese
wallpaper and American, English, Irish and Scottish antiques of the period when
her ancestors occupied the house and traded with the British Isles.
PRIZE HOUSE
Mount Harmon was not only a successful tobacco plantation, but a local center for
tobacco shipment for the Sassafras area. It boasts the northernmost existing tobacco
prize house. "Prize" refers to the huge wooden screw used to compress tobacco from
two casks into one for more efficient shipment.
KITCHEN
The plantation kitchen recalls domestic life and work on a colonial American plantation.
It stands apart from the manor house and was restored and furnished with authentic
kitchen artifacts of the colonial era.
GARDENS
The formal boxwood garden enclosed by serpentine brick walls evokes Mount Harmon's
golden age. Between the boxwood garden and the manor house are a pair of magnificent
English Yew trees (Taxus baccata, variety dovastonii). These 200-year-old
yews may be the oldest in the United States.
WILDLIFE
Wildlife is abundant at Mount Harmon. The entire plantation is a nature preserve,
and all forms of plants and animals on the property are protected. Visitors are
requested not to pick the flowers or otherwise disturb plants and animals.
NATURE TRAILS
Cleared trails permit easy access to woods, fields, ponds and creeks in the Sassafras
River area, an area known for its intimate beauty. One trail leads into Shinai Woods;
it has been botanically documented, and a folder is available for those wishing
to explore this trail on their own.
RARE AND ENDANGERED SPECIES
Several rare and formerly endangered species live at Mount Harmon. A pair of American
bald eagles nests in the vicinity and can be seen hunting over the plantation. The
American Lotus (Nelumbo lutea), a relative of the water lily and the largest
wildflower in the United States, is rare in Maryland and neighboring states but
abundant at Mount Harmon with its peak flowering in August.
