During the summer of 2025 I was
given the wonderful opportunity to intern at a very small historic site in an
isolated corner of Baltimore County, Maryland. I worked as a paid intern at
Todd’s Inheritance Historic Site which is a colonial-era farmstead located at
the very end of North Point Peninsula near Fort Howard. This area has a rich
history rooted in the War of 1812 and specifically the siege of Baltimore and
Fort McHenry. The three-story farmhouse was originally rebuilt in the 1820s
after being burned down by the British invasion in 1814, but the area was first
settled by the Todd family in 1664. The property was held in an unbroken line
of succession for over three hundred years until in 1975 it was sold off and
fell into serious disrepair. In 1997, the house was saved from sale and
possible destruction by a coalition of community members dedicated to
preserving the historic significance and cultural heritage of the property, and
in 2001 the house was awarded a Historic Site designation by the Maryland
Department of Natural Resources and kept under the stewardship of a group of
dedicated community volunteers. Over my three months of work, I collaborated
closely with these volunteers to identify, organize, catalog, and digitize over
200 various items on display in the house spread across four different rooms.
This detailed work involved categorizing the items, determining their
provenance, their year/era of origin, the materials they consist of, as well as
the size dimensions of each item and photographic documentation. Many items
originated from the Todd family heirlooms and thus had to handled with utmost
care and respect as a member of the Todd family still resides locally and is
heavily involved in the project of historic preservation and documentation.
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