A cropped portion of a print of the Union encampment on the grounds of Mount Clare showing McPherson’s Hotel.

A cropped portion of a print of the Union encampment on the grounds of Mount Clare showing McPherson’s Hotel. Courtesy of the Library of Congress.

Hotel

Mount Clare ended service as a single-family home after the third generation of Carrolls and their enslaved laborers moved out, circa 1836. James Carroll Jr. leased the home to at least two hotel operators for $25 per month. Enslavement at Mount Clare likely ended at this point. The hotel operators do not appear to have held slaves and archeology reveals that artifacts began to accumulate on the property in the 1830s because the orchards and grounds were no longer being meticulously maintained and reserved for the private use of one family.

McPerson’s Hotel

William McPherson ran McPherson’s Hotel at Mount Clare from 1836 to about 1854. During his proprietorship, McPherson grew and sold mushrooms in the Margaret’s still-operating greenhouse, staged target shooting contests for sharpshooters, built a ten-pin bowling alley to supplement the bowling green, and marketed the stunning view from the cascading gardens. His only daughter Joanna was married at Mount Clare on May 10th, 1849.

A nineteenth-century equivalent of an influencer ad recommending Mount Clare in the Baltimore Sun, May 14, 1846.

A nineteenth-century equivalent of an influencer ad recommending Mount Clare in the Baltimore Sun, May 14, 1846. Courtesy of the Maryland Historical Society

Ad recommending the greenhouse grown mushrooms at McPherson’s Mount Clare Hotel, Baltimore Sun, May 14, 1846.

Ad recommending the greenhouse-grown mushrooms at McPherson’s Mount Clare Hotel, Baltimore Sun, May 14, 1846. Courtesy of the Maryland Historical Society.

Field mushrooms, watercolor, 1899.

Field mushrooms, watercolor, 1899. Courtesy of Wellcome Library, London, Wellcome Images.

Mount Clare House

George Sugden ran a hotel or boarding house at Mount Clare from 1854 - 1867. During the Civil War, officers likely stayed in the mansion while soldiers created two large encampments on Carroll property. Sugden had previously run the Stag Hall Coffee House on Hanover Street, where he installed a ten-pin bowling alley and “offered all kinds of refreshments” including “oysters, beefsteaks, and welch rarebits” and kept only the “best qualities of ales, wines, and liquors.” Presumably, he continued these offerings at Mount Clare House.

George Sugden took over the proprietorship of the hotel, which he called Mount Clare House, by the mid 1850s.

George Sugden took over the proprietorship of the hotel, which he called Mount Clare House, by the mid 1850s. Courtesy of the Maryland State Archives.