Oak Hill

Oak Hill. . During the Civil War period, the area now known as "Oak Hill" was a large estate called "Settled in Time" and was the home of James H. and Sarah Grove. The Groves sold the estate in November 1868 to William T. Hamilton, a former congressman and future U.S. Senator (1869-1875) and Governor of Maryland (1880-1884). When Governor Hamilton died in 1888, ownership was inherited by his wife, Clara Holmes Jenness Hamilton. The Hamiltons built large Gothic Victorian additions to the Grove mansion, which is now located at 821 The Terrace., Mrs. Hamilton and her daughter Julia Briscoe (1862-1937) were proponents of the "Garden City" movement which began in England around 1898. In a time before women secured the right to vote, Mrs. Hamilton annexed the tract into the City in 1905 and designed Oak Hill beginning in 1909 as a "garden suburb." This "garden suburb" created a walk-to-work community on the edge of town with gracious tree-lined streets, large front lawns, curved streets and common park areas. Oak Hill was one of the first garden suburbs designed in America. Strict covenants about minimum home size and cost, unsightly outbuildings and other issues were recorded and Mrs. Hamilton retained an easement on all of the trees lining the streets., The Oak Hill Historic District was entered into the National Register of Historic Places on September 18, 1987.