Sandy Spring Museum / The Evan Snowden Dynasty: Born Free at the Manor

Sandy Spring Museum, also, The Evan Snowden Dynasty: Born Free at the Manor. Sandy Spring African American Heritage Trail. , Sandy Spring Museum , Sandy Spring Museum located at 17901 Bentley Rd., was founded as a local history museum, preserving the history of the surrounding area of Sandy Spring, MD. The museum is also a community gathering place, offering a wide variety of cultural activities year-round., Established in 1981 to preserve the Sandy Spring community's history, the museum opened in its current location in 1997. Its exhibit hall, of post-and-beam construction, is reminiscent of barns and outbuildings of historic Quaker farms. The museum houses exhibits and a research library and offers programs in the visual, literary, and performing arts., The museum houses the Annals of Sandy Spring that chronicles the history and activities of the Quaker Past in Sandy Spring. The museum is also the best repository of Blacks in Sandy Spring and surrounding areas, creating the following maps and narratives: Free Black Residents in the County, Black Union Soldiers from Sandy Spring, Black Baseball in the Sandy Spring Area, Juneteenth to the Fifteenth Amendment Celebration, and Black Historic Sites in the Sandy Spring Area, some complete with virtual visits., The Sandy spring Museum is classified as a Heritage Montgomery Gem., The Evan Snowden Dynasty: Born Free at the Manor , Woodlawn Manor House was constructed in the early 1800s. Dr. William Palmer and his son Benjamin were the longest property owners from the early 1800s to early 1900s. Evan Snowden was born to Carolyn Scott, a woman of color, and a white resident of the manor., Caroline Scott was a free "colored" woman who was a cook and servant at Woodlawn Manor in the employ of Dr. William Palmer and son Benjamin. She was impregnated by a resident at the Manor, allegedly by a white indentured servant from England, named Daniel Winslow, the butler and coachman. Caroline's son Evan James was born on March 8, 1845. Soon after Evan's birth Caroline was relocated from Woodlawn, with a generous settlement and farm in Howard County. Caroline married a man named Snowden, who gave Evan his name. At fifteen years old Evan moved to Baltimore to learn the blacksmith trade. He later married Alice Russell from Baltimore where five of their children were born (Charles, George, John Daniel and Mamie). The family returned to Howard County, purchased 20 acres in the Brighton Dam area and produced two additional children, Thomas and Beatrice. Evan James Snowden, patriarch of the Snowden families in the County died on September 12, 1912 at 67 years old. Evan Snowden's philosophy that hard work and determination can supersede all obstacles is reflected in the successes of his descendants.