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Music Room
The larger parlours on the west side of the Great Hall include the formal Drawing Room
to the north and the Music Room on the south side. The visitor enters the house today
through the west hyphen, walking up a small set of stairs and through a doorway into
the Music Room. This door, which connected the west side of the main block to the offices
in the hyphen during the Builder's period, was important. It isolated Captain Ridgely's
family life from the business interests of the estate. It is believed that originally the Music
Room may have also served as the library, a useful annex for Mr. Ridgely during his busi-
ness day.
Later generations of Ridgelys used the Music Room extensively, one mistress going
so far as to make it a supplemental greenhouse because of its southern exposure. One
of the children of John and Eliza Ridgely writes in her diary that the family said prayers
together in the Music Room and that she often sat there in the morning waiting for the
carriage to take her to school in Baltimore.
Drawing Room
The Drawing Room was the most formal room in the house. Here the Ridgelys enter-
tained dignitaries and honored guests. The architecture is particularly significant for its
marked symmetry and proportion. For example, the window openings are carefully
balanced with false windows (framed recesses which are plastered) opposing them. The
overmantel, with raised panel frieze surmounted by rectangular picture reserve and
moulded pediment, is balanced by the related doorway treatment.
The orientation of this room was probably deliberate. Located on the northwest side
of the house, the hyphen and west wing block out much of the available light source.
Since little time was spent here when the family was not entertaining formally, sunlight
and warmth were not as important in this room as they would be in the Dining Room
and in the Music Room/Library and Parlour, which were frequently used by the family.
Dining Room
To the east of the Great Hall are two smaller parlours, one for family use and one for
dining. The Ridgelys appear to have incorporated a dining room from the earliest period
of occupancy. However, when large groups were entertained, they dined in the Great Hall,
as was the earlier practice in many English country houses.
The original Dining Room was on the southeast side of the main block where you see
it today. This room was changed in the early 19th century when an east side window was
lowered to create a door, disturbing the symmetry flanking the fireplace and overmantel.
The alteration took place when the pantry hyphen was widened to create more work/
storage space. The change also allowed direct access to the Dining Room by means of
a small staircase from the pantries as well as from the second story.
The cupboard and corner closet are both original to this room. The cupboard is very
shallow and probably was used to store drinking glasses and other small items. The corner
closet is unusual and contains shelves as well as pegs for hanging.
The Dining Room has been restored to the period c.1810-1830, displaying the correct
colors used during Hampton's second period of decoration. The woodwork is painted
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