Saturday, May 15 - Arrival at Kiplin Hall

After one cancelled flight, one three hour tube ride (THREE hours on the tube, really?), and one ride in a coach full of boisterous, drunk boxing club members, I arrived at Kiplin Hall. An absolutely beautiful

manor/hall/country house (the names to call it seem endless), built in the early 1620's by George Calvert, Lord Baltimore, later the founder of Maryland. After settling into the Carriage House (Crewe Cottage), which was recently renovated and therefore surprisingly comfortable, the group took a stroll around the lake.

View of the lake behind Kiplin, created when gravel was quarried in the 80's.

View from the lake. On the right is Kiplin Hall, and the left is a later edition of servant's quarters. The buildings were originally connected, but the hallway and another portion of the extension was torn down in 1975.

Peacock Topiary

Carriage House (our home for three weeks)

The curator no longer lives on the grounds, but the warden does, and she evidently owns several ferrets, cats, and a sheepdog.

I also discovered just how spotty our internet can be, so most of my posts will be preplanned and uploaded when possible.

As this is my journal for the course, much of what I write will be either musings or notes on comparative public history, extracted from our site visits, our projects, our texts, and conversations with classmates and professors. I will continue to post pictures of sites, and I hope to later upload scanned versions of some of the literature we receive (all duly cited of course). Ultimately my goal is to have documentation of my trip that is comprehensive and somewhat cohesive.

Some of what you find here may later be revised and uploaded to our class blog.

http://blogspot.englandfieldschool.com