THE BIRTHPLACE
Built in circa 1780, Whites Hall is the birthplace and boyhood home of Johns Hopkins, who went on to found the world-renowned university and hospital that bear his name. Johns was born at Whites Hall in 1795 and it was his home until he left for Baltimore at the age of 17 to work in his uncle's grocery business.
SOCIAL JUSTICE & OUR MISSION
In the 18th and 19th Centuries Whites Hall operated as a 500-acre tobacco plantation, employing slave labor. So, our goal is to not only tell the story and explore the legacy of Johns Hopkins, but to Honor the forgotten Enslaved People of Whites Hall. Therefore our mission is this...
... to save the Whites Hall property, and then provide it back to the community as a permanent non-profit asset for all to enjoy, with the proposed plan being:
- for the original house itself to become a full-time restaurant/tavern.
- for an 18 Century barn on the front field to operate as a café, bakery, additional dining space and venue for regular live music (“quietish” music, similar to our current Beer Garden entertainment).
- for the 10-acre front field to be developed into an arboretum/park/bird sanctuary, open year-around to the public.
- for a dozen Colonial Cottages to be scattered across the property for serene overnight stays.
- for a Museum that explores the complexities and legacy of Johns Hopkins, but, of equal importance, tells the story of the many enslaved people who were forced to work the plantation during the 17th and 18th Centuries.
- Honoring the Enslaved of Whites Hall: In a first-of-its-kind program, our intention is for all excess revenue from our operations to fund annual scholarships for deserving students, each in the name of a former enslaved person here at Whites Hall, as a means of honoring their memory. We hope for this scholarship program to become a model for other such properties and institutions across the nation that have similar associations with the Enslaved.
FALLEN INTO DISREPAIR
Whites Hall remained in the Hopkins family until 1910 when it was purchased by the Stewart Fruit Company, and continued operating as a farm until the early 1940s. From the 1940s until just 12 years ago Whites Hall was a private home.
Whites Hall, now boarded up to prevent vandalism
THE LEGACY
Johns Hopkins (May 19, 1795 - December 24, 1873) was one of 11 children born into a family of Quakers. He was an American entrepreneur and philanthropist of 19th-century Baltimore, Maryland. His bequests founded Johns Hopkins Hospital and Johns Hopkins University.
Little known is that in his will he also bequeathed funds for the Johns Hopkins Colored Children Orphan Asylum which offered educational and living facilities, and was praised by the Baltimore American as a place where "nothing was wanting that could benefit science and humanity"