
Captain Charles Ridgely III (1733–1790) was a
colonial Maryland planter and ironmonger.
Biography
Ridgely was born in
Maryland Province in 1733 to Colonel
Charles Ridgely II (1702-1772), ("Charles the Merchant") and Rachel Howard. With his father and brother, he established the Northampton Iron Works just north of future
Towsontown /Towson, under what is now
Loch Raven Reservoir
The Loch Raven Reservoir is a reservoir that provides drinking water for the City of Baltimore and most of Baltimore County, Maryland, Baltimore County, Maryland. It is fed by the Gunpowder River, Big Gunpowder Falls river, and has a capacity of ...
. He married Rebecca Dorsey, the daughter of Caleb Dorsey, an ironmonger in
Anne Arundel County. Caleb was a grandson of
Hon. John Dorsey.
Ridgely built the massive
Hampton Mansion (now a
National Historic Site), after the
American Revolutionary War
The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was the armed conflict that comprised the final eight years of the broader American Revolution, in which Am ...
, between 1783 and 1790. By the time it was completed, the
Georgian-style structure was the largest private home in the country.
The Mansion is now preserved as the
Hampton National Historic Site and cared for / operated by the
National Park Service
The National Park Service (NPS) is an List of federal agencies in the United States, agency of the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government, within the US Department of the Interior. The service manages all List ...
of the
U.S. Department of the Interior.
Capt. Ridgely died in 1790, and left the inheritance to his nephew Charles Carnan if he would assume the family name and carry on the Ridgely title. So
Charles Carnan Ridgely, became the second master of the Hampton estate and eventually
Governor of Maryland.
References
External links
''Captain Charles Ridgely''(1767) by
John Hesselius
''Rebecca Dorsey Ridgely''(1767) by John Hesselius
People from Baltimore County, Maryland
1790 deaths
1733 births
American ironmasters
Ridgely family
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