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A Farming Physician
Trained at the University of Pennsylvania, the oldest medical school in the country, William Palmer became a doctor at age twenty-three. He treated locals ranging from wealthy slave owners to free blacks. Palmer became farming to earn more money, taking to heart the advice of one of his former professors, Dr. Benjamin Rush, who noted, "The resources of a farm will prevent your cherishing, even for a moment, an impious wish for the prevalence of sickness in the neighborhood."
Who Lived Here?
When Dr. William Palmer arrived at Woodlawn in 1822, this farming physician quickly set about turning the estate into one of the most successful plantations in the neighborhood.
A native of Chester County, Pennsylvania, William Palmer grew up in a prosperous Quaker farming family and was looking for a familiar place to settle. Here at Woodlawn, he joined the thriving Quaker community in Sandy Spring. Known for its innovative farming techniques and a willingness to led support to neighbors, Sandy Spring had a cooperative spirit that could mean boom or bust for a struggling farmer.
Through their Quaker neighbors opposed slavery and used only paid laborers, the Palmers held men, women, and children -- at one point numbering thirteen -- in bondage. The enslaved community was put to work in the farm's fields, outbuildings, stone barn, and in the manor.
For almost 100 years, the Palmers flourished at Woodlawn. After the death of William Palmer in 1869, his son, Benjamin, continued farming with the assistance of hired help until the property was sold out of family hands in 1919.
Woodlawn's Laborers:
Woodlawn's enslaved laborers worker from sun up to sundown, and spent precious free time with family and each other. They may have lived in the estate's modest log cabin near the grand manor house, or perhaps in the manor's kitchen wing.
Woodlawn also employed hired help -- some of whom lived on-site -- to work the fields and attend to the Palmers inside the manor.
The First Family:
Woodlawn's fine brick manor house was constructed between 1806 and 1822 by Samuel and Anna Thomas. The couple operated a boarding school at the house for several years, teaching pupils from Georgetown and Washington, including Francis Scott Key's daughter. William Palmer purchased Woodlawn from the Thomases' children. |