The Jarrett Manor

By Valerie Bahr & Wendy Richardson as a project of North Harford Middle School. Information obtained in an interview with Kenneth Merryman in 1992.

Revised December 13, 2002 by information received from John D. Jarrett.

Jarrett Manor 1842-1976

Joshua W. Jarrett, youngest child and fifth son of Luther and Julia Ann Jarrett inherited Jarrett Manor from his mother, Julia Ann Jarrett. When Joshua died in 1905 he willed the property to his niece, Laura V. Amos and her two children, Lillian V. Amos and Joshua Jarrett Amos.

Later, Lilliam Amos Brown came to inherit Jarrett Manor. The circumstances of her inheritance are not known.

Lillian Amos Brown along with her husband, Tom Brown, lived in the house called the Jarrett Manor. Tom Brown lated commited suicide at the top of the back stairs.The Jarrett Manor was built in 1842, but later demolished in late 1976.

The Beginning of a Beautiful Mansion

There stood 300 acres of empty land waiting to be filled. That land was later filled by the beautiful Jarrett Manor. There on the northeast crossroads were dozens of slaves working on building the mansion. The homemade brick was made right there on the land and the walls were made two feet thick. The original floors were made of white pine. The Jarrett Manor was built facing Old Jarrettsville Road and the side porch faced Baldwin Mill Road. Oak and pine trees dotted the acreage closest to the house.

Inside of the Manor

The most memorable feature of the house was the winding staircase. It went from the first floor all the way up the last floor of the house, the third floor. The staircase had a thick rounded railing that was known to be handmade. Some of the neighbors kids would visit the house and they would slide down the railing from the third floor and land on a mattress that was placed at the bottom of the staircase.

In some of the rooms there were deep windows seats with high ceilings. There was no central heating system in the house, so the rooms were heated by an iron stove with wood but later on with coal. In the manor's large living room, hung a huge oval mirror with a gilt frame hanging from floor to ceiling. A lot of wedding pictures were taken in front of the mirror, because of its beauty. In the manor beautiful antique furniture sat in almost every room.

This is a picture of the Jarrett Manor family room. Lillian Brown stands in the top left corner.

The Jarrett Manor had 14 rooms all together.

There were five rooms on the first floor. These rooms were the living room, the parlor, the breakfast room, the kitchen and the dining room. The kitchen stretched along the back of the house on the first floor. The breakfast room wasn't used too often. The window of the breakfast room had ivy that grew inside the room from the outside of the house.

There was a staircase, known as the back staircase located in the kitchen. These stairs led to the second floor. Those stairs were important. At the top of the stairs was where Tom Brown, husband of Lillian Jarrett Brown, committed suicide.

Second and Third Floors of the Manor

The second floor of the manor contained five rooms. Four of those five rooms were bedrooms. Those bedrooms had windows six to seven foot high. The fifth room was called the doll room. This was where Mrs. Brown kept her collection of her beautiful dolls. On this floor, the top of the back stairs ended. The third floor of the manor was very simple. It contained the attic. Mrs. Brown kept trunks of things she didn't keep track of up there. She would let the children who visited look through them.

The Destruction of something that was so beautiful

In June 1976, the end came to the Jarrett Manor. When the Jarrett Manor was knocked down, it was like there was some Jarrettsville history lost. The last family to live in the manor were the Keys, but the last time it was used was when the Morgart family used it as an antique shop. When no one lived in it anymore, it was owned by Stanley Lloyd. People wanted to preserve the manor, but Lloyd wanted it down. That argument went back and forth. A group from Jarrettsville went and got a court order, in order to keep the Jarrett Manor standing, but when they got to the land, Artwood Builders Construction Company had already started knocking it down. Stanley Lloyd had beaten them to the manor.

The first part taken out of the manor was the winding staircase and that was given away. People from Jarrettsville would go up to the manor and take the brick that was laying around. People did think history from Jarrettsville and the Jarrett family was lost. The Jarrett Manor was considered one of the finest houses of the countryside at the time of its erection and destruction.

What became of those 300 acres?

If you take a look at where the Jarrett Manor once stood, you'd see something that's not quite as pretty as the manor was. First put up in the place of the manor was a convenience store called 7-11. Then a video store, cleaners and a restaurant were added. All those buildings are connected together in a little strip shopping center called the Jarrettsville Plaza. The buildings currently still stand at the center of Jarrettsville.

If you have any pictures or additional information about the Jarrett Manor, please contact us.

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10/12/1998