While out driving around with a friend of mine, we spotted a glimpse of this gem through the trees. Parking the car, we hiked through a good stretch of brambles and came upon this incredible house. Unfortunately, as is so often the case it seems, the light failed on us. Another trip is in order. If not within the next three days, then in the summer, provided it’s still standing then.

The History can be found here.

My buddy Zach, wheelman for this trip, in front of the barn.

The Cashell farm, constructed circa 1860 with a Queen-Anne addition, was previously surveyed by the Maryland- Capital Park and Planning Comission and was designated as a historic site by the M-NCPPC in 1984, in the Master Plan for Historic Preservation. Though the property retains the integrity of its architecture and setting, the buildings suffer from deterioration. The owner of the property has boarded over the first story windows of the main house and has not taken measures to maintain the secondary structures. Since the last survey, at least two wooden barns have collapsed. Two wooden barns, two hay storage buildings, two silos, a tile sided storage building, a garage, a shed, the main house, a stone building and two tenant houses still remain. The outbuildings associated with the main house, as well as the two tenant houses were not mentioned in the previous survey form and a description of these structures follows. The secondary structures of the Cashell farmhouse are in a semi-circle arrangement on the east side of the house. A paved driveway passes the front, or south elevation of the main house, the begins a large curve around to the rear of the main house. Along the south side of the curve are a general-purpose barn, two hay storage buildings and a livestock barn. At the east end of the curve are two tile silos and a 1 story concrete/tile storage building. The north side of the curve has a garage and a shed. To the rear of the main house is a 1-store, side-gable house.

J.H. Cashell (Grantham) Farm- 5867 Muncaster Mill Rd.

The earliest section of the frame Cashell Farmhouse, in the American farmhouse style, was built in the mid 19th century by the Hon. Hazel H. Cashell. His son John H. Added a turriculated, jerkin-headed- Queen Anne block at the end of that century.
Important for its association with the Cashell family as well as the high level of architecture archieved by the hybrid-style building.