Explore L'Hermitage

Explore the site of the second largest slave plantation in Frederick County, Maryland. Beginning in 1794 and 1795, the Vincendières, a French planter family from the colony of Saint-Domingue (Haiti), began acquiring lands that would one day comprise a 748-acre plantation that they called L'Hermitage. Like many French refugees, the Vincendières came to the United States in 1793 to escape civil unrest associated with the French Revolution and with the slave uprisings that began in Saint-Domingue in 1791. Today's Best Farm consists of the southern 274 acres of the original 748-acre L'Hermitage plantation. The Vincendières brought twelve enslaved people of African descent with them from Saint-Domingue - the maximum legal limit. By 1800, Victoire Vincendière was the legal head of household at L'Hermitage, which was home to 108 people. Ninety of the 108 (more than 80% of the plantation population) were enslaved human beings, making Victoire the second largest enslaver in Frederick County at the time. The other 18 members of the household probably consisted of members of Victoire's immediate family, along with a distant cousin named Jean Payen de Boisneuf and other French refugees. Most of the structures that exist today on the Best Farm date to the Vincendieres' occupation of the property. The secondary house appears to be the oldest building on the farm and at least the first floor may predate the Vincendieres. The main house and the stone barn both appear to have been constructed in the 1790s. Archeological research has revealed the location of cabins for people enslaved by the Vincendieres. Remains of a kiln near the slave village suggests that the at least some of the enslaved laborers were engaged in lime production.