"Guilford" outside Frederick, Maryland

Guilford as it looked when Dr. Charles Henry Conley and his wife, Helen Baughman Conley, moved in with their two children, Helen Abell and Charley. Click photo to enlarge.
 

     Guilford is on land that was originally granted to Daniel Dulaney between 1743 and 1748 as Locust Level. Later it was divided and one part was sold in 1801 to James Smith whose daughter, Sara, married Col. John McPherson. After being owned by several members of the Smith family the property was sold to Worthington Johnson in 1834. After that it had several owners: David O. Thomas (1851 Upper Farm), David Boyd (1856), Basil Norris (1863), John Best (1884), Allen Rohrback (1902), James August (1904 Ellman).

     In 1908 Helen Baughman Conley, wife of Dr. Charles Henry Conley, purchased the home and named it Guilford after her grandfather's home in Baltimore. Her grandfather was Arunah Shepherdson Abell, founder of the Baltimore Sun newspapers. The property passed to Mrs. Conley's daughter, Eleanor Brooke Conley Lee who died in 2000.

     The house was built around 1820 in a regional style of Federal and early Neo-Classical architecture. The visitor is first impressed with the pedimented portico with large front door topped with a fanlight and by the central stepped parapet with half-circle window. The massive parged and white-washed walls have an aura of strength and stability as well as wonderful insulation properties. The two chimneys hint at the beautiful fireplaces in each of the four front rooms. At some later time a rear wing was added.

     To the left of the house is a formal boxwood garden installed about 1930. It has a gold fish pond in its center.

This is the stone gate on old Buckeystown Road before the Conleys bought Guilford; it was then named Ellmar. Click to enlarge.

Looking up the driveway to the house; old barn roof is seen on the right. Click photo to enlarge.

Martha "Tootie" Conley in the side garden by the goldfish pool.

The garden as it looked in the 1930s; click photo to enlarge.

  
Click Here for view of garden in 2011

   
These pictures of the garden were taken probably in the 1970s.
 

Looking from the barn toward the house in the background
with the potato cellar and dairy processing building in the foreground.
The chicken house is the long building directly in front of the house.
The smoke house is behind the tree on the right.
Click here for photo of area taken in 2011. Note small building behind small tree on right and potato cellar just to right of power pole just left of center; they are in modern photo.

Guilford was once the home of a top Jersey milk cow herd and beautiful horses.

Dr. Conley and Laddie in the side yard.
 

Guilford always had a peacock while Dr. Conley lived there. He also kept show pigeons. The 2 story smokehouse on left is seen in the modern photo at bottom of this page.

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Today Guilford sits within a small office park just across Interstate 70 from the city.

Rear view of the house (right) and the old smokehouse just to its left.