Welcome to our new 2012 Web Site!
We are currently working on adding and updating volumes of research on Handsell, but for those of you visiting for the first time, we are glad you stopped by! Here you will find the basics of who we are and what we do. Come back again soon for updates!
The “old brick house” at Chicone, known as Handsell, located in the Indiantown north of Vienna, Dorchester County, Maryland, has been purchased by the Nanticoke Historic Preservation Alliance with a Preservation Easement from the Maryland Historic Trust. On the National Register of Historic Places, the site will be used to interpret the native American contact period with the English, the slave story and the life of all those who lived at Handsell.
Handsell History 101, the Short Version:
In 1665, Thomas Taylor was granted 700 acres of Land called “Handsell” along the Nanticoke River in the location of Chicone Indian town. In 1704 this land was made part of an Indian reservation by an Act of the Maryland Assembly. In 1769 the properties were returned to the ownership of the English families who had possessed the land grants.
Handsell is one of the last remaining 18th c. brick dwelling houses in Dorchester Co. Originally a grand, two story Georgian home, a major event, possibly a fire at Handsell gutted much of the interior and weakened the rear exterior wall, causing a partial collapse of the structure.
After a fire, Handsell was rebuilt to the one and one-half story structure we see today. The interior woodwork is all original to the period of the rebuild in 1837 by John Shehee.
This brick dwelling house exhibits a unique façade with a protruding pavilion and Flemish bond brickwork, indicating the builder’s knowledge of contemporary design trends.
Handsell is now listed on the State and National Register of Historic Places!!!
Click on History of Handsell Land Grant in menu above for a more complete history.
- Photograph of Handsell taken about 1920, labelled as “Steele Family Homestead”.
- Handsell as she looks today, awaiting much needed restoration.
WE WISH TO THANK THOSE WHO HAVE DONATED SERVICES TO
THE EFFORT TO RESTORE HANDSELL:
Canvasback Restaurant * Harman Septic Care * Halloway and Marvel, Accounting * John W. Tieder, Inc. * The Copy Shoppe * Michael Bourne, architectural historian
David Harp, photography * Tom Pleasant of United Construction Co. * Gary Dodge of Dodge Doors * Robert Collison, attorney
