Good Morning Harford Gang, I've something bugging me and since I live in Florida now, it is hard for me to spend enough time in Harford County to do any real research. Or Baltimore County for that matter as at this time, the area may have been Baltimore County! My grandparents Henry and Willie Lou Graham Crouse purchased a farm in Pylvesville, Upper Harford in about 1924. It is located not too far from St. Mary's Catholic Church on Claremont Mill road....think that is how it is spelled. The family owned the property until about 1950 or a bit later. Information from one of my Aunts is that this particular property contained the "main" house of the "old plantation". I can remember seeing old foundation stones on either side of the lane that wound up past the barn (now gone) to the house. What I remember is there was not indoor plumbing and the "running" water in the kitchen was run by my grandfather by a very small pipe, to one faucet in a rather jury rigged sink from the well. She had a cook stove...no electric stove and that was because we had electricity in the barn, so a wire was run to the house. By the way....you stepped down into her kitchen from the big room that was the "dinning" room. It was quite a big step....and you stepped on to a dirt, very hard packed, floor. My Grandmother covered the floor with scraps of linoleum and rag rugs she had made. The house had three stories. The basement/cellar had a large fireplace and of course a dirt floor. The front steps where large pieces of granite. The front door was huge and entered into a big hall with wide steps winding up to the 3rd floor. You could walk directly through that hall and out a door in the back of the hall. I believe this was a typical configuration for ventilation and air movement at the time the house was built. On either side of this hall were two large, room to the right was used in my time as a parlor and to the left was again in my time, the dinning room and family gathering place. Both of these rooms had large fireplace but by my time were boarded up and a freestanding wood burning stove was in place. The other big room was furnished but hardly anyone used it. My Aunt can remember that out in the field behind the house was another "slave" quarter. In her time it was still half standing with the chimney still partially standing. She told me an owl live there and she, my mother and the other girls use to play there and the owl scared them to death. She also told me that there was a special entry in the second story from one of the large bedrooms that led to a smaller room where a servant must have stayed....NOT IN OUR TIME THO!!! Evidently there was either a room over several rooms that were actually over the old kitchen. I can vaguely remember a door out of that bedroom but never opened it because I would have gotten into big trouble. I also remember there was a funny little cupboard build in behind where the wood stove was in the parlor. We are beginning to think that perhaps at one time this could have been a stop on the underground railway. This is rather conflicting information if in fact this was a Plantation that included slaves. I know that at one time the place was bought by Joseph Bateman. It is now surrounded by modern homes. The current owners still have about 9 acres of the original farm at the time my grandparents owned it. I believe the old stone "spring house" is still on the property. I'm clueless on were to go or how to go about tracking this property. Any ideas my friends? Bettie Krouse McMullen