Germantown Then and Now: The Gassaway House

The John Hanson Gassaway House on Riffleford Road is a lovely example of mid-nineteenth century rural architecture is on the Montgomery County Master Plan of Historic Preservation. The house represents not only a unique architectural design and a famous Montgomery Countian, but also a tremendous feat of restoration from a terribly dilapidated and vandalized shell to a beautiful showplace, meticulous in period detail and true to its vintage.

John Gassaway used to live on the other side of Riffleford Road, but his house burned to the ground in March of 1866. He was able to save important papers and a few pieces of furniture and the house was insured. He must have moved into the tenant house across the road for in 1867 he took out insurance on his furniture only. Then in 1871 he purchased the property on which the house sits, 116 acres of “Vienna” and “Resurvey on Buck’s Bottom.” In 1872 he took out insurance on the house, corn crib and wagon sheds, valuing the house at only $300. By 1887, he insures a 12-room two-story house for $3,300.

The house is a unique example of two "I" houses, typical of early 19th century domestic architecture, joined into an "H" shape.  The original part of this frame house (south section) was probably built in the early 1800s because the date of “1815” is etched into the plaster under the wallpaper.  This section houses the kitchen with a huge fireplace, and a bedroom and bath upstairs. The new section has two parlor rooms downstairs and two bedrooms upstairs, all with fireplaces. The parlors are separated by doors that slide into the walls. The center, connecting, section of the “H” has an entrance hall and staircase, living room and a bedroom upstairs. Nineteenth century embellishments, such as the bracketed porch, wrought iron pillars and the arched window in the central gable, make this a very special and individualized house.

 John Hanson Gassaway was a powerful and influential person in Montgomery County in the late 19th century.  He was instrumental in introducing better farming techniques, innovative farming equipment and chemical fertilizers to Montgomery County farmers. He served as the president of the Montgomery County Agricultural Society in the late 1870s and early 1880s.  Locally, his fertilizer and seed store in Germantown Station was very successful.  He also filled the positions of County Commissioner, School Commissioner, Trustee of the Andrew Small Academy at Darnestown, President of the Anti-Saloon League and Director of the Montgomery County National Bank. He was born on July 31, 1829 and died in November of 1911 at 82 years of age.

Later, the farm passed on to the Hamman family, descendants of a sister of John Hanson Gassaway, and was a prosperous farm under the ownership of Ralph Hamman in the mid-1900s.  Ralph never married, but the farm was a gathering place for family members, especially for young cousins to spend the summer in the country.

Family stories tell that many of the former slaves stayed on at the farm after emancipation and that Gassaway gave some land on the east side of Riffleford Road to the former slaves when they were freed and allowed them to dismantle the old slave quarters and reconstruct them on their own property.

The State of Maryland bought the house and surrounding land in the early 1970s as part of Seneca Creek State Park, but the owner, Ralph Hamman, retained the right to live in the house until he died or moved out. After Hamman retired to a nursing home, the state took over the property, but the house remained vacant for about five years as the State passed the offer of the house to various departments and agencies within the government. As the house remained vacant, it developed two holes in the roof and hosted several families of raccoons and other wild animals.

 Vandals stole the brass fittings off the doors and windows along with the marble facing off the fireplaces.  Cows roamed in and out of the open doors leaving their inevitable calling cards.

 Marcia Geoghan bought the house at a State auction in September 1983, but it took 14 months before she received the title to the house from the State and could begin restoring it.  By the time she took it over the house was in an absolute state of ruin, looking as if only a miracle would save it.  But Marcia rolled up her sleeves and dug right in, doing much of the restoration herself, hiring experts for technical details such as plumbing and wiring, plastering (practically a lost art nowadays), woodwork copying and replacement, and bricklaying.  The result is beautiful as well as accurate.

Marcia sold the house in 2004 when she moved out of the state.