Oakley Cabin African American Museum & Park
3610 Brookeville Road
Olney, MD 20832
General Info: 301-650-4373
Events Info: 301-258-4044
Volunteers | Tours | History | The Museum and Park
Oakley Cabin is a 19th century African American historic site. Built as one of three slave dwellings in the 1820s, the cabin was the center of an African American roadside community from emancipation well into the 20th century. The dwelling, inhabited until 1976, is now operated as a living history museum. School teachers will find Oakley Cabin a valuable resource in teaching African American history and local history.
The Oakley Cabin Museum and Park provides hands-on living history experiences. Oakley Cabin is open for free tours given by trained docents from 12:00 noon - 4:00 pm on the second and fourth Saturday, from April through November 7, when the annual Maryland Emancipation Day Celebration is held. To request a guided tour of the cabin during the week, please contact 301-650-4373 for more information.
Volunteers
FREE Volunteer Docent Training Coming in May!
Register online at ParksVolunteers.org
Become a part of history! Come and join a terrific group of history lovers and become an Oakley Cabin volunteer tour guide (or docent). Learn more about local African American history. Lead tours through this historic house museum and former slave cabin, circa 1820 and, learn how to “make history come alive” through hands-on living history experiences. Learn to weave baskets, darn socks, dry herbs and more! Weekends, April – November. SSL hours available. Free docent training will be taking place soon in May 2010 at the historic cabin. For more information, call 301-650-4373.
Volunteers must be 16 years of age or older, and be able to commit to six Saturdays per year (or weekdays, if a group tour is scheduled and you are available) April through November. Volunteers are especially needed to provide tours during the week for school groups. To become a special events volunteer during the 2010 season, please apply online at www.ParksVolunteers.org. SSL hours are eligible.
Tours
Oakley Cabin will reopen for the 2010 season on Saturday, April 10. Free tours are given by the volunteers docents of Oakley Cabin from noon to 4pm on each second and fourth Saturday through November 2010.
History
Built in the early 1820s, the Oakley Cabin was part of Oakley Farm, which occupied part of Colonel Richard Brooke’s large land tract known as “Addition to Brooke Grove.” Brooke, a Revolutionary War hero was known as “the Fighting Quaker.” He built the “big house” called Oakley in 1764, which was destroyed in the 1970s.
Brooke, who died in 1788, willed all his property to his only child, Ann, who later married William Hammond Dorsey. They had five children. Like her father, Ann and William never lived on the Oakley Farm. Instead William built their home, Dumbarton Oaks in Georgetown. When Ann died in 1802, William sold all of his Georgetown property and moved to Oakley. William died in 1818. The Dorseys’ son, Richard B. Dorsey, transformed Oakley into a farm, on which his 23 slaves worked. It was during this time when the Oakley Cabin was built around 1820.
The 1½-story Oakley Cabin has a stone chimney with brick stack. Oak and chestnut logs are joined with dovetail joints and chinked with stones, now largely covered with cement. There are two rooms divided by a bead board partition wall. A boxed staircase leads to the upper loft.
Dr. William Bowie Margruder bought Oakley farm in 1836. A local doctor to both white and black families, Margruder owned 19 slaves to help farm the land. Between 1820 and 1878, two more cabins were built. Oakley Cabin is the only remaining one. After Dr. Margruder died in 1873, Josiah J. Hutton purchased the farm.
According to census records from 1880 to 1920, between 22 to 37 people lived in the three cabins. The residents were black and white, slaves and free citizens with jobs ranging from farm laborers and carpenters to blacksmiths and laundresses. The cabins formed a small roadside community that likely shared household tasks and sold produce and hand-made articles to travelers on the Brookeville Road. It represented a cross-section of cultures that make up the unique Black American folk experience.
The Museum and Park
Oakley Cabin is a museum furnished to depict the various periods of its history and development. The ground floor room represents communal life at the cabin, centering around the open hearth. In the small adjoining room are displayed the 19th century tools and artifacts excavated in archeological digs at the cabin.
The oak and chestnut log cabin is a reflection of vernacular architecture and excellent craftsmanship through its dove-tailed notching and artful pegging. The rafters on the roof are “bird-mouthed” over the top log that serves as a plate. The floor of the first level sits on a double sill with a notch in the foundation to allow two logs – one for the floor and one for the wall. The 15’ x 21’ interior space of the cabin is larger than the usual slave quarters, and the stand-up second story, interior stairs and wood floor are much more accommodating than the usual dirt floor and ladder to a loft.
The cabin sits on a 2-acre tract that is part of a larger park running along Reddy Branch. The mill pond for Newlin’s Mill was located in the low area behind the cabin. A trail, partially laid inside the old millrace, leads from the cabin to the site of the mill at the intersection of Brookeville Road and Georgia Avenue. Numerous wild plants can be seen, many of which are edible or medicinal and were used by local people. Hawks, foxes, deer, raccoons and other wildlife can often be seen from the cabin or trail. The trail also passes stone quarries used to dig local stone.
Last update: February 4, 2010
Montgomery County Department of Parks
9500 Brunett Ave., Silver Spring, MD 20901
www.montgomeryparks.org
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