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Photo, Print, Drawing Handsell, 4837 Indiantown Road, Vienna, Dorchester County, MD

View 21 images in sequence.
[ Photos from Survey HABS MD-1319  ]

More Resources

View 6 images in sequence.
[ Drawings from Survey HABS MD-1319  ]
[ Data Pages from Survey HABS MD-1319  ]
[ Photo Captions from Survey HABS MD-1319  ]

About this Item

Title

  • Handsell, 4837 Indiantown Road, Vienna, Dorchester County, MD

Names

  • Historic American Buildings Survey, creator
  • Steele, Henry
  • Steele, Ann Billings
  • Steele, James
  • Steele, Isaac
  • Steele, Isaac Nevett
  • Shehee, John
  • Rosenthal, James W., photographer
  • Bieretz, Renee, photographer
  • Gainer, C., delineator
  • Ingersoll, Margaret W., historian
  • Nanticoke Historic Preservation Alliance, Inc., sponsor

Created / Published

  • Documentation compiled after 1933

Headings

  • -  houses
  • -  war (Revolutionary War)
  • -  Native Americans
  • -  Georgian architectural elements
  • -  brick chimneys
  • -  brickwork
  • -  paneling
  • -  1 1/2 stories
  • -  raised basements
  • -  domestic life
  • -  Maryland--Dorchester County--Vienna

Latitude / Longitude

  • 38.508882,-75.812083

Notes

  • -  Significance: Handsell—a name derived from the original 1665 English land grant to Thomas Taylor—is a well-preserved example of the vernacular domestic architecture of the Chesapeake region. The house retains a high degree of integrity to the 1830s, although its front and side walls date from the eighteenth century, the remnants of a larger house. Handsell is located on the Nanticoke River and Chicone Creek north of Vienna and was constructed on a Native American Chicone village site where Taylor, an official interpreter for the Maryland colony, established a trading post. In 1769, Henry Steele, a member of an affluent and prominent colonial family, and his wife Ann acquired the property after the Chicone reservation was dissolved by the government. The couple likely constructed the original house prior to 1776 and it may have been destroyed as early as 1779 during British raids along the river. Evidence suggests that another house was not built on the site until John Shehee purchased the property in 1837 from a grandson of the Steeles. Dendrochronology has established that timbers used in the construction of the present Handsell date from that same year. The building’s story-and-a-half form is typical for Chesapeake houses of the period, yet its vernacular character is, in some ways, challenged by the seemingly incongruous presence of particularly fine brickwork on the front and side walls. Shehee’s decision to use extant sections of the ruined eighteenth-century house’s walls was almost certainly an economic one, but, in doing so, he also inadvertently preserved visual evidence of an older house having much grander architectural and social pretensions than the new. Handsell’s combination of the Georgian remnants and more modest form and details, in addition to a high level of integrity in part stemming from a lack of modern utilities, are remarkable among Chesapeake dwellings.
  • -  Unprocessed Field note material exists for this structure: N1552
  • -  Survey number: HABS MD-1319
  • -  Building/structure dates: after 1769 Initial Construction
  • -  Building/structure dates: 1837 Subsequent Work
  • -  National Register of Historic Places NRIS Number: 08000216

Medium

  • Photo(s): 21
  • Measured Drawing(s): 6
  • Data Page(s): 23
  • Photo Caption Page(s): 2

Call Number/Physical Location

  • HABS MD-1319

Source Collection

  • Historic American Buildings Survey (Library of Congress)

Repository

Control Number

  • md1844

Rights Advisory

Online Format

  • image
  • pdf

Rights & Access

The Library of Congress does not own rights to material in its collections. Therefore, it does not license or charge permission fees for use of such material and cannot grant or deny permission to publish or otherwise distribute the material.

Ultimately, it is the researcher's obligation to assess copyright or other use restrictions and obtain permission from third parties when necessary before publishing or otherwise distributing materials found in the Library's collections.

For information about reproducing, publishing, and citing material from this collection, as well as access to the original items, see: Historic American Buildings Survey/Historic American Engineering Record/Historic American Landscape Survey (HABS/HAER/HALS) Collection - Rights and Restrictions Information

  • Rights Advisory: No known restrictions on images made by the U.S. Government; images copied from other sources may be restricted. https://www.loc.gov/rr/print/res/114_habs.html
  • Reproduction Number: ---
  • Call Number: HABS MD-1319
  • Access Advisory: ---

Obtaining Copies

If Digital Images Are Displaying

You can download online images yourself. Alternatively, you can purchase copies of various types through Library of Congress Duplication Services.

HABS/HAER/HALS materials have generally been scanned at high resolution that is suitable for most publication purposes (see Digitizing the Collection for further details about the digital images).

  • Photographs--All photographs are printed from digital files to preserve the fragile originals.
    • Make note of the Call Number and Item Number that appear under the photograph in the multiple-image display (e.g., HAER, NY,52-BRIG,4-2).
    • If possible, include a printout of the photograph.
  • Drawings--All drawings are printed from digital files to preserve the fragile originals.
    • Make note of the Survey Number (e.g., HAER NY - 143) and Sheet Number (e.g., "Sheet 1 of 4"), which appear on the edge of the drawing. (NOTE: These numbers are visible in the Tiff "Reference Image" display.)
    • If possible, include a printout of the drawing.
  • Data Pages
    • Make note of the Call Number in the catalog record.

If Digital Images Are Not Displaying

In the rare case that a digital image for HABS/HAER/HALS documentation is not displaying online, select images for reproduction through one of these methods:

  • Visit the Prints & Photographs Reading Room and request to view the group (general information about service in the reading room is available at: http://www.loc.gov/rr/print/info/001_ref.html). It is best to contact reference staff in advance (see: http://www.loc.gov/rr/print/address.html) to make sure the material is on site. OR
  • P&P reading room staff can provide up to 15 quick copies of items per calendar year (many original items in the holdings are too old or fragile to make such copies, but generally HABS/HAER/HALS materials are in good enough condition to be placed on photocopy machines). For assistance, see our Ask a Librarian page OR
  • Hire a freelance researcher to do further selection for you (a list of researchers in available at: http://www.loc.gov/rr/print/resource/013_pic.html).
  • You can purchase copies of various types, including quick copies, through Library of Congress Duplication Services (price lists, contact information, and order forms for Library of Congress Duplication Services are available on the Duplication Services Web site):
    • Make note of the Call Number listed above.
    • Look at the Medium field above. If it lists more than one item:
      • The entire group can be ordered as photocopies or high-quality copies.
      • All the items in a particular medium (e.g., all drawings, all photographs) can be ordered as photocopies or high-quality copies.

Access to Originals

Please use the following steps to determine whether you need to fill out a call slip in the Prints and Photographs Reading Room to view the original item(s). In some cases, a surrogate (substitute image) is available, often in the form of a digital image, a copy print, or microfilm.

  1. Is the item digitized? (A thumbnail (small) image will be visible on the left.)

    • Yes, the item is digitized. Please use the digital image in preference to requesting the original. All images can be viewed at a large size when you are in any reading room at the Library of Congress. In some cases, only thumbnail (small) images are available when you are outside the Library of Congress because the item is rights restricted or has not been evaluated for rights restrictions.
      As a preservation measure, we generally do not serve an original item when a digital image is available. If you have a compelling reason to see the original, consult with a reference librarian. (Sometimes, the original is simply too fragile to serve. For example, glass and film photographic negatives are particularly subject to damage. They are also easier to see online where they are presented as positive images.)
    • No, the item is not digitized. Please go to #2.

  2. Do the Access Advisory or Call Number fields above indicate that a non-digital surrogate exists, such as microfilm or copy prints?

    • Yes, another surrogate exists. Reference staff can direct you to this surrogate.
    • No, another surrogate does not exist. Please go to #3.
  3. If you do not see a thumbnail image or a reference to another surrogate, please fill out a call slip in the Prints and Photographs Reading Room. In many cases, the originals can be served in a few minutes. Other materials require appointments for later the same day or in the future. Reference staff can advise you in both how to fill out a call slip and when the item can be served.

To contact Reference staff in the Prints and Photographs Reading Room, please use our Ask A Librarian service or call the reading room between 8:30 and 5:00 at 202-707-6394, and Press 3.

Cite This Item

Citations are generated automatically from bibliographic data as a convenience, and may not be complete or accurate.

Chicago citation style:

Historic American Buildings Survey, Creator, Henry Steele, Ann Billings Steele, James Steele, Isaac Steele, Isaac Nevett Steele, John Shehee, C Gainer, Margaret W Ingersoll, and Inc Nanticoke Historic Preservation Alliance, Rosenthal, James W, and Renee Bieretz, photographer. Handsell,Indiantown Road, Vienna, Dorchester County, MD. Dorchester County Vienna Maryland, 1933. Documentation Compiled After. Photograph. https://www.loc.gov/item/md1844/.

APA citation style:

Historic American Buildings Survey, C., Steele, H., Steele, A. B., Steele, J., Steele, I., Steele, I. N. [...] Nanticoke Historic Preservation Alliance, I., Rosenthal, J. W. & Bieretz, R., photographer. (1933) Handsell,Indiantown Road, Vienna, Dorchester County, MD. Dorchester County Vienna Maryland, 1933. Documentation Compiled After. [Photograph] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/md1844/.

MLA citation style:

Historic American Buildings Survey, Creator, et al., photographers by Rosenthal, James W, and Renee Bieretz. Handsell,Indiantown Road, Vienna, Dorchester County, MD. Documentation Compiled After. Photograph. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, <www.loc.gov/item/md1844/>.