GUIDED TOURS & DAY PASSES
VISITOR INFORMATION:
GUIDED TOURS
OF MOUNT HARMON
MAY 1 ~ OCTOBER 31
THURSDAYS ~ SUNDAYS 10 – 3
Tours on the Hour. Last Tour at 2pm
Tour Admission:
$10 adults, $8 students/seniors
Members Free
Children under 5 Free
~ additional visitor information below ~
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MOUNT HARMON DAY PASSES
ANOTHER GREAT WAY TO
ENJOY & EXPLORE MOUNT HARMON!
Available Daily 9am ~ 5pm
Year Round (weather permitting)
Explore and enjoy Mount Harmon’s beautiful and historic grounds, gardens, picnic areas, miles of scenic nature trails and 200-acre waterfront Nature Preserve. Grounds, Gardens & Nature Trails Only (inside historic buildings & tour not included). Many thanks for following our Leave No Trace guidelines. Restroom Facilities Open Seasonally March 15 ~ December 15.
Day Pass Admission:
$10 adults, $8 students/seniors.
Members Free
Children under 5 Free
CLICK HERE TO BOOK DAY PASS ONLINE NOW!
You will receive e-confirmation good for admission.
CLICK HERE FOR DAY PASS PREVIEW VIDEO
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SPECIAL GROUP TOURS
By Appointment
March ~ November
(Advanced Reservations Required)
Click Here to email us about Group Tours!
Special Group Tours are available for groups of 8 or more, March through November, and made by advanced reservation. Special Group Rate: $8/person
Special Group tours: can include guided tour of our historic manor house, colonial kitchen, smoke house, quarters, boxwood garden, and visitor center, and can be customized to suit special interests of your group.
We also offer add-on options for special groups, such as hearth cooking, spinning/weaving demonstrations, and hay wagon rides for an additional fee. Click Here to email us to inquire about special group tours and options. Include your preferred date, group size, and any special interests.
Tour visitors are welcome to enjoy our beautiful grounds and nature trails after the tour, and to bring a picnic to enjoy at our scenic picnic areas.
Bring Friends & Family to enjoy Mount Harmon,
we look forward to welcoming you!
Visitors can now enjoy Mount Harmon’s history and natural beauty in two fun new ways:
Guided Tours May 1 ~ October 31 and Day Passes Year Round.
Mount Harmon’s Guided Tours again feature guided tour of all three floors of historic Mount Harmon, one of the most beautifully restored Georgian manor houses in Maryland open to the public.
Guided tours also include tour of our Plantation Outbuildings: colonial kitchen, smoke house, and replica slave quarters, as well as self guided tours of our gardens and grounds.
Our Mount Harmon Day Pass (manor house/historic buildings not included/grounds only access) is a wonderful option for nature and history lovers for enjoying our beautiful gardens, grounds, and 200-acre nature preserve with over 5 miles of nature trails, picnic areas, and canoe and kayak launch ~ great for hiking, picnicking, and exploring our scenic and historic site and waterfront.
We hope this gives you more reasons than ever to come out and enjoy Mount Harmon! So visit often, and bring friends and family to enjoy our Mount Harmon Guided Tours and Day Passes.
We look forward to seeing you at Mount Harmon!
Proceed down our 1.8 mile scenic lane. Follow signs to visitor parking and check in. We look forward to seeing you!
Planning Your Visit
Arriving by land: Mount Harmon’s scenic two-mile entrance lane has welcomed visitors by land for over two and a half centuries. The picturesque entrance lane transports visitors back in time to a bygone era and is lined with gracefully cascading Osage Orange trees. Proceed 1.8 miles to end of entrance lane. Follow signs for visitor parking.
Arriving by water: Come to Mount Harmon by boat, as colonial-era visitors to Mount Harmon did in the 18th century. Mount Harmon is proud to welcome registered visitors and members via our new dock, located to the right and up the shore from the Prize House. The dock has a 30 ft T-head and floating dock with mean high tide of 5 feet. Dock coordinates are 39.22.44 N. 75.56.17 W. Head left from dock and follow arrows and mowed trail to manor house. All visitors by boat must have confirmed Day Pass, Guided Tour tickets (May – October), or be FOMH Members.
We suggest you plan to allow at least one hour for the tour, and additional time to explore the gardens, grounds, nature trails, and waterfront. Registered visitors and members are welcome to bring a picnic to enjoy on our grounds and scenic picnic areas. Recommendations for area restaurants to visit before or after your tour by emailing info@mountharmon.org.
Points of Interest
Manor House
Mount Harmon is a brick Georgian manor house that dates to 1730 and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The manor house has been restored to the 1760 – 1810 period, and is furnished with American, English, Irish and Scottish antiques, to reflect Mount Harmon’s owners of that period who actively traded with the British Isles. The Chinese Chippendale staircase and elegant furnishings reflect the refinement of plantation culture in early America. Mount Harmon was restored to its colonial era appearance when it was a prosperous tobacco plantation, and was restored by Marguerite du Pont Boden, a direct descendent of the colonial owners. Mount Harmon was part of the colonial revival movement in the 20th century and part of the legacy of the du Pont family to preserve America’s architectural heritage.
Formal Boxwood Garden
The formal boxwood garden enclosed by serpentine brick walls is a Thomas Jefferson design and evokes Mount Harmon’s golden age. Between the boxwood garden and the manor house are a pair of magnificent English Yew trees (Taxus baccata, variety dovastonii). These 200-year-old yews are among the oldest in the United States. The boxwood garden is a popular site for weddings, and overlooks McGill Creek.
Plantation Kitchen
The plantation kitchen is an original building and recalls domestic life and work on a colonial American plantation. It stands apart from the manor house and was restored and furnished with authentic kitchen artifacts of the colonial era. The plantation or colonial kitchen features open hearth where meals were prepared for the plantation owners. Hearth cooking programs are featured here for special events and school field trips.
Smoke House
The smoke house was on Mount Harmon’s colonial inventory, though like many clapboard buildings did not stand the test of time, and was recreated as part of our expanded living history campus to bring to life the working plantation outbuildings, each with a unique purpose and history. Prior to electricity and refrigeration, smoke houses were fixtures on plantations and used to smoke, cure, and store meats.
Slave Quarters
The replica slave quarters depicts the simple and sparsely furnished dwellings that housed the enslaved and indentured laborers who lived and worked at Mount Harmon, to bring to life their stories and history that enabled Mount Harmon to prosper.
Tobacco Barn
The replica tobacco barn depicts the colonial barns used to cure and store the cash crop tobacco. Tobacco was widely popularized during the colonial era and became so valuable it was used as currency, to pay taxes, and in global trade. The tall and steep roof pitch was purposely designed to maximize the amount of tobacco that could be cured, in turn increasing profits for the plantation owners.
Prize House
Mount Harmon was a local center for tobacco shipment for the Sassafras area and official port in colonial times. It boasts the northernmost existing tobacco prize house. “Prize” refers to the huge wooden screw used to compress tobacco from two casks into one, to double capacity and profits.
Education & Discovery Center
Housed in the renovated plantation stables, the Education & Discovery Center features a Mount Harmon Highlights in History Exhibit, expanded educational programs, and is available for special and community events. Mount Harmon’s gift shop is located here and full of unique gift items for all ages.
Nature Trails
A network of more than 5 miles of nature trails, provides easy access to the plantation’s pristine natural surroundings – a historic Tidewater landscape, little changed by time for everything else odonate therapeutics. The trails allow visitors to explore the plantation’s scenic and historic waterfront, rare tobacco prize house, and diverse ecosystems full of wildlife.
Wildlife
Wildlife is abundant at Mount Harmon. The entire plantation is a nature preserve, and all forms of plants and animals on the property are protected. Visitors are requested not to pick the flowers or otherwise disturb plants and animals.
Rare and Endangered Species
Several rare and formerly endangered species live at Mount Harmon. A pair of American bald eagles nests in the vicinity and can be seen hunting over the plantation. The American Lotus (Nelumbo lutea), a relative of the water lily and the largest wildflower in the United States, is rare in Maryland and neighboring states but abundant at Mount Harmon with its peak flowering in August.