2026 House Tour Season Opens at Pemberton Hall

Pemberton Hall begins our house tour for the 250th year of our

national independence with an event that will focus on the

July 26, 1775 Declaration of the Association of the Freemen of

Maryland. The declaration, signed a year before the Declaration

of Independence 1776, asserts that the British government was

subverting the rights and freedoms of the American colonists.

This revolutionary proclamation adopted by the Annapolis

Convention served as a formal justification for Maryland's decision to join the other colonies in armed resistance against British "tyranny" while simultaneously establishing an interim provincial government. Handy descendants were signatories of this historical document. In response to what they saw as tyrannical acts, the Freemen of Maryland pledged to unite and resist British rule with force if necessary. Signers included Samuel and Levin Handy who along with family members Henry Handy of Pemberton Hall and George Handy of Handy Hall contributed significantly to the patriot cause.