Band Concert at Harmony Hall

Silesia, MD, July 19: For the first time since the National Park Service acquired the property in the 1960s, Harmony Hall and its grounds were open to the public in conjunction with an afternoon concert by the National Concert Band of America.

Harmony Hall is a mid-18th century house of brick set in Fleminsh bond. The front faces the river and the back faces the land. Thus, those arriving by automobile see the back first:

The house was originally named Battersea, but became known as Harmony Hall after 1792 when two brothers and their respective wives shared the house "harmoniously." It's also sometimes called the "Mount Vernon of Maryland."

Many Georgian homes have center halls with two rooms to either side, but Harmony Hall has two great rooms on either side on both the first and second floors.

These great rooms get both eastern and western light. The attic gets only eastern light from two dormers and a wonderful oeil de boeuf in the eastern pediment: This July day was stereotypically hot and humid but with wonderful clouds.

The lawn slopes toward Broad Creek and the Potomac River. At the foot of the lawn is the remnants of what is believed to be the first canal in colonial America which originally serviced a tobacco wharf north of the lawn.









Immediately before the wharf area is the ruins of an earlier house (c. 1700), also of brick set in Flemish bond, called "Want Water" or "the Lyles House."

View of the Potomac:
The front of Harmony Hall is viewed coming up from the river:









The concert began at 3 pm: