CENTREVILLE — Potential plans for preservation of the historic Bloomfield Farmhouse were brought forth by engineers to the Queen Anne’s County Commissioners on June 25.
Architects of Barton Ross and Partners, LLC have been engaged with studying the BloomField Farm property for several years, specifically the Bloomfield farmhouse and its potential uses, according to historic architect Barton Ross.
Katrina Tucker helped acquire the grants to assist underwriting the study and bring in additional professionals to gauge the area.
The grant to perform the survey was part of a matching $17,500 Maryland Heritage Areas Authority Grant acquired through Maryland Historical Trust, Tucker said.
The Bloomfield Farm, or White Marsh Park as it is now known, is a recreational park located off Route 213, north of Centreville. The property was a family farm for about 200 years before it was purchased by the Eastern Shore Land Conservancy around 2006, which then sold it to the QAC for about $4.1 million. Using Department of Natural Resource Program Open Space monies, Queen Anne’s County purchased the property with the goal of creating a community park for recreation and land conservation.
White Marsh Park now includes several recreation fields, four baseball diamonds, and a large fishing pond.
Located at the end of the lane, the primary structure of Bloomfield was built in 1760. Several additions were added over the course of the structure’s existence creating both horizontal and vertical spaces.
Ross presented photos of the historic home over the decades, noting although the home has undergone changes, it remains a significant testament to local history.
“This is honestly one of the most historic and interesting and neatest homes in the entire county,” he said.
According to historical records and tree ring date studies, the left portion of the structure predates the American Revolutionary War and the right side of the house dates back to 1797, Ross said.
After World War I, the entire structure was raised for additional space and stuccoed over in the early 20th century, he said. Although the stucco is flaking off, the underneath brick is still in “pretty good condition,” Ross said.
A community input survey was available from May to June 14 to gauge public interest on the historic farmhouse located on the property. The survey was part of the public outreach component of the Preservation Plan for the restoration and rehabilitation of Bloomfield, which is being developed by Barton Ross Architects.
With a total of 369 survey responses, a vast majority sought to restore and make the building available for the public, according to Ross.
“It’s a gem in the community and they’d like to see it preserved,” he said.
An overwhelming amount of responses also wanted to see the house put in some form of public use, according to Ross.
“We don’t want some derelict building just sitting out there collecting dust, we want it to be used,” Ross said.
The Parks and Recreation Advisory Board has also voiced visions for a playground by the adjacent fields, he said.
Lane Engineering, LLC previously performed a detailed survey around the outbuildings and the farmhouse and has blueprints to be able to incorporate public parking without disturbing the area, he said.
Presenting a 3D model of the project, Ross noted future plans would like to rehabilitate the left side of the building to its pre-WWI appearance back down to approximately 3,5000 total square feet.
Ross considered the location to have good economic potential for the county, potentially utilizing the catering kitchen and large meeting rooms for events and classes.
“We want it to be an important feature that the county can be proud of,” he said.
With project cost estimates between $1.2- $1.4 million, the goal was to create a public historic piece without costing the County a lot of money, Ross said.
“I think there are a lot of interesting possibilities,” he said.
As grants will not fully fund potential upcoming projects, the aim is to make the building usage flexible to allow opportunity for the county payback on expenditures to rent for events, according to Ross.
“We think that could help offset the costs,” he said.
Project submissions are expected to be submitted to the State of Maryland by the end of July and final recommendations with cost estimates are expected to be presented at a later date.
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