Bohemia Manor is the fine home of the late Hon. Thomas F. Bayard, lineal descendant of Augustine Herman. Herman's original house was burned. Across the field from it (the "deer park" of Herman according to tradition) Bayard built a mansion on a hill overlooking the river and Hack's Point. The old house in the picture has been standing a very long time and is associated with the Herman farm and name. Herman himself probably did not live in it. For many years the Bohemians from Baltimore made pilgrimages in Herman's memory to this old manor.

Augustine Herman left instructions in his will that a marble slab, like a table, should be placed over his own grave and marked "Augustine Herman, Bohemian, the first founder and seater of Bohemia Manor, anno 1661." In later years the slab, broken in three pieces, was placed against the side of the present farm house at the manor seat where it remained for many years. Senator Bayard had the old stone restored to its original position when he came into possession of Bohemia Manor in 1920.

Senator Bayard preserved other objects of historical interest pertaining to the manor. Old bricks used in the construction of the original manor house have been found on the place. In the grading of the lawn large door keys, door pulls and straps, knife and chisel blades, and interesting old hoe heads of Augustine Herman's period have been discovered. [Swepson Earle, The Chesapeake Bay Country, Baltimore, 1924, p. 306.]

This information and picture were borrowed form the book "Cecil County Maryland A Study In Local History" by Alice E. Miller. Elkton, Maryland: C.& L. Printing & Specialty Co., 1949.

Last updated: March 24, 2002.