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Description:
Carvill Hall is a 2 1/2-story brick house, laid in Flemish bond above a stepped water table, having string courses on all four sides. There are exterior corbeled brick chimneys at each gable end. Glazed headers were used throughout the Flemish bond, and a three-brick string course was located on each of the four sides and porch. A string course was located on the gables between the second and attic stories. The shingled gable roof is very steeply pitched and there is a two-foot overhang at the eaves. The main block is three bays long, with a central 6-panel door on both facades (east and west), the east entrance having a 4-light transom. Flanking the north chimney are two windows on the first story and two in the attic. All of the windows on the first and second stories have 6/6 sashes with louvered shutters. Two 6/6 sash gabled dormers pierce either side of the roof. The north gable end has one 6/6 sash window on either side of the chimney on the first floor and two small windows in the attic gable. Against the south gable end is a short two-story frame addition of late 19th century date. Two bays wide on the west facade and three on the east, the wing also has 6/6 sash windows. The east facade has a central door flanked by 6/6 windows and two 6/6 windows on the second floor. The west facade has a door in the north bay and a window in the south bay, and two windows above. A late 20th century chimney and frame addition stand to the south of this addition. The interior consists of a central stair hall with a room on each side. Mantels and chair rail, balustrade, and trim all date from its remodeling, c. 1815. Summer beams and girts are still exposed in the cellar and second story. Braced purlins can be seen in the attic. The attic closet at the head of the stairs has no ceiling and the roof construction in that area is visible. The roof has four pairs of major rafters with purlins mortised into them and braced at the outer corners. The minor rafters are mortised tenoned and pegged at the apex of the roof. The underside of the original split oak clapboard roof can be seen in the upper attic.
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Significance:
In 1694, John Carvill was granted 26 acres called "Carvill's Prevention." These 26 acres are located within the bounds of "Salter's Load," and it is upon this small tract that Carvill built his house. John Carvill was very prominent in the political activities within the state during the last decade of the 17th century and the first decade of the 18th century. In 1692 and 1698-99, he is listed as a burgess from St. Mary's County and Cecil County respectively, meaning that he was a member of the General Assembly. Between 1694 and 1696, and again in 1699-1700, he was High Sheriff of Cecil County, a position which was the most lucrative and powerful political appointment within an individual county. He refused the same position in 1702. In 1698, he was elected Justice for Cecil County. He was also elected to the General Assembly in 1708 to represent Kent County, but this was after the modern boundaries of Kent and Cecil Counties were established in 1706, so that he lived in and represented some of the same territory as he had while representing Cecil County. Thus, he could live at the same plantation and serve both counties.
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