Atamasco, Garrison Forest Road, Owings Mills, Maryland

Atamasco in Owings Mills, Maryland is a house that's always been a little old-fashioned. Way back in 1750 the owners decided that its 20 year old original log and frame structure was "so yesterday" and hitched on a clapboard addition. 

Ever since then, there have been additions and improvements, (a renovation in the 1930's revealed bark chip insulation) but Atamasco has kept plenty of its past. The trails in front of it may have become paved roads, but the fields around it have reverted back to woods. 

It's also a very Thanksgiving-looking house. You know how I am about houses having seasonality.

The living room has fireplaces at both ends:

It's a little hard to determine the floor plan, but it appears these rooms are in the "newer" portion of the house:  

"A bath added in the 1930's... tied the room visually to the rest of the house." It was built between the 1730's portion and the newer additions.

If those are the newer rooms, these must be the old:

There's a free-standing bar area against the back of a fireplace, and behind it is the kitchen and separate breakfast room.

The kitchen is a bit cramped (and obviously not original). What if we could take those walls out and bring the kitchen into the breakfast room? It could look like this:

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After all, this fireplace might have been part of the original kitchen. Here's a better view of it:

Atamasco has 5 bedrooms, and 4.5 bathrooms in 4,274 square feet. 

It also has a barn, a carriage house with tobacco loft, and a smokehouse, as well as a nice-sized pool:

St. Thomas' Church across the road is just as old-fashioned and charming as Atamasco. Parts of it date from 1743.

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Atamasco is part of the Green Spring Valley Historic District. Steeplechase country. And, I wager, Atamasco lily country, since the lily inspired the house name:

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An old-fashioned name for an old-fashioned house. It's nice to know it's been that way for a long time:

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That's from the 1906 Baltimore County Union. However, an 1897 genealogy of leading families of Baltimore references him as "Colonel" Nicholas. Also it's a unclear how he came to own the house. One source claims it belonged to the Moale family he married into, and another says that he inherited it from his aunt. One thing is clear -- he had big hands.

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'Get up the hill' must be the old-fashioned version of 'take a hike'.  That's the influence of Atamasco.

Additional photos and a video are at Atamasco.com. The Old House Dreams listing is here.