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Rating: 
Summary: Ho Hum Regurgitation of past works
Review: poor Photos from the 1950s-60s
innacurate descriptions of many homes
Too similar to older works on the same homes
Missing many important historic homes of Somerset
while listing insignificant ones
Reminds me of those books that locals pay to be in.
Rating: 
Summary: Important cultural history
Review: Researched and written by architectural historian Paul Touart and key members of the Somerset County Historical Trust and the Maryland Historical Trust, this book is an important document of early Maryland and early American history. "Laced with navigable rivers and situated between the Atlantic Ocean and Chesapeake Bay, the lower Eastern Shore of Maryland figured prominently in the early history of the Chesapeake region....
"[During] John Smith's voyages of 1607-1608...detailed exploration and observations were made of the country surrounding the Bay....
"Settlements were established during [late 1661 to early 1662], first at Annemessex and shortly after at Manokin....
"[T]he provincial council and governor, on June 8, 1668, appointed certain locations as 'ports of entry.' Restricting entry of goods from overseas to these sites gave the proprietor better control of the colony's trade. In Somerset County a site referred to as 'Deepe point att Randall Revell's' was designated the port of entry, and in October 1668 Randall and Katherine Revell conveyed twenty acres, 'a parcel of land called Sommerton,' to the Lord Proprietor for a county port. The site of this town is generally thought to be near the Clifton plantation house at the end of Revell's Neck. Although a plat has not surfaced for the early town, 'Somerton' or 'Somerset Town' was indicated on Austine Herrman's map drawn in 1670....
"[S]eventeenth century inhabitants of Somerset County included a small group of free black planters, who had arrived with the initial settlers....
"The architecture of seventeenth century Somerset County has not survived to modern times....
"During the relatively peaceful period between Queen Anne's War and the American Revolution, the tobacco trade slowly increased in value each year. Despite short recessions, modest increases in prices encouraged continued production. As a result of the brighter economic outlook, average wealth generally increased through the middle years of the eighteenth century, enabling some lower Eastern Shore planters to engage in more ambitious building programs. The result was a class of plantation architecture that has survived to modern times....
"...Finely crafted paneled interiors enhanced domestic life and offered elaborate settings for private as well as public functions....These buildings not only have survived to modern times in remarkable repair, but the standards of design and craftsmanship they set have lasted with them....
"The oldest extant houses in Somerset County are a small group of story-and-a-half, one- or two-room brick dwellings estimated to date from the first half of the eighteenth century. These houses share several early construction practices, including Flemish bond brick walls; tilted false plates in the roof; a large common room or 'hall' with a generous cooking fireplace; and decorated, exposed joists." The book goes on to describe the inventory of individual houses in the county, ordered by location and estimated year of construction. This book is chock full of black-and-white photographs and detailed descriptions, including historical background and, in may cases, a early ownership; e.g., the Powell-Benston house, built around 1700. If you have an interest in early American architecture, this book is for you.
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