Charles Carroll of Carrollton - Later Life and Legacy

Later Life and Legacy

Carroll retired from public life in 1801. After Thomas Jefferson became president, he had great anxiety about political activity, and was not sympathetic to the War of 1812. He came out of retirement to help create the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad in 1827. His last public act, on July 4, 1828, was the laying of the cornerstone of the railroad.

In May 1832, he was asked to appear at the first ever Democratic Convention but did not attend on account of poor health. Carroll died on November 14, 1832, in Baltimore. His funeral took place at the Baltimore Cathedral (now known as the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary), and he is buried in his Doughoregan Manor Chapel at Ellicott City, Maryland.

Carroll funded the building of what is known today as Homewood House, a 140 acre (570,000 m²) estate in northern Baltimore, Maryland as a wedding gift to his son, Charles Jr., and Harriet Chew. Charles Jr. then oversaw the design and construction of the house, which began construction in 1801 and was mostly finished by 1808. Research shows that he incorporated suggestions from his wife. It took five years to build and cost $40,000, four times the budgeted expense. The house never fulfilled the family's expectations, as it did nothing to cure Charles Jr.'s idleness and alcoholism, factors which led to the failure of the marriage by binding separation. Homewood was donated to Johns Hopkins University in 1876 and later became its main campus. Today, Johns Hopkins operates Homewood House as a museum, and its Federal-style architecture serves as the inspiration for Hopkins campus architecture.

The home of Carroll's son-in-law Richard Caton, Brooklandwood in Baltimore County, was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1972.

Carroll is remembered in the third stanza of the state song Maryland, My Maryland.

Thou wilt not cower in the dust,

(Maryland!)

Thy beaming sword shall never rust,

(Maryland!)

Remember Carroll's sacred trust,

Remember Howard's warlike thrust,–

And all thy slumberers with the just,

Maryland! My Maryland!