Out of Robbs Window, Montgomery Court House

Description

Watercolor on paper drawing of "Out of Robbs Window, Montgomery Court House", 1811, from the Latrobe Sketchbooks, by Benjamin Henry Latrobe. In 1811, Latrobe brought one of his ailing sons out to the Maryland countryside, hoping the fresh air would help him recover. They stayed in the tavern of Adam Robb (1760-1848), who was also the owner of a nearby farm with more than twenty slaves. Robb was the first known enslaver of African American slave Josiah Henson (1789-1883), who later escaped to Canada on the Underground Railroad, and was the inspiration for Harriet Beecher Stowe's (1811-1896) "Uncle Tom's Cabin" (1852). Latrobe captured this view of the town in what was then commonly called Montgomery Court House, Maryland, now Rockville. The original courthouse, built in 1779, was held in Hungerford's Tavern, which was a wooden structure. The building depicted was demolished in the 19th century and replaced by a brick structure. This is the earliest know view of Rockville.