Montpelier is a late 18th-century Federal-style

Federal architecture

Federal-style architecture is the name for the classicizing architecture built in the United States between c. 1780 and 1830, and particularly from 1785 to 1815. This style shares its name with its era, the Federal Period. The name Federal style is also used in association with furniture design...

 mansion in Clear Spring

Clear Spring, Maryland

Clear Spring is a town in Washington County, Maryland, United States. The population was 461 as of the 2008 United States Census Bureau estimates.-Geography:Clear Spring is located at ....

 in Washington County

Washington County, Maryland

Washington County is a county located in the western part of the U.S. state of Maryland, bordering southern Pennsylvania to the north, northern Virginia to the south, and the Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia to the south and west. As of the 2010 Census, its population is 147,430...

, Maryland

Maryland

Maryland is a U.S. state located in the Mid Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware to its east...

, United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. Montpelier was the residence of John Thomson Mason

John Thomson Mason

John Thomson Mason, Jr. was a U.S. Congressman from Maryland, representing the sixth district from 1841 to 1843.-Early life and education:...

 (15 March 1765–10 December 1824), a prominent American jurist

Jurist

A jurist or jurisconsult is a professional who studies, develops, applies, or otherwise deals with the law. The term is widely used in American English, but in the United Kingdom and many Commonwealth countries it has only historical and specialist usage...

 and Attorney General of Maryland

Attorney General of Maryland

The Attorney General of Maryland is the chief legal officer of the State of Maryland in the United States and is elected by the people every four years with no term limits...

 in 1806. Montpelier is located at 13448 Broadfording Road in Clear Spring.

History

Montpelier is a two-story brick mansion built around 1770 by Colonel Richard Barnes. In 1800, Colonel Richard and John Barnes were the largest slaveholders in Washington County with 89 enslaved people. In Richard Barnes’s 1804 will, he freed all his enslaved people two years after his death. Among these were famous African Methodist Episcopal

African Methodist Episcopal Church

The African Methodist Episcopal Church, usually called the A.M.E. Church, is a predominantly African American Methodist denomination based in the United States. It was founded by the Rev. Richard Allen in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1816 from several black Methodist congregations in the...

 minister, Thomas Henry.

John Thomson Mason

John Thomson Mason

John Thomson Mason, Jr. was a U.S. Congressman from Maryland, representing the sixth district from 1841 to 1843.-Early life and education:...

 acquired the property and resided there. President Thomas Jefferson

Thomas Jefferson

Thomas Jefferson was the principal author of the United States Declaration of Independence and the Statute of Virginia for Religious Freedom , the third President of the United States and founder of the University of Virginia...

 visited Montpelier to urge Mason to accept an appointment as United States Attorney General

United States Attorney General

The United States Attorney General is the head of the United States Department of Justice concerned with legal affairs and is the chief law enforcement officer of the United States government. The attorney general is considered to be the chief lawyer of the U.S. government...

. Mason's son John Thomson Mason, Jr. was born at Montpelier on 9 May 1815. Mason died on 10 December 1824 and was interred at Montpelier, with his wife, where they remain to this day. Much of the Montpelier estate surrounding the mansion remains in historical preservation.