A Collegial Stewardship: Living In and With a Home’s Significant History

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It’s not every day you find yourself being entertained in the very same room where our nation’s first president, enjoyed an evening of fine company, cocktails, and dancing. That is, however, where I did recently find myself as the guest of the President of Washington College in his residence at Hynson-Ringgold House in Chestertown. And, yes, I did say George was dancing. 

“What’s notable about this room is that George Washington recorded in his diary that he stayed here and that he danced at a party in this room,” explains Dr. Michael J. Sosulski. “And he was known to be a terrific athlete, and a great dancer.” 

There’s something that happens to a person when you find out someone so notable inhabited the very space where you are sitting. The eyes widen, the posture straightens, and imagination alights. I had never heard about Washington’s prowess on the dance floor before, but I could certainly see him there lightly skimming the original, wide-plank hardwoods as his dashing coat fleetingly catches the air under his woolen tails. 

Calibrating back to the life of a modern-day visitor, I continue the enlightening tour of the residence that Sosulski and his wife, Dr. Cori Crane, have called home on Water Street since the latter half of 2021, when he became president of Washington’s namesake college, founded in 1782. 

The Washington Room, to the left of the main entry hall, has all the 18th century details and historical bones befitting a residence of import with those enduring wood floors, tall, sash windows with weighty inner and outer shutters, and deep, built-in window seats so indicative of the period. 

Upon further examination of the room, we pass a glass-front, antique cabinet that contains a collection of writings from our Founding Father. Then, along the fireplace wall, there is a set of double doors, that when opened, reveal a stellar Colonial period detail: a gorgeous concaved built-in with a serving surface. Sosulski tells me this probably functioned as a bar during that very evening when Washington took a turn on the floor, and reportedly was very graciously entertained in this residence. 

“This is an original part of the house,” Sosulski says. “They used this during the Colonial period as a bar…and we know this from contemporary accounts from townspeople who walked up and down Cannon Street and noted that they would often see redcoats drinking at the bar.”

As we exit this lovely, sunny room, we pause to admire a framed work of embroidered art on the wall that Sosulski has been told is original to the Colonial period. Dating back to the 18th century, the “mourning picture” was highly representative of a practice of the era when artists would mark the death of a prominent person by honoring their life through art. There were several iterations of these works created at the time of Washington’s passing, many that depicted plinth and urn-like forms, as well as representations of angels and trees amidst an ethereal, garden-like backdrop. 

Namesakes

Across the hall from the Washington Room is the Ringgold Room with its ornate plaster work, wainscoting, and a set of unique doors that were expertly painted by a craftsperson of the era to mimic the look of mahogany. This technique was used in many fine homes, Sosulski explains, as the Colonies were still under strict control by the Crown, who was imposing an embargo on the import of mahogany at that time. The treatment of the base wood and tone of pigment was so spot-on, Sosulski says, many guests are surprised to learn that such a practice, and the talent to pull it off, even existed. 

Remarkably, the ornate plaster work is also a talent-driven creation, actually a reproduction of what was originally conceived in the room when the home was built. Over the years, one of the  homeowners was reported to have come upon hard times and was forced to sell off such embellishments piecemeal to make ends meet. 

Before the home became a property of Washington College in 1944, it was a private residence originally built in 1743 for a Chestertown physician who bought the land years earlier from its original owner, Nathanial Hynson. The Ringgold Room was named for the father and son, Thomas Ringgold, IV, and Thomas Ringgold, V. The latter resided there, and began expanding its footprint after the senior Ringgold purchased the property for him in 1770. 

One of the first improvements made to the home was extending it beyond the two rooms and center hall at the front of the house. A staircase was most likely removed from the center hall, and a new one, a remarkably well-crafted “antler” staircase, was placed within the new floorplan. This statement staircase has two sets of stairs, which are joined in the center on the lower level by a gracious mantel and hearth. 

These stairs, says Sosulski, have provided the grist for the ghost story mill that often comes with living in a much older home. Apparently, some residents and guests of the home have recorded a female presence on these stairs that has been experienced enough times to be referred to as the “stair monitor.”

The presence seems to be directing or even slightly nudging those guests who do not traverse the stairs in the manner that she feels is proper, which, according to legend, is ascending the stairs on the right and descending the stairs on the left side. 

Sosulski says that he tends to always follow the monitor’s protocol, but that his wife, Cori, does not; ascending and descending in any order she pleases. “She says she has not run into the ghost—yet,” he muses. 

The other areas that are treated as public spaces for entertaining are the home’s meticulous grounds, a gracious patio, a formal dining room which is home to a precious Chippendale buffet that Sosulski remarks is an original dating back to the Colonial period, and a portrait of the first woman to have graduated from Washington College in 1895. 

Other Ghosts

Like so many of the historical properties of the time, the backstory of this home reveals a narrative of a complicated past deserving of recognition, reflection, and respect. As noted on the College website, many of the homeowners, prior to Washington College’s affiliation with the property were slave owners, a fact that carries much weight for Sosulski, an 18th-century studies scholar. 

“It’s something we think about often with reverence; that this is not an uncomplicated legacy that we are stewarding at this point,” Sosulski says. “Not just the College, but most likely this house was constructed with enslaved labor, so that gives us an obligation to be honest and truthful about history, and to revere those people—not just the people who owned the home…this is a very important thing to be honest about, the history.”

This home’s history, as well as the greater and overriding reality of the role that enslaved labor played in the establishment of the College is now being addressed in an essential and ongoing project it sponsors as part of the Washington College History Project, known as the Asterisk Initiative. Like the symbol asterisk, which denotes an absence or omission of information, the Initiative seeks to identify the spaces and symbols throughout the College’s network and campus that are associated with the institution’s historic and systemic connections to slaveholders. 

Whether it be a campus statue, or a building such as the Hynson-Ringgold residence, (the Ringgolds were well-known slaveowners; with the elder Ringgold operating a slave-trading enterprise out of Water Street’s Customs House) these structures have been identified with a marking that denotes their greater history and provides a QR code to the viewer that works in conjunction with the College’s website to provide that information.

Indeed, one only needs to visit George Washington’s page on the site, to see all the backstory on the man that is best known for being our Founding Father, but who is least-known as an 18th-century slaveowner. 

For his part, Sosulski is resolved to helping tell the College’s greater story, asterisk and all.

“It’s super important and it’s way overdue.

Making a House a Home

Helping him in his stewardship of the residence, his wife Cori, is a respected educator in her own right, as an Assistant Professor of German and Director of the German Language Program at The University of Alabama. 

The couple is currently successfully navigating the long-distance relationship scenario that is relatively common when both parties in a relationship are ascending as career academics. Crane says she was very excited about and supportive of her husband’s new role, and found the town of Chestertown and the residence they would be sharing very charming and intriguing. 

“It was very humbling to walk in and realize that there was a lot of history in the house before us,” Crane says. “We really view our role as being stewards.”

The couple is also navigating the unique aspects of inhabiting a historic home in terms of everyday living, and as playing hosts to the greater Washington College community. Crane says there is definitely an art to balancing a private life in a semi-public space, but that their previous experience at Wofford College in South Carolina when her husband was Provost, helped prepare them. 

“The house is so large, I think we’re actually quite used to the fact that the first floor for the most part is considered public or is used by the College.”

Since moving into the home, the couple has hosted several college-related functions including a reception for the College’s Board of Visitors and Governors, a holiday party for the 1782 Society, and several events to show their appreciation for the College’s essential support teams. 

“We recognize that the house is for the community and for the neighborhood,” Crane says. “There are a lot of people who we understand have already developed relationships with the space and that’s part of our orientation in stewarding the space and making it available for people of different communities in Chestertown to enjoy.”

Personal space for the couple, who are empty nesters and parents to two grown boys, is also gracious. The home’s private space includes a kitchen, additional informal living space off the kitchen, the entire second floor that features a large study with floor-to-ceiling bookshelves, and a gorgeous private parlor at the top of the double staircase. 

Living within history as they are, when asked for their favorite space in the house, both replied that it is the Washington Room. He enjoys reading the morning paper there, and she loves the working fireplace and those cozy, deep window seats. Both cited the great natural light and the amount of space the room provides.

Enough room, indeed, for the Founding Father who took a memorable turn on the dance floor, coattails a-twirl in his aspect. 

Michael J. Sosulski, Ph.D.

The Optimist Academic

The first thing Dr. Sosulski says to you when you meet him is, “Call me, Mike.” This month, Mike will be handing out diplomas to graduates at Washington College’s 240th Commencement, the Class of 2023, and while doing so, he will be just as excited about their future as they will be. 

Since taking on the role as the College’s 31st President in 2021, Sosulski, a genuine and affable man, has been upbeat and passionate about his school community and the future of the institution, despite a bleak, years-long societal narrative about higher education, its costs, and the future of Liberal Arts educations, in general. 

“What’s so interesting in assuming this position in this place right now—this is a terrific college. I think the rumors about its untimely demise were greatly exaggerated, to quote Samuel Clemens,” explains Sosulski. 

He says that while colleges overall did hit a “rough patch” due to declining enrollments and demographic shifts with not as many high school graduates opting to continue their education beyond that point, he is encouraged by what he has seen thus far in terms of financials at Washington College. 

“Despite our enrollment challenges in the last several years, ironically, our balance sheets have never looked better. And that’s because of our endowment, and because of the really shrewd fiscal management of our CFO,” he says.

Sosulski cites The Hodson Trust, of which Washington College has been beneficiary since 1928.

“[The Trust] continues to support us in the seven-figure range every year.” 

He did add, that while the Trust is nearing its legal conclusion, the College will be receiving a sizable final distribution that he feels confident will help them attain the greater goals of: continuing to hire the best educators and staff, providing for investment in campus infrastructure, strengthening their diversity initiatives, and expanding their communications platforms. 

Sosulski carries the background of a seasoned leader in change management from his position as Provost at Wofford College and, prior to that, as Associate Provost at Kalamazoo College.

“When I started [here], the College’s audited financials were showing about a $12 million annual operating deficit. But, by next year, we will have worked that down to about $3.4 million…so we are making great progress.”

Which makes Mike optimistic. 

“I think I can really help here, and I just believe so deeply in the liberal arts as an educational model. I think that’s the best model out there.”