For years, the old stone house beside a Montgomery County farm field was largely forgotten. It was swallowed by forest, marred by graffiti and crumbling to the earth.

But now, partially restored and easily accessible, it is the centerpiece of Maryland’s newest state park.

The 1,042-acre Freedman’s State Park near Gaithersburg honors the legacy of the Howard family, who owned the land after emancipation from slavery, and became major contributors to Black communities in Maryland, including the founding the Baltimore Afro-American newspaper.

“Freedman’s State Park will be a place for reflection, education and connection,” said Maryland Park Service Director Angela Crenshaw during a dedication ceremony Friday. “A place where visitors can understand the deep ties between land and liberty, a place where Marylanders can see how the work of freedom continues long after emancipation, and a place where the legacy of the Howard family is protected — not as a footnote, but as a chapter of statewide significance.”

The story begins with Enoch George Howard, who was born enslaved in 1814 to the Gaither family, after whom Gaithersburg is named. Howard purchased his freedom in 1851, and in the ensuing years he also freed his wife and his four eldest children.

In 1862, as the Civil War raged, the Howard family bought a plantation house known as Locust Villa, which is believed to have been built in 1790, and several hundred surrounding acres. That home has largely fallen to ruin, but another on the property is still standing, called Greenbury’s House, after one of Howard’s sons.

According to the state archives, Howard grew rye, oats and other crops on the land, and owned livestock. But he also helped other Black Marylanders purchase land of their own, state property records show, sold some of his land to be used as a school for African American children, and built a chapel in 1889.

“Several sources even attribute Howard with providing lodging for the slave Dred Scott,” whose case before the U.S. Supreme Court dealt a historic blow to the rights of African Americans, according to the archives, but no known documentation exists to prove it.

“However, according to local legends and Howard family history, Howard assisted runaway slaves as well, with the family’s history also recounting two of Howard’s sons escaping to Canada through the Underground Railroad before Enoch George Howard had bought his family’s freedom.”

When Howard died in 1895, he divided the property equally among his five children, according to the archives. One of his five children, Martha Elizabeth Howard married the Civil War veteran and former slave John H. Murphy, and later contributed $200 to help her husband found the Afro-American, which crusaded against Jim Crow, and became one of the most widely circulated Black newspapers in the region. Today, the paper is still run by fourth- and fifth-generation Murphy descendants.

“Afro News is a publication that, for more than a century, has ensured that Black history, achievement and struggle are told clearly, fully and without apology,” said Savannah Wood, the executive director of Afro Charities, and a great-great granddaughter to Martha Howard. “From that perspective, it’s a joy to be here to dedicate this park, which is now doing the same thing.”

The property, acquired by the state more than 60 years ago, had been part of Patuxent River State Park, where it was often used for hunting. Now, it stands alone with its own state park designation.

But there’s still plenty of work to be done.

Greenbury’s House has a new roof and other refurbishments, but still has boarded-up windows. The Park Service still hopes to add signs describing the significance of the house, the Locust Villa and the graveyard between them, which is the final resting place for George and his wife Harriet, as well as Greenbury and other descendants.

For now, visitors wishing to access the property can park at a lot on Elton Farm Road, and hike a mile on a wooded trail to reach Greenbury’s House. From there, they can continue past farm fields and tracts of woodland to the burial ground and the ruins of Locust Villa, said Park Ranger Shea Neimann, a 20-year veteran of the Park Service who helped bring the new park to fruition.

Friday’s dedication ceremony was a joyous occasion for the more than a dozen descendants who returned to the property to share reflections and memories, and gather for a family photo in the burial ground. They also placed bits of sea glass on their ancestors’ headstones, meant to symbolize the path of their spirits back across the Atlantic Ocean to Africa, Crenshaw said.

Houston Murphy, who attended Friday’s ceremony, said he remembers spending a night on vacation in the “cramped” Locust Villa as a young boy, where the fireplace was so large he could stand inside it.

His father, William H. Murphy Sr., a well-known judge and political force in Baltimore City, owned one tract of land in the new state park, he said. But the state approached him about acquiring the land for recreation.

“My father fought them, because he didn’t want to give up his 2 acres. It was his getaway from this stress of being a Black attorney and a Black judge in the city of Baltimore,” Murphy said Friday.

Ultimately, the state won out, and paid Murphy for the property that would later become part of Patuxent River State Park.

“My father never thought it was a fair price,” Murphy said.

For members of the family, the state’s early stewardship of the land left something to be desired, what with the loss of Locust Villa. But now, with restoration efforts well underway and a new state park created to honor the Howard family, the descendants have new hope.

“We already lost one really significant site with the state not recognizing how important the history was, but it’s great that we have new leadership that understands the importance of this history and is willing to put resources behind it,” Wood said.

State officials said Friday that they were able to create the new state park thanks to the Great Maryland Outdoors Act, which the legislature passed in 2022 after a historic surge in state park visitation during the COVID-19 pandemic. The law allowed for the park’s dedication and allocated funds for its branding and additional park rangers.

Maryland Natural Resources Secretary Josh Kurtz acknowledged Friday that the story of the Howard family is one the state “should have been proudly telling” for a century.

But dedicating the park in this moment, when President Donald Trump’s administration is working to scrub “negative” depictions of U.S. history, including the history of slavery, from national parks and monuments, has added significance, Kurtz said.

“This is an opportunity for us at a time, frankly, nationally, when stories like this are being suppressed, to tell this, to tell this loudly and tell this proudly,” Kurtz said.