Bohemia Farm/Milligan Hall
Earleville, MD
Constructed in the mid-18th century
Listed in 1973
Significance: Bohemia House is reputed to be the most fully developed Georgian-style house on the Eastern Shore of Maryland. The elaborate decorative plasterwork of the Rococo style and the full “Chinese Chippendale” staircase are important to the evolution of Georgian-style homes in Maryland. Bohemia is important historically as the “part-time” home of its former owner, Louis McLane, a prominent political influence as a Cabinet member during the administration of President Andrew Jackson. McLane was the second president of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Company from 1837 to 1847, and president of the Morris Canal and Banking Company of New York. SOURCE: mht.maryland.gov
About the Owner: Louis McLane was born in Smyrna, Delaware in 1786 to Allan McLane and Rebecca Wells McLane. His father was a veteran of the Revolutionary War and was appointed to the position of customs collector for the Port of Wilmington.
Louis McLane attended private schools and served as a midshipman on the USS Philadelphia for one year before he turned 18. He then attended Newark College, later the University of Delaware.
Louis married Mary (Kitty) Milligan in 1812. They had 13 children, including Robert Milligan McLane, a governor of Maryland and U.S. Ambassador.
McLane was a veteran of the War of 1812, a member of the Federalist Party, and later the Democratic Party. He was a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Delaware, Chair of the House Ways and Means Committee, a U.S. Senator from Delaware, the U.S. Secretary of the Treasury, the U.S. Secretary of State, and the United States Minister to the United Kingdom. McLane also served as the president of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad until 1848.
