History of the Pemberton Hall Foundation

In 1980 The Pemberton Hall Foundation persuaded the Wicomico Recreation and Parks Department to purchase and develop the surrounding land which is the core of the original plantation as a historical park. In 1987 as the first phase of development was being completed the remaining land adjacent to Pemberton Hall was threatened by a 100 house subdivision. With funding aid from the State of Maryland and the people of Wicomico County the land was saved from development. The resulting 262 acre Pemberton Historical Park is contained within 3 of the 1750 boundaries of Isaac Handy's original 1000 acre plantation. The core of Pemberton Plantation is intact including the earliest dated wharf of its kind in the United States. Pemberton Hall and its two acres are the focus of this historic site. 

Extensive documentary, archeological and architectural research is being carried out by the Pemberton Hall Foundation Inc. to insure the accurate restoration and interpretation of Pemberton Hall Plantation. The Pemberton Hall Foundation is an all-volunteer membership organization that owns, restores, preserves, maintains, and interprets Pemberton Hall as a house museum. It is governed by a Board of Directors and is a 501c3 non-profit organization. Funding is achieved through fundraising, membership, and grant writing. It is the only original eighteenth century house museum open to the public on the Lower Eastern Shore of Maryland.