If you thought you were hallucinating when you saw a wooden carriage coming down Route 108 on Thursday, September 10, rest assured that there is nothing wrong with your eyesight!

When Cultura Plenera first began using Willow Grove, they saw a great new space for workshops, rehearsals, and programs. What they quickly discovered was something even more valuable: freedom, flexibility, and a true sense of ownership.

On September 16, 1981, a small group of neighbors sat down in a room together and did something quietly radical: they decided that the stories of our community, the everyday ones, the ones that don't usually make it into history books, were worth saving.

I’ve spent most of my career as a fundraiser, and I’ve coached a lot of people who were terrified of asking for support. There’s a cultural bias many of us carry, one I understand completely, that asking for a gift means asking someone to give and get nothing back. It’s not true. It never has been.

Built in 1838, Rockland was the home of Benjamin Hallowell, a Sandy Spring Quaker notable for his public commitment to abolition and his sustained relationships with members of the local free Black community.

Artists living in the DMV are invited to submit qualifications for a new functional art initiative at Sandy Spring Museum. Selected artists will develop durable, useful works inspired by place, community, and history for the Museum's expanding walking trails.

Auburn’s surviving records reveal the essential work of Black women and men who sustained the Sandy Spring farm in the nineteenth century. Diaries and account books preserve the stories of Rachel Bellows, Lizzie and Charlotte Budd, Caroline Sedgwick, and others whose labor shaped daily life at Auburn.

Bloomfield was more than just the home of Caleb Bentley and his son Richard T. Bentley, it was a center of opportunity that helped free Black individuals and families in Sandy Spring build businesses, acquire land, and establish lasting roots in the community.

Sandy Spring Museum (SSM) in Maryland launched the Equity in Metadata initiative. This restorative cataloging project extracts individual pages referencing Black residents to create unique, searchable digital profiles.

Thanks to donor generosity in 2025, Sandy Spring Museum experienced a year of remarkable growth, creativity, and community connection. You can explore our shared accomplishments through our Annual Report.

Built ca. 1764 for Basil Brooke, Falling Green is representative of the interdependence relied upon by both the Black and White communities of the greater Sandy Spring area. Over successive generations it witnessed the transition from slavery to a wage-labor and tenant-based system of agriculture.

Atlantic Union Bank and Sandy Spring Museum today announced Atlantic Union Bank will donate the historic Sandy Spring Bank building located at 908 Olney Sandy Spring Road in Sandy Spring, Maryland to the museum.

Free Black laborers and families played a central role in shaping Walnut Hill, living and working alongside the Lea family for more than four decades. Henson Hill, one of the longest-serving workers, later purchased land in Cincinnati and became a founding member of his community, reflecting both resilience and self-determination.

The Cultural Landscape Plan is the next phase of the museum’s five-phase Master Plan, focused on creating a more accessible and vibrant campus for community activities, from festivals to quiet walks.

Through land ownership, home-building, and careful financial management, Hill established lasting stability for his family, while Bond’s enlistment reflects the hope and determination that a lot of Black men felt as they looked towards the Civil War as a path for improving their condition.

Built ca. 1848, Black Meadows is significant for its role within the interconnection of the Black and White communities that shaped nineteenth-century Sandy Spring. Rather than hold enslaved individuals, the Peirces employed at least thirty-eight free Black persons who worked in exchange for cash, foodstuff, and barter.

Rather than presenting Sandy Spring’s past primarily through the perspective of landowner, these updates illuminate the intertwined histories of Black and White residents—marked by both cooperation and inequity.

Sandy Spring Museum was recognized by the Aspen Institute for our community-forward approach.