Doughoregan Manor was home to Charles Carroll of Carrollton, the only Catholic signer of the Declaration of Independence, and has been in the Carroll family for nine generations.

The Carroll family recently announced a deal to sell part of their estate for a retirement community in exchange for preserving historic Doughoregan Manor and most of their land.

The following are some historic facts about the home and its owners as supplied by the National Park Service, Preservation Maryland and Ronald Hoffman, author of "Princes of Ireland, Planters of Maryland."

* Charles Carroll, the grandfather of Charles Carroll of Carrollton, came to Maryland in 1688.

He gained the 10,000 acres that initially made up the estate in the early 1700s and passed the land on to his son, Charles Carroll of Annapolis, the father of Charles Carroll of Carrollton. The estate is now 892 acres, of which at least 665 acres will be preserved.

* Charles Carroll of Annapolis built a four-room house on the land in 1735 and improvements were made over the next several generations, eventually including several outbuildings, a slave quarters and a chapel. Doughoregan Manor was named after the family's ancestral land in Ireland.

* Charles Carroll of Carrollton became famous in the 1770s by leading opposition to a series of taxes, writing essays against them in Maryland newspapers. This led to his serving in the Second Continental Congress and signing the Declaration of Independence.

At the time, he was one of the wealthiest men in the colonies. Carroll later became one of the first two U.S. Senators from Maryland.

* George Washington, Benjamin Franklin and Samuel Adams were all visitors to the manor.

* Carroll was the last living signer of the Declaration, dying in 1832 at age 95. He is said to have preferred Doughoregan Manor over other homes he maintained around the state and spent much of his life there. He was buried in a chapel on the property.

* It is the only estate owned by a signer of the Declaration to remain in the hands of the signer's family

* Doughoregan Manor is a National Historic Landmark and has recently been on lists of endangered historic places put out by Preservation Howard County and Preservation Maryland. Preservation Maryland declared it "one of America's most important estates."

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