The Lafayette Suite is exquisitely wallpapered in a variation of the Ronald Redding papers used in the formal dining room. The suite justly honors the memory of the Marquis de Lafayette who first visited the town during the American Revolution and then again upon his tour of America in 1821. From the Marquis' comment about the city reminding him of the harbor of Le Havre in France, came the city's new name - (Le) Havre de Grace. A statue of the Marquis is only 2 blocks away on Union Avenue towards the railroad bridge. The sitting room is enclosed in gold marble wall- paper. The reproduction mahogany poster queen-size bed beckons one to linger, while antique accessories enhance the enchantment of the room - the purple velvet Louis XVI French chairs, an 1820 mahogany Empire chest of drawers with glass knobs and butter mold carvings, walnut Victorian mirrors, and a walnut Victorian etageres (corner stand). A beautiful Capodimonte (Italy) cabbage rose lamp sits beside the bed. This room has one window overlooking Green Street. The sitting room has 2 banks of windows overlooking the gardens and doors for privacy from the main bedroom. A mahogany kidney sofa (1930's), wing-back chair, writing desk, and chiffarobe cabinet containing the television and VCR complete the room. An adjoining room is the private bath with shower enclosure. It displays a unique faux leather ceiling by Mary Poughkeepsie.All baths include hair dryer and shampoo amenities.

The De Grace suite at La Cle D'Or takes visitors back to the 1870's with the Renaissance revival style of Eastlake furnishings. The double walnut bed with an overhang designed from the back of an old organ dominates the room.
Yet there is plenty of space for a mahogany rocker, walnut and marble chest of drawers, and a wardrobe purchased in Gettysburg,PA. that contains the television with cable for this room. The wallpapers are a Napoleonic design. Several large Eastlake mirrors, a domed wooden trunk, and a large walnut writing desk with unusual chair complete the furnishings. A walnut marble top table and a walnut Empire washstand are most unique and support wonderful cranberry glass and crystal lamps for in-bed reading. This suite must use the bath in the hallway of the Rochambeau Suite. This suite is only rented to friends or family of the guests renting the Rochambeau Suite. Another Strauss crystal chandelier dominates the illumination of this suite. All of our guests are invited to use the Hopkins Hospitality Room which contains a small settee, large writing table, telephone, fax machine, refrigerator, current magazines, and refreshments at no extra costs. De Grace rental fee is $ 120.

The Rochambeau Suite is named in honor of the Count de Rochambeau who marched his troops through Havre de Grace en route to Yorktown, Virginia from Brandywine near Philadelphia in 1781. A plaza dedicated to the Count lies only a block away on Green Street towards the waterfront. The French Provincial mahogany furniture (circa 1920) was acquired predominantly from an estate in Catonsville,Maryland. The television/ VCR cabinet is an old refinished Philco TV cabinet, while the desk is a walnut library table, circa 1880. The lamps are Italian Capodimonte-styled. The painting over the faux fireplace is a copy of "Full Cry" by Philip Reinagle (1749-1833, English). Three windows overlook Union Avenue and provide plenty of sunlight. A beautiful Strauss crystal chandelier hangs from a hand painted ceiling medallion in the center of the room. The partial testered bed is currently a double. The spacious bedroom even has a dresser, chest of drawers, and small sitting area. The private bath for this suite is located slightly into the hall (meaning one must leave the bedroom to go to the bath). We provide terry bathrobes for all of our guests. The bath is quite expansive with tub and shower enclosure and is completed in a beautiful magnolia wallpaper with majolica accessories. Both the bath and bedroom as all of our suites have privacy locks and/or deadbolts. Rochambeau Suite rental fee is $ 130.

View the Main Dining Room:
An original room to the 1868 construction of the home by Henry Harrison Hopkins, the dining room astounds most visitors with its exquisite Strauss crystal chandelier (1984). The fireplace is presently gas-operated but connects to one of 3 original chimneys. Peeking through the drapes one can view the busy Union Avenue beyond and its passer-by's or glimpse a visitor at the front entrance. The eggplant-shaded wallpaper, a Ronald Redding design (1995) and the Chinese sculptured wool rug provide a splendid backdrop for the room's furnishings. These include a dark oak breakfast/buffet server (circa 1900) from Pennsylvania, a Baroque mahogany closed china (c.1920), a Sheraton mahogany table (c.1940), and Chippendale styled chairs. A wonderful mahogany settee was rescued from a pile of sticks. The sofa (c.1840 Empire styled) has been meticulously restored even to include a goose down cushion in a Robert Allen fabric. From the magnificent dining room one enters the hallway, with its gilded gold wallpaper walls (1984), the Strauss crystal chandelier, and the wonderful original staircase. The mahogany lion-pawed foyer table (late 19th century) came from a tobacco plantation in Petersburg, Virginia. Circa 1860 gilded rose-back balloon chairs side the table. In the transitory room we call the Emperor's Tent, Mary Poughkeepsie created a most unusual tenting effect in gold fabric with the Strauss crystal chandelier of the hall. Napoleonic wallpapers also complete the cul-de-sac with a tromp d'oeil effect. Leaded glass paneled doors open to the office, while pink stained glass transoms lead to the various first floor rooms.

An original room to the 1868 construction of the home by Henry Harrison Hopkins, the parlor has several noteworthy architectural features. The gold-papered alcove is a most unusual domed recess and extension bay into the garden area. The fireplace is presently gas-operated but connects to one of the 3 original chimneys. The front porch window may have been a doorway at one time. The parlor would have served the family as a location to lay out the dead for a Victorian wake, and the door would have only been used for removal of the coffin. The present front door served for the arrival and departure of the living. The French doors to the garden room were hung once again during the restoration of the home in the 1980's to lighten the parlor. Also in 1984, the magnificent Strauss crystal chandelier was hung, and the walls were gilded in golden wallpaper from New York. The wooden floor has its original inlay. The "Orleans" black border was added to the upper walls in 1995. Present furnishings include a wonderful mahogany (breakdown) double armoire wardrobe from Claymont,Delaware (late 19th century), a mahogany secretary from Chatham, New York, sided by 2 mahogany regency chairs, a Duncan Phyfe styled mahogany sofa (circa 1920), and a mahogany captain's chair of unusual ornamentation with a restored horsehair seat (circa 1840). Walnut Eastlake chairs await you at the Chippendale leather-top table to play a game of chess with the Don Quixote Spanish playing pieces on the inlay board from Granada, Spain. The mahogany chairs at the huge reading table in the alcove are from a tobacco plantation near Petersburg, Virginia (circa 1840).An upholstered mahogany bench came from the Old Frederick Hotel in Frederick, Maryland. Wonderful walnut Empire chairs (circa 1870) are upholstered in a Napoleonic bee pattern and flank a mahogany music stand purchased in Baltimore by Mr. Browning's grandmother in about 1929. It depicts a painting of the Great Baltimore Fire of 1904 in the harbor. French doors enter from the parlor into the garden room with its huge Czechoslovakian crystal chandelier (circa 1900) and wall of mirrors. Once an open-air porch, the garden room has been enclosed to become a delightful all-season room of the house. A wall of glass overlooks the brick enclosed garden to view an ever-changing glimpse of nature. Even with a blanket of snow outside, one can curl up in a chair to view the wintry landscape. The expansive framed mirror was added to the room in the 1980's restoration. A massive fruitwood linen press dominates one wall, having been restored and shipped from France where it was made during the 17th century. Over the linen press hangs an oil painting of an upstate New York lake by Jean Faith (b.1909) who signs her work as Giovanna (1992). She painted this oil among others, while celebrating her 80's. Across the top of the main window runs a plate rail stocked with fine English transferware plates.

View the Secret Garden:
We invite you to explore the "secreted" gardens of La Cle D'or behind their antique wrought iron gates and brick walls (1984). No matter the season, the gardens are full of delightful plantings. English ivy abounds, as does Chinese wisteria, boxwood, Southern grandiflora magnolia, tulip magnolia, dogwood, pyracantha, barberry, juniper, roses, acuba, Alberta spruce, azalea,rhododendrons, hens and chicks, hosta, Japanese maple, euonymus,althea (rose of sharon), forsythia, yucca, yew, various hollies, and Bradford pear. Perennials include iris, peonies, chrysanthemums, coleus, black-eyed susans (Maryland's state flower), liriope, mint, lamb's ear, Oxeye daisies, phlox, coral bells, violets, and clematis. The gardens are festooned with a variety of Dutch bulbs for spring blossoms such as daffodils, crocus, tulips, and lillies. Unusual plantings include a prickly pear cactus. Each year the gardens grow more and more beautiful. Other items in the gardens for your pleasure include picnic seatings on the flagstone terrace near the back gateway entrance. Reproduction Renaissance cherubs (of the four seasons), fountain, and urns are noteworthy as are the Roman columned busts of David (by Michelangelo) and Caesar. Other reproduction statuary in the gardens include a full "David", a seated "Prudence" next to the white birch trees, and "Rosie" within the front yard gardens under the Buford holly tree. Did you also see the Tuscany gargoyles at the front gate and the gargoyle lanterns at the garage? Gargoyles were used in Medieval Europe and Gothic cathedrals to scare away and frighten evil from the church, thus, ours face outward too. Lastly, if you did not notice, a golden angel perches on the Green Street chimney to smile at you.

Our Antiques and Art:
La Cle D'or Guesthouse is fortunate to be able to display the artwork of many local artists. Many are residents of Havre de Grace or Maryland. Valerie Lloyd painted the mural in the kitchen alcove of the Susquehanna River flats as it empties into the Chesapeake Bay. The Concord Point Lighthouse, the skipjack "Martha Lewis", and the old Bayou Hotel show prominently. Valerie chose oils as her medium, though she is a gifted local artist who uses a variety of mediums and techniques. An oil portrait of Mr .Browning was executed by Mr.Leon N.Kalas, while other pieces of his work hang elsewhere in the home. Ms. Lucille Beards, a local resident while celebrating her 90's and close friend of Louise Nevelson, created a collage for La Cle D'or upon its opening in 1996. Portraits of the Hopkins House have been inked by R.Karl Dietz and oil painted by Caroline Jasper, both schoolteacher friends of Mr. Browning. Antiques lodge throughout the home and the guest is welcome to use them. (This is not a museum with "do not touch" rules!). Many have been mentioned in the room descriptions. Pieces range from the Eastlake Renaissance Revival style of the De Grace Suite's walnut bed, armoire, and master chest of drawers to the Empire style of the parlor's buffet and side chairs. Many pieces are from the 19th century and a few are older such as the magnificent French linen press in the garden room dating to the 1600's.