Kiplin Hall Program
The best way to learn a place is to experience it. Through the Washington College Kiplin Hall Program, students explore the landscapes, writers, and history of northern England, with particular focus on how those things intersect. Experience the poetry of William Wordsworth while standing in his former home, Dove Cottage. Investigate the grasses and wildlife making up the ecosystem of the Moors, the setting for multiple novels written by the Brontës. Explore Kiplin Hall itself, the ancestral country home of the Calverts, the founding family of Maryland, before their voyage to America. This 10-day short-term study abroad program takes students through the Lake District, Moors, Manchester, Richmond, and other sites of significant historic, literary, and environmental interest.
Students participating in the Kiplin Hall Program are taught and led by faculty and
staff from the Department of English, Rose O'Neill Literary House, Center for Environment
and Society, and the Starr Center for the Study of the American Experience. The three
Centers of Excellence provide additional content and context to a reimagined, intentionally
interdisciplinary trip that has been a staple of Washington College since the program's
inception.
The Kiplin Hall Program is open to any student, regardless of major. Curiosity and a sense of wonder are the only requirements. To apply, complete the Study Abroad Application available from the Global Education Office. For more information, contact Program Director Katie Charles, associate professor of English.
Department of English
Katherine Charles
Associate Professor of Eighteenth and Nineteenth Century Literature- 800-422-1782
- [email protected]
- Smith 117
Legacy of the Program
The inaugural trip of the Kiplin Hall Program took place in June 1998, led by former
English professors Rich and Barbara Gillin with support from former College President
John Toll and then Board of Visitors and Governors Chairman Jay Griswold. In that
first version of the program, students read the work of Romantic poets while hiking
the locations they lived and wrote in. Read all about the Gillins' iteration of the
program in his book A Guide to Hiking the Liberal Arts: The Washington College Kiplin Hall Program.
Now retired, Professor Gillin (far left) has passed the torch to Professor Katie Charles (far right), who guided her first group of Washington College students through England's North Yorkshire countryside in Summer 2024.
Kiplin Hall: Birthplace of Maryland
Kiplin Hall, located in Richmond, UK, was the ancestral country home of the Calverts, before they founded Maryland. To learn more about Kiplin Hall, and hear from the Gillins, watch the Maryland Public Television documentary “Kiplin Hall: Birthplace of Maryland.”
For more information on the hall since the Calverts left it, and to see the state of the estate today, visit the Kiplin Hall website.
Department of English
Katherine Charles
Associate Professor of Eighteenth and Nineteenth Century Literature- 800-422-1782
- [email protected]
- Smith 117