Melford (Mitchellville, Maryland)

Last updated
Melford
Melford Dec 08.JPG
Melford, December 2008
USA Maryland location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Usa edcp location map.svg
Red pog.svg
LocationScience Drive in Maryland Science & Technology Center, Bowie, Maryland
Coordinates 38°57′35″N76°42′34″W / 38.95972°N 76.70944°W / 38.95972; -76.70944
Builtmid-late 1840s
Architectural styleGreek Revival
NRHP reference No. 88000271 [1]
Added to NRHPApril 6, 1988

Melford is a historic plantation house located on the grounds of the Maryland Science and Technology Center, near the intersection of U.S. Route 301 and U.S. Route 50, at Bowie, Prince George's County, Maryland. The house is multi-part, gable-roofed, brick and stone dwelling house constructed probably in the mid-late 1840s, with elements of the Greek Revival style. [2]

Contents

History

The land that made up the Melford plantation was part of a tract, originally called Howerton's Range which was a 400-acre parcel that John Howerton obtained in 1670. [3] It is part of Prince George's County and had historically been inhabited by the Piscataway people, an Algonquin language speaking tribe, as well as the Patuxent people and other Native American groups. [4] [5]

Melford was built by Dr. Richard Duckett in 1810, replacing a previous structure. [3] Dr. Richard Duckett was the brother of Allen Bowie Duckett, and the son of Thomas Duckett, who in 1796 was judge of the Prince George's County Court, and one of the principal slaveholders in the area. [6]

Melford was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1988. [1]

Grounds

The grounds include three outbuildings: a three-bay gable-roofed slave quarter probably dating from the 18th century; a pyramidal-roofed meat house also dating from the late 18th century; and a 20th-century pyramidal-roofed pump house. The landscape consists of terraced gardens, falling away from the house on three levels. Melford was home for 140 years to two prominent local families, the Ducketts and the Hardestys. [2]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bowie, Maryland</span> City in Maryland, United States

Bowie is a city in Prince George's County, Maryland, United States. Per the 2020 census, the population was 58,329. Bowie has grown from a small railroad stop to the largest municipality in Prince George's County, and the fifth most populous city and third largest city by area in the U.S. state of Maryland. In 2014, CNN Money ranked Bowie 28th in its Best Places to Live list.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mitchellville, Maryland</span> Census-designated place in Maryland

Mitchellville is an upper-class majority African-American unincorporated area and census-designated place (CDP) in Prince George's County, Maryland, United States. Per the 2020 census, the population was 11,136.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Woodmore, Maryland</span> Census-designated place in Maryland

Woodmore is an unincorporated area and census-designated place in Prince George's County, Maryland, United States. Per the 2020 census, the population was 4,513. The CDP is located within the boundaries of Route 193 to the west, Church Road to the east, Route 214 to the south and Route 50 to the north. Woodmore Road runs east and west through the center. It contains a large gated community and country club, developments of Woodmore Meadows, and Woodmore South on the south side, as well as various other custom built homes and farmland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Maryland Route 197</span> State highway in Maryland, United States, known for most of its length as Laurel Bowie Road

Maryland Route 197 is a state highway in the U.S. state of Maryland. Known for most of its length as Laurel Bowie Road, the state highway runs 14.64 miles (23.56 km) from U.S. Route 301 in Bowie north to MD 198 in Laurel. MD 197 serves as the main connection between Bowie and Laurel in northern Prince George's County. The highway also provides access to Patuxent Wildlife Research Center and Bowie State University. MD 197 also connects US 50 in Bowie and the Baltimore–Washington Parkway in South Laurel with the Bowie State MARC station.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Belair Mansion (Bowie, Maryland)</span> Historic house in Maryland

The Belair Mansion, located in the historic Collington area and in Bowie, Maryland, United States, built c. 1745, is the Georgian style plantation house of Provincial Governor of Maryland, Samuel Ogle. Later home to another Maryland governor, the mansion is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Collington is a now defunct settlement in Prince George's County, Maryland, United States, dating from colonial times. Collington has been subsumed by the city of Bowie.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Montpelier Mansion (Laurel, Maryland)</span> Historic house in Maryland, United States

Located south of Laurel in Prince George's County, Maryland, United States, Montpelier Mansion is a five-part, Georgian style plantation house most likely constructed between 1781 and 1785. It has also been known as the Snowden-Long House, New Birmingham, or simply Montpelier. Built by Major Thomas Snowden and his wife Anne, the house is now a National Historic Landmark operated as a house museum. The home and 70 acres (28 ha) remain of what was once a slave plantation of about 9,000 acres (3,600 ha).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marietta (Glenn Dale, Maryland)</span> Historic house in Maryland, United States

Marietta is a historic house and former tobacco plantation located in Glenn Dale, Prince George's County, Maryland. On the National Register of Historic Places and the National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom, Marietta House Museum includes a federal era house, a cemetery, the original root cellar, and harness room, as well as Judge Gabriel Duvall's original law office building. The historic site sits on 25 acres of Marietta's original 690 acres. Today, visitors can walk the grounds and tour the plantation buildings and sites where free and enslaved people lived and labored. 

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fairview Plantation</span> Building in Maryland, United States

Fairview construction began around the year 1788 on an expanse of land owned by Baruch Duckett in Collington, Maryland. The house is a transitional federal/Greek revival design considered to be a significant part of the Prince George's County heritage. Fairview is a two-story stuccoed brick plantation house with flush end chimneys and a unique stepped gable at one gable end. Its Georgian plan interior features fine Federal style trim.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sotterley (Hollywood, Maryland)</span> Historic house in Maryland, United States

Sotterley Plantation is a historic landmark plantation house located at 44300 Sotterley Lane in Hollywood, St. Mary's County, Maryland, USA. It is a long 1+12-story, nine-bay frame building, covered with wide, beaded clapboard siding and wood shingle roof, overlooking the Patuxent River. Also on the property are a sawn-log slave quarters of c. 1830, an 18th-century brick warehouse, and an early-19th-century brick meat house. Farm buildings include an early-19th-century corn crib and an array of barns and work buildings from the early 20th century. Opened to the public in 1961, it was once the home of George Plater (1735–1792), the sixth Governor of Maryland, and Herbert L. Satterlee (1863–1947), a New York business lawyer and son-in-law of J.P. Morgan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bellefields (Croom, Maryland)</span> Historic house in Maryland

Bellefields is a manor house located in Croom, Prince George's County, Maryland. It was constructed about 1720. It is a brick structure in Flemish bond with random glazed headers, and two stories over a high basement. The structure is rectangular, with gabled roof sections, paired interior end chimneys, a front center entrance, wide raised belt course above the first floor, flat arched openings, and flanking symmetrical single-story wings. It is in the Georgian style. It was the home of Patrick Sim, Scottish immigrant and of his son, Col. Joseph Sim, Maryland patriot.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Snow Hill (Laurel, Maryland)</span> Historic house in Maryland, United States

Snow Hill is a manor house located south of Laurel, Maryland, off Maryland Route 197, in Prince George's County. Built between 1799 and 1801, the 1+12-story brick house is rectangular, with a gambrel roof, interior end chimneys, and shed dormers. It has a center entrance with transom and a small gabled porch. A central hall plan was used, with elaborate interior and corner cupboards. The original south wing was removed and rebuilt, and the home restored in 1940. The Late Georgian style house was the home of Samuel Snowden, part owner of extensive family ironworks, inherited from his father Richard Snowden. and is now owned and operated by the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission as a rental facility.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bostwick (Bladensburg, Maryland)</span> Historic house in Maryland

Bostwick is a historic home located a short distance below Lowndes Hill, the present-day property of Bladensburg Elementary School in Bladensburg, Prince George's County, Maryland, United States. According to its date plaque, it was built in 1746 by Christopher Lowndes (1713-1785). The house was later the home of Lowndes’ son-in-law, Benjamin Stoddert (1751-1813), first Secretary of the Navy. Colonel Thomas H. Barclay resided at "Bostwick," the oldest surviving structure at Bladensburg. Located nearby is the Market Master's House, also built by Lowndes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bowieville</span> Historic house in Maryland

Bowieville is a historic home located near Upper Marlboro in Prince George's County, Maryland, United States. It is an elegant two-part plantation house of the late Federal style, built of brick and covered with stucco. The architectural detail is transitional between the Federal and Greek Revival styles.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hazelwood (Upper Marlboro, Maryland)</span> Historic house in Maryland, United States

Hazelwood is a historic home located outside Upper Marlboro, Prince George's County, Maryland, United States. The home is a large asymmetrical frame dwelling, built in three discrete sections over a long period of time. They are: a low gambrel-roofed section dating from the 18th century, about 1770; a gable-roofed Federal-style dwelling dating from the very early 19th century; and a tall gable-front Italianate-style central section constructed about 1860. The house stands on high ground west of and overlooking the site of historic Queen Anne town on the Patuxent River. Also on the property are several domestic and agricultural outbuildings, and the reputed sites of two cemeteries.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Woodstock (Upper Marlboro, Maryland)</span> Historic house in Maryland, United States

Woodstock is a 2+12-story historic home located at Upper Marlboro, Prince George's County, Maryland, United States. The home is an outstanding example of a mid-19th-century plantation house with decorative elements in the Greek Revival style. The main block was probably built in the early 1850s by Washington Custis Calvert. The home is in the Tidewater house style.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pleasant Prospect</span> Historic house in Maryland, United States

Pleasant Prospect is a historic home located at Mitchellville, Prince George's County, Maryland. It is an outstanding and important example of a Federal style plantation house, consisting of a 2½-story main structure over a full basement with a 2-story kitchen linked by a 1-story hyphen. The kitchen wing and hyphen are typical of late eighteenth century ancillary architecture in Southern Maryland. The walls are laid in Flemish bond, and the chimneys are typical of Maryland; wide on the side, thin and high above the ridge, rising on the gable ends of the house flush with the building wall. The interior exhibits outstanding Federal style trim, including elaborate Adamesque moldings and plasterwork ornamentation such as garlands, swags, and urns applied to interior doorways and mantles. A pyramidal roof, log meat house stands on the immediate grounds.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Croom, Maryland</span> Census-designated place in Maryland

Croom is an unincorporated community and census-designated place in Southern Prince George's County, Maryland, United States. As of the 2020 census it had a population of 2,720. Croom largely consists of former tobacco farms and forests converted to Washington bedroom subdivisions such as nearby Marlton. The main part of Patuxent River Park is in Croom.

Melford may refer to:

Essington Hall was a plantation and historic house on Old Mount Oak Road in Mitchellville, Maryland that encompassed much of the area. It was owned by John Mitchell, for whom the locality of Mitchellville was named.

References

  1. 1 2 "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places . National Park Service. April 15, 2008.
  2. 1 2 Christopher Owens (September 1974). "National Register of Historic Places Registration: Melford" (PDF). Maryland Historical Trust. Retrieved 2015-08-01.
  3. 1 2 "Belair-at-Bowie Flight to Freedom: Case Studies". Maryland State Archives . Retrieved 1 September 2017.
  4. "Native American Heritage - Prince George's County Memorial Library System".
  5. "Prince George's County Tricentennial".
  6. Thomas, William G. Question of Freedom: The Families Who Challenged Slavery from the Nation's Founding to the Civil War. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2022, p. 75.