Rosaryville State Park

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Rosaryville State Park
Mount Airy Mansion (21006770113).jpg
Mount Airy Mansion, Rosaryville State Park, 2016
USA Maryland relief location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Location in Maryland
Location Rosaryville, Maryland, U.S.
Nearest city Washington, D.C.
Coordinates 38°46′27″N76°48′40″W / 38.77417°N 76.81111°W / 38.77417; -76.81111 [1]
Area1,227 acres (4.97 km2) [2]
Elevation161 ft (49 m) [1]
Designation Maryland state park
Established1976
Administrator Maryland Department of Natural Resources
Website Rosaryville State Park

Rosaryville State Park is a public recreation area with historical features located three miles southeast of Joint Base Andrews (formerly Andrews Air Force Base) in Rosaryville, Prince George's County, Maryland. The state park includes the restored Mount Airy Mansion, which was formerly operated as an event facility, as well as hiking, biking and equestrian trails for day-use. [2]

Contents

History

Calvert family
Benedict Swingate Calvert, painted by John Wollaston c1754. Calvert and his family lived at Mount Airey mansion, now a part of Rosaryville State Park. Benedict calvert 1754.jpg
Benedict Swingate Calvert, painted by John Wollaston c1754. Calvert and his family lived at Mount Airey mansion, now a part of Rosaryville State Park.

Benedict Swingate Calvert, (c.1730-1788), son of Charles Calvert, fifth Baron Baltimore, lived at Mount Airy, and died there on January 9, 1788. [3] Calvert was a politician and planter in colonial Maryland. Mount Airy was most likely a gift from his father, Lord Baltimore, who had ensured that Calvert would be provided with lands and revenues, [4] and Mount Airy had originally been a hunting lodge for Charles Calvert, third Baron Baltimore. [5] Calvert began construction of his house, which still survives, in 1751. [6]

Mount Airy ca. 1936 Historic American Buildings Survey John O. Brostrup, Photographer May 13, 1936 11-25 A.M. VIEW FROM SOUTHEAST - Mount Airy, Rosaryville, Prince George's County, MD HABS MD,17-ROSVI.V,2-10.tif
Mount Airy ca. 1936

In 1774, Calvert's daughter Eleanor Calvert (1758–1811), married John Parke Custis, son of Martha Washington and the stepson of George Washington. Washington himself did not approve of the match owing to the couple's youth, but eventually gave his consent, [6] [7] and was present at the wedding celebrations, which took place at Mount Airy. [8] [9] The couple's son, George Washington Parke Custis, who was born at Mount Airy in 1781, built and named Arlington House near the Potomac River, married Mary Lee Fitzhugh, and became the father-in-law of Robert E. Lee. By the 1770s Benedict Swingate Calvert controlled a large and profitable estate of around 4,000 acres (1,600 ha), with upwards of 150 slaves. He was also an enthusiastic horse breeder, training thoroughbreds and running them in competitions in Maryland and Virginia. [10] Benedict Swingate Calvert died at Mount Airy on January 9, 1788. [3] He was buried beneath the chancel of the church of St Thomas in Croom, Maryland, a church which Calvert had helped to found and maintain. [6] His wife died ten years later, in 1798. [6]

Benedict Calvert's second son Edward Henry Calvert, who was born on November 7, 1766, then inherited the estate. [6] He married on March 1, 1796, and died on July 12, 1846. [6] He left the estate to his widow, who died on March 26, 1857. [6] On her death the estate, by this time reduced to around 1,000 acres (400 ha), was to be divided among her children. Two of her children were the last Calvert owners. After the death of "Old Miss Eleanor" the house and its contents were sold at auction. [6]

Twentieth century

Matilda Duvall purchased the property in 1902, ending the Calvert family's hereditary ownership. Renamed as Dower House, it became a country inn until a fire in 1931 reduced the building to only its masonry walls. The ruins were purchased and restored by socialite Cissy Patterson, the publisher of the Washington Times-Herald , who entertained presidents and other important persons here. She in turn bequeathed the property to Ann Bowie Smith, and it was from her family that the State of Maryland purchased Mt. Airy, in 1973, to add it to Rosaryville State Park. It is operated as an event facility by the Rosaryville Conservancy and a private concessionaire. [2] [11] [12]

In 1976, Peter and Esther D. Duvall deeded their 341-acre (138 ha) property, including the 274 acres (111 ha) of Mount Airy, to the Maryland Department of Natural Resources, which established Rosaryville State Park on the site. [13]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Benedict Calvert, 4th Baron Baltimore</span> English peer and politician

Benedict Leonard Calvert, 4th Baron Baltimore was an English peer and politician. He was the second son of Charles Calvert, 3rd Baron Baltimore (1637–1715) by Jane Lowe, and became his father's heir upon the death of his elder brother Cecil in 1681. The 3rd Lord Baltimore was a devout Roman Catholic, and had lost his title to the Province of Maryland shortly after the events of the Glorious Revolution in 1688, when the Protestant monarchs William III and Mary II acceded to the British throne. Benedict Calvert made strenuous attempts to have his family's title to Maryland restored by renouncing Roman Catholicism and joining the Church of England.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Charles Calvert, 5th Baron Baltimore</span> British noble

Charles Calvert, 5th Baron Baltimore, was a British nobleman and Proprietary Governor of the Province of Maryland. He inherited the title to Maryland aged just fifteen, on the death of his father and grandfather, when the colony was restored by the British monarchy to the Calvert family's control, following its seizure in 1688. In 1721 Charles came of age and assumed personal control of Maryland, travelling there briefly in 1732. For most of his life, he remained in England, where he pursued an active career in politics, rising to become Lord of the Admiralty from 1742 to 1744. He died in 1751 in England, aged 52.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Arlington House, The Robert E. Lee Memorial</span> Historic estate in Virginia operated by the U.S. National Park Service

Arlington House is the historic family residence of Robert E. Lee, commanding general of the Confederate Army during the American Civil War in Arlington County, Virginia. The estate of the historic home along with a memorial to Lee are now the center of Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington County, where they overlook the Potomac River and the National Mall in Washington, D.C.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">George Washington Parke Custis</span> Step-grandson of George Washington (1781–1857)

George Washington Parke Custis was an American antiquarian, author, playwright, and plantation owner. He was a veteran of the War of 1812. His father, John Parke Custis served in the American Revolution with then-General George Washington. John Parke Custis died after the Battle of Yorktown that ended the American Revolution.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Charles Benedict Calvert</span> American politician (1808-1864)

Charles Benedict Calvert was an American politician who was a U.S. Representative from the sixth district of Maryland, serving one term from 1861 to 1863. He was an early backer of the inventors of the telegraph, and in 1856 he founded the Maryland Agricultural College, the first agricultural research college in America, now known as the University of Maryland. He was a direct descendant of the Lords Baltimore, proprietary governors of the Province of Maryland from 1631 until 1776.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eleanor Parke Custis Lewis</span> Granddaughter of Martha Washington

Eleanor Parke Custis Lewis was a granddaughter of Martha Washington and a step-granddaughter of George Washington.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Parke Custis</span> American politician (1754–1781)

John Parke Custis was an American planter and politician, only son of Martha Washington and stepson of George Washington. He is now known for his progeny, especially those raised by President Washington.

George Hume Steuart, (1700–1784) was a Scottish physician, tobacco planter, and Loyalist politician in colonial Maryland. Born in Perthshire, Steuart emigrated to Maryland in around 1721, where he benefited from proprietarial patronage and was appointed to a number of colonial offices, eventually becoming a wealthy landowner with estates in both Maryland and Scotland, and serving two terms as mayor of Annapolis. However, he was forced by the outbreak of the American Revolution to decide whether to remain loyal to the Crown or to throw in his lot with the American rebels. In 1775 Steuart sailed to Scotland, deciding at age 75 that "he could not turn rebel in his old age". He remained there until his death in 1784.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Martha Parke Custis Peter</span>

Martha Parke Custis Peter was a granddaughter of Martha Dandridge Washington and a step-granddaughter of George Washington.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Elizabeth Parke Custis Law</span> Granddaughter of Martha Dandridge Custis Washington

Elizabeth Parke Custis Law, sometimes known as Eliza Law, was the eldest granddaughter of Martha Dandridge Washington and a step-grandchild of George Washington. She married Thomas Law, the youngest son of the late bishop of Carlisle, England, and an experienced administrator with the East India Company.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eleanor Calvert</span> Calvert family member (1753–1811)

Eleanor Calvert Custis Stuart, born Eleanor Calvert, was a prominent member of the wealthy Calvert family of Maryland. Upon her marriage to John Parke Custis, she became the daughter-in-law of Martha Dandridge Custis Washington and the step-daughter-in-law of George Washington. Her portrait hangs today at Mount Airy Mansion in Rosaryville State Park, Maryland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Abingdon (plantation)</span> Plantation site in Virginia, United States of America

Abingdon was an 18th- and 19th-century plantation owned by the prominent Alexander, Custis, Stuart, and Hunter families and worked at times by slaves. The plantation's site is now located in Arlington County in the U.S. state of Virginia.

David Stuart was a Virginia physician, politician, and correspondent of George Washington. When Washington became President of the United States, he made Stuart one of three commissioners appointed to design a new United States capital city.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Benedict Swingate Calvert</span> American politician and judge (1722-1788)

Benedict Swingate Calvert was a planter, politician and a Loyalist in Maryland during the American Revolution. He was the son of Charles Calvert, 5th Baron Baltimore, the third Proprietor Governor of Maryland (1699–1751). His mother's identity is not known, though one source speculates that she was Melusina von der Schulenburg, Countess of Walsingham. As he was illegitimate, he was not able to inherit his father's title or estates, which passed instead to his half brother Frederick Calvert, 6th Baron Baltimore (1731–1771). Benedict Calvert spent most of his life as a politician, judge and planter in Maryland, though Frederick, by contrast, never visited the colony. Calvert became wealthy through proprietarial patronage and became an important colonial official, but he would lose his offices and his political power, though not his land and wealth, during the American Revolution.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Charles Calvert (governor)</span>

Captain Charles Calvert was a British Army officer, colonial administrator and planter who served as the governor of Maryland from 1720 to 1727 at a time when the Calvert family had recently regained control of the Province of Maryland. He was appointed governor by his cousin Charles Calvert, 5th Baron Baltimore, who in 1721 came into his inheritance over the colony.

Hope Park was an 18th and 19th-century plantation in Fairfax County, Virginia, where Dr. David Stuart (1753–1814), an old friend of and correspondent with George Washington lived with his wife, Eleanor Calvert Custis (1758–1811), and family. It was approximately 5 miles (8.0 km) southwest of Fairfax Court House.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Elizabeth Calvert</span> Heiress in colonial Maryland (1731–1788)

Elizabeth Calvert was the daughter of Maryland Governor Captain Charles Calvert and Rebecca Gerard, and a wealthy heiress in colonial Maryland. Her parents died when she was young, leaving her their substantial fortune. In 1748, aged 17, she married her cousin Benedict Swingate Calvert, a Loyalist politician and planter and the illegitimate son of Charles Calvert, 5th Baron Baltimore. Benedict's connections to the ruling Calvert family allowed him to benefit from considerable proprietarial patronage, until the American Revolution saw the overthrow of British rule and the end of Calvert power in Maryland. Benedict and Elizabeth had to pay triple taxes after the war's end but, unlike many loyalists, their lands and fortune remained unconfiscated.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rosalie Stier Calvert</span> American plantation owner and correspondent

Rosalie Stier Calvert was a plantation owner and correspondent in nineteenth century Maryland. A collection of her letters, titled Mistress of Riversdale, The Plantation Letters of Rosalie Stier Calvert, was published by the Johns Hopkins University Press in 1991. The letters range in date from 1795 to 1821, and illuminate the life of Calvert's plantation household, including the events leading up to and during the War of 1812.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">George Calvert (planter)</span>

George Calvert was an American planter active in late eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century Maryland. His plantation house, Riversdale plantation, also known as the Calvert Mansion, is a five-part, large-scale late Georgian mansion with superior Federal interior, built between 1801 and 1807, and was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1997. Calvert's wife, the Belgian-born heiress Rosalie Stier Calvert, was an indefatigable correspondent whose letters, titled Mistress of Riversdale, The Plantation Letters of Rosalie Stier Calvert, was published by the Johns Hopkins University Press in 1991. The letters range in date from 1795 to 1821, and illuminate the life of the Calverts' plantation household during the events leading up to and during the War of 1812.

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

The Mount Airy Mansion is a historic building near Upper Marlboro in Prince George's County, Maryland. Expanded c. 1751 on the site of the 17th century hunting lodge of Charles Calvert, 3rd Baron Baltimore by his great-grandson Benedict Swingate Calvert, the mansion today is managed by the Maryland Department of Natural Resources within the Rosaryville State Park.

References

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  2. 1 2 3 "Rosaryville State Park". Maryland Department of Natural Resources. Retrieved July 24, 2024.
  3. 1 2 The Society of the Ark and the Dove (2005). Russell, George E. and Donna V. (ed.). The Ark and the Dove Adventurers. Genealogical Publishing Company. p. 8. ISBN   978-0-8063-1762-5.
  4. Callcott, Margaret Law (1992). Mistress of Riversdale: The Plantation Letters of Rosalie Stier Calvert, 1795-1821. The Johns Hopkins University Press. p. 17. ISBN   978-0-8018-4399-0 . Retrieved February 1, 2010.
  5. Yentsch, Anne E. (1994). A Chesapeake Family and Their Slaves: A Study in Historical Archaeology. Illustrator: Julie Hunter. Cambridge University Press. p. 262. ISBN   978-0-521-46730-8 . Retrieved February 1, 2010.
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  8. Hammond, John Martin (1914). "Colonial Mansions of Maryland and Delaware: Mount Airy". Prince George's County, Maryland, Genealogy Trails. J.B. Lippincott. Retrieved August 10, 2010.
  9. "Mount Airy". The Historical Marker Database. Retrieved June 6, 2011.
  10. Yentsch. p. 264 . Retrieved February 1, 2010.
  11. "Mount Airy Mansion". Rosaryville State Park. Maryland DNR. Retrieved January 13, 2020.
  12. "Pineapple Alley Catering". Pineapple Alley Catering, Inc. Retrieved July 22, 2015.
  13. Saleh Van Erem, Architectural Historiann (January 2008). "Duvall Barn Complex" (PDF). Inventory of Historic Properties Form. Maryland Historical Trust. Retrieved February 3, 2016.