Historic Sites Brochure

Pr i nce Ge org e’s C o u nt y, M ary l an d

Historic Sites & Museums

Map of Historic sites & Museums

Laurel Museum

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Dinosaur Park Montpelier Mansion Abraham Hall

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Seabrook Schoolhouse

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Belair Mansion Belair Stable Museum Marietta House Museum

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Blacksox Park Radio and TV Museum Northampton Slave Quarters and Archaeological Park

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Bladensburg Dueling Grounds Bladensburg Waterfront Park

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Ridgeley Rosenwald School

Bowie Railroad Station Dorsey Chapel

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George Washington House

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Cherry Hill Cemetery

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National Museum of Language College Park Aviation Museum Riversdale House RTE. 410 Museum

Old Town Bowie Welcome Center

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Greenbelt Museum

Adelphi Mill

NASA Goddard Space Flight Center

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Airmen Memorial Museum

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UPPER MARLBORO NSYLVANIA AVE. ◆ ★

Darnall’s Chance Poplar Hill on His Lordship’s Kindness

Oxon Hill Farm .5 RTE

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Surratt House Museum

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★ National Colonial Farm

Mount Calvert Historical and Archaeological Park

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Ft. Washington National Park

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Patuxent Rural Life Museums Columbia Air Center

Nottingham Schoolhouse

Prince George’s County, Maryl and

Historic Sites & Museums Prince George’s County is steeped in notable history.

History buffs can learn more about this county’s intriguing past by visiting the many homes, mansions and historic sites that have been restored and preserved for public use. In addition, programs have been developed to bring Prince George’s County’s history to vibrant life.

All of the historic sites and museums listed here allow visitors to get a taste of the lives of past residents with lectures, workshops, guided tours, or special events such as period dinners, living history encampments, teas, hands-on history activities, lectures, and archaeological explorations.

Please call the individual sites for more information or visit them on the internet.

Prince George’s County was formed from Calvert and Charles Counties by an act of the Maryland General Assembly on St. George’s Day, April 23, 1696.

The county was named for Prince George of Denmark, husband of Princess Anne, heir to the throne of England.

Bladensburg Dueling Grounds Bladensburg Road and 37th Place, Colmar Manor, MD www.pgparks.com This grassy knoll is located on part of the tract known as Chillum Castle Manor, which was patented to William Digges in 1763. It was the scene of at least 26 recorded duels during the first half of the nineteenth century. The most famous was the 1820 duel between Commodores James Barron and Stephen Decatur in which Decatur was mortally wounded. The movement against dueling reached a peak in the late 1830s and the practice of dueling came to an end after the Civil War.

Cherry Hill Cemetery 6821 Ingraham Street, Riverdale, MD 301-627-1286 / www.pgparks.com Cherry Hill Cemetery, an African American family burial ground, was established in 1884 on the farm of Josiah Adams. It is the only intact African American family farm cemetery in the Bladensburg-Riverdale area. Its graves are marked with slabs of local ironstone and yucca plants.

Columbia Air Center 16000 Croom Airport Road, Upper Marlboro, MD 301-627-6074 / www.pgparks.com In 1941, aviation history was made when the first African American owned and operated airfield in the state of Maryland was licensed on the site at the end of Croom Airport Road. John W. Greene Jr., a pioneer in black aviation, was instrumental in developing the airfield, which was originally called Riverside Field. It was occupied by the U.S. Navy during World War II and used for training missions.

After the war, Greene reopened the airfield as Columbia Air Center.

It offered a flying school, charter services, and facilities for major and minor repairs.

Dinosaur Park 13200 Block of Mid-Atlantic Boulevard, Laurel, MD 301-627-7755 / www.pgparks.com Come join paleontologists in discovering Prince George’s County’s ancient past at Dinosaur Park!

Experienced paleontologists and volunteers interpret fossil deposits from the Cretaceous Period (144 million to 65 million years ago). Over the last 150 years numerous fossils of dinosaurs, early mammals, and flowering plants have been found at Dinosaur Park.

Seabrook Schoolhouse 6116 Seabrook Road, Lanham, MD 301-464-5291 / www.pgparks.com The Seabrook Schoolhouse was built in 1896 for the residents of the Seabrook community and provided education for local students until the early 1950s. One of the few surviving oneroom schoolhouses in Prince George’s County, the building is unique in that it was built to resemble the Victorian Gothic architectural style of the cottages that were originally built in the community.

Surratt House Museum 9110 Brandywine Road, Clinton, MD 301-868-1121 / www.pgparks.com Originally built as a middle-class farm house for John and Mary Surratt in 1852, the Surratt House is infamously connected to the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln.

During the crucial decade before the Civil War, the house served as a tavern and hostelry, a post office, and a polling place. During the War, it was a safehouse in the Confederate underground system which flourished in southern Maryland. Today, the museum presents a variety of programs and events, recapturing the history of the mid-19th century life and focusing on the fascinating web of the Lincoln assassination conspiracy and the involvement of the Surratt family.

Adelphi Mill 8402 Riggs Road, Adelphi, MD 301-699-2400 / www.pgparks.com

Built ca. 1796, Adelphi Mill is Prince George’s County’s only surviving historic grist mill and the oldest and largest mill in the Washington area.

The grindstones and other mill equipment survive and are on display.

Blacksox Park 2200 Mitchellville Road, Bowie, MD 301-809-3089 / www.cityofbowie.org This 70-acre park was once home to two local African American sandlot baseball teams — the Mitchellville Tigers and the Washington Blacksox. From the 1930s to the 1970s sandlot teams played here, including the Oxon Hill Aztecs, the Laurel All Stars, and the professional Negro League team, the Homestead Grays.

Abraham Hall 7612 Old Muirkirk Road, Beltsville, MD 240-264-3415 / www.pgparks.com Abraham Hall was built in 1889 for the Benevolent Sons and Daughters of Abraham and is the County’s most outstanding example of a late 19th century Benevolent Society lodge for African Americans. Over the years, it has also served as a schoolhouse and a Methodist church.

Abraham Hall has been recently restored and is the focal point of the black community of Rossville.

Airmen Memorial 5211 Auth Road Museum, Suitland, MD 240-264-3415 / www.afsahq.org Founded in 1988 by the Air Force Sergeants Association, the Airmen Memorial Museum stands as a tribute to enlisted airmen for their sacrifices and contributions made while serving in the U.S. Air Force.

The Airmen Memorial Museum is dedicated to collecting artifacts to tell the stories of enlisted personnel and preserve the enlisted heritage of U.S. air and space power.

Belair Mansion 12207 Tulip Grove Drive, Bowie, MD 301-809-3089 / www.cityofbowie.org The beautiful five-part Georgian Belair Mansion was the plantation home of Provincial Governor, Samuel Ogle. Built in 1745, it was enlarged in 1914 by the famous horseman, William Woodward.

The mansion has been restored to reflect its 250-year-old legacy and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Belair Stable Museum 2835 Belair Drive, Bowie, MD

301-809-3089 / www.cityofbowie.org Owned and operated by William Woodward, Belair Stable was part of the famous “Belair Stud,” one of the premier racing stables in the 30s, 40s, and 50s. Belair Stable was home to Gallant Fox and Omaha, father and son horses that won the Triple Crown, and to Nashua, who was “Horse of the Year” in 1955, as well as many other well known race horses. Until its closing in 1957, it was the oldest, continually operated, horse farm in the United States.

Bowie Railroad Station and Huntington Museum 8614 Chestnut Avenue, Bowie, MD 301-809-3089 / www.cityofbowie.org The Bowie Railroad Station was relocated from its original site across the railroad tracks and restored in the 1990s.

The station served first the Baltimore and Potomac Railroad Company and later the Pennsylvania Railroad system serving Washington, D.C. and southern Maryland. The town of Huntington City (now part of Bowie) grew up around this station. Button photo: Mike Fitzpatrick

Bladensburg Waterfront Park 4601 Annapolis Road, Bladensburg, MD 301-779-0371 / www.pgparks.com Nestled among the Port Towns of Bladensburg, Colmar Manor and Cottage City, the revitalized Bladensburg Waterfront Park is located on the Anacostia River, one of the most historic waterways in America.

Bladensburg was the site of the Battle of Bladensburg during the War of 1812.

College Park Aviation Museum 1985 Corporal Frank Scott Drive, College Park, MD 301-864-6029 / www.pgparks.com Founded in 1909 for the Wright Brothers’ instruction of the first military aviators, College Park Airport is one of the most significant airfields in aviation history. College Park Airport is home to many “firsts” in aviation, and is particularly significant for the well-known aviators and aviation inventors who played a part in this field’s long history.

Darnall’s Chance House Museum 14800 Gov. Oden Bowie Drive, Upper Marlboro, MD 301-952-8010 / www.pgparks.com Darnall’s Chance House Museum is dedicated to the interpretation and study of the history and culture of 18th century Prince George’s County with special emphasis on the lives of women. The museum tells the story of the widow Lettice Wardrop Thomson Sim, who lived at Darnall’s Chance in the decades just prior to the American Revolution. and also interprets the lives of African Americans in mid-18th century Upper Marlboro.

Patuxent Rural Life Museums 16000 Croom Airport Road, Upper Marlboro, MD 301-627-2270 / www.pgparks.com The Patuxent Rural Life Museums, located within the 7,000-acre Patuxent River Park, are a collection of museums and farm buildings dedicated to preserving the heritage of southern Prince George’s County. The museum complex is composed of the Duvall Tool Museum, a 1920s Sears Catalog House, a Blacksmith Shop, a Farrier and Tack Shop, a Tobacco Farming Museum, and the 1880 Duckett Log Cabin with its privy, chicken coop, and meat house.

Poplar Hill on His Lordship’s Kindness 7606 Woodyard Road, Clinton, MD 301-856-0358 / www.poplarhillonhlk.com Built in 1784-86, Poplar Hill is a five-part brick Georgian mansion with outstanding Federal-style decorative detail. This elegant mansion was built by Robert Darnall and included a private Catholic chapel in one wing. A smokehouse, wash house, and aviary are among the historic outbuildings.

Radio and Television Museum 2608 Mitchellville Road, Bowie, MD 301-390-1020 / www.radiohistory.org The Radio and Television Museum explores broadcast history from Marconi’s earliest wireless telegraph, through early crystal sets of the 1920s, Depression-era cathedral radios, postwar portables and the development of television. The museum is located in a 1906 storekeeper’s house which was renovated by the City of Bowie in 1999 and became the home of the Radio and Television Museum.

Riversdale House Museum 4811 Riverdale Road, Riverdale Park, MD 301-864-0420 / www.pgparks.com Riversdale, an elegant Federal-style plantation house, was constructed between 1801 and 1807 for Henri Stier, a Flemish aristocrat, and completed by his daughter Rosalie and her husband George Calvert, grandson of the fifth Lord Baltimore. Today, this elegant architectural gem has been restored to reflect the lifestyle of the Calverts in the early 19th century. Archaeology, archival records, and oral histories are used to provide modern-day visitors with a better understanding of the 19th century gentry-class woman as well as enslaved African Americans at the site.

National Colonial Farm 3400 Bryan Point Road, Accokeek, MD 301-283-2113 / www.accokeek.org The National Colonial Farm is a living history museum that depicts a Maryland middle-class family farm on the eve of the American Revolution. Through their heritage-breed livestock and seed-saving programs, nearly extinct heirloom crops and animals are preserved for future generations.

National Museum of Language 7100 Baltimore Avenue, #202, College Park, MD 301-864-7071 / www.languagemuseum.org The mission of the National Museum of Language is to promote a better understanding of language and its role in history, contemporary affairs, and the future. The museum explores the universal aspects of language, its origins and psychology as well as language in society and languages of the world.

Old Town Bowie Welcome Center and Interactive Children’s Museum 8606 Chestnut Avenue, Bowie, MD 301-809-3089 / www.cityofbowie.org/museum The Bowie Building Association office, built ca. 1929, now contains childrens’ hands-on learning activities, exhibits on Old Bowie/ Huntington City history, and a visitor information center.

Oxon Hill Farm 6411 Oxon Hill Road, Oxon Hill, MD 301-839-1176 / www.nps.gov/oxhi The diverse history of Maryland and our national heritage can be experienced at Oxon Cove Park. Through hands-on activities, living history programs, and more, you can experience farm life and how it changed over time. Explore how the park evolved from a plantation home during the War of 1812, to a hospital farm, to the park you can visit today. The property was entrusted to the National Park Service in 1959 to protect its natural and cultural resources from the threat of increased urban development, and to continue to tell the story of the land.

Dorsey Chapel 10704 Brookland Road, Glenn Dale, MD 301-352-5544 / www.pgparks.com Built in 1900 as a Methodist church, Dorsey Chapel served as the social and spiritual center of Brookland, an African American farming community.

Today, this small frame, meetinghousestyle church is considered an architectural jewel. Named a Prince George’s County “historic site” by the Historic Preservation Commission and restored by M-NCPPC, Dorsey Chapel was opened to the public as a museum in 1996.

Fort Washington National Park 13551 Fort Washington Road, Fort Washington, MD 301-763-4600 / www.nps.gov/fowa Fort Washington was for many decades the only defensive fort protecting Washington, D.C. The original fort, overlooking the Potomac River, was completed in 1809, and was named Fort Warburton.

During the War of 1812, the fort was destroyed by its own garrison during a British advance. The current historic fort, maintained by the National Park Service, was constructed in 1824 and modified in the 1840s and 1890s.

George Washington House 4302 Baltimore Avenue, Bladensburg, MD 301-699-6204 / www.anacostiaaws.org Now home to the Anacostia Watershed Society, the George Washington House was originally built as a store, and was later used as a tavern. Built around 1760, the tavern served travelers along the busy stagecoach road which is now Route 1.

Greenbelt Museum 10-B Crescent Road, Greenbelt, MD 301-507-6582 / www.greenbeltmuseum.org Greenbelt, Maryland is a National Historic Landmark planned community built in 1937 as part of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal. Greenbelt was designed as a cooperative garden suburb that would be a model of modern town planning in America.

The Laurel Museum 817 Main Street, Laurel, MD 301-725-7975 / www.laurelmuseum.org Discover the rich history of Laurel, Maryland, an historic town located on the Patuxent River halfway between Baltimore and Washington. The museum tells the story of Laurel’s mill town roots, its railroad connections, its African American community, and its early suburban experiences.

Marietta House Museum 5626 Bell Station Road, Glenn Dale, MD 301-464-5291 / www.pgparks.com Marietta, circa 1813, was constructed for Gabriel Duvall, an Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court. Along with the handsome, Federalstyle brick home, Justice Duvall’s law office and the original root cellar remain.

Today, Marietta operates as an historic house museum furnished to reflect the years in which Gabriel Duvall occupied the house.

Montpelier Mansion 9650 Muirkirk Road, Laurel, MD 301- 377-7817 / www.pgparks.com A fine example of Georgian architecture, popular in Maryland in the late 1700s, Montpelier Mansion sits on approximately 70 acres of beautiful parkland.

Architectural and building construction details, as well as historical research, suggest that the house was constructed between 1781 and 1785. Major Thomas Snowden and his wife Anne, original owners of Montpelier Mansion, welcomed many distinguished guests into their home, including George Washington and Abigail Adams.

Mount Calvert Historical and Archaeological Park 16302 Mount Calvert Road, Upper Marlboro, MD 301-627-1286 / www.pgparks.com Mount Calvert is one of the most significant historical and archaeological sites in Prince George’s County representing over 8000 years of American Indian, English colonial and African American culture. Today, an interpretive trail and a museum exhibit tell the story of Mount Calvert’s past. Signs along the trail highlight American Indian cultures.

NASA Goddard Space Flight Center 8800 Greenbelt Road, Greenbelt, MD 301-286-3978 / www.nasa.gov/goddard Dr. Robert Hutchings Goddard is considered the father of modern rocket propulsion. A physicist of great insight, Goddard also had a unique genius for invention. It is on memory of this brilliant scientist that NASA Goddard Space Flight Center was established in May 1959.

Goddard Center manages many of the space agency’s Earth observations, astronomy and space physics missions.

Northampton Plantation Slave Quarters & Archaeological Park Lake Overlook Drive, Lake Arbor, MD 301-627-7755 / www.pgparks.com For nearly three centuries, Northampton was a tobacco plantation. Today, the physical remains of the plantation include the ruins of the manor house, its outbuildings and roads, and the remains of two slave quarters. The latter are the focus of current archaeological excavations and historical research. As excavations continue, the foundation and partial walls of the brick slave quarters have been reconstructed.

HABS photo, 1936

Nottingham Schoolhouse 17412 Nottingham Road, Upper Marlboro, MD 301-627-2270 / www.pgparks.com Nottingham School is representative of the type of building which dotted Prince George’s County in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It was built in 1911 and replaced an earlier schoolhouse.

Nottingham School closed after World War II when consolidation made the one-room schoolhouse obsolete.

Ridgeley Rosenwald School 8507 Central Avenue, Capitol Heights, MD 240-264-3415 / www.pgparks.com Ridgeley School was opened in 1927 in the small African-American community of Ridgeley.

Designated as Colored School No.1 in Election District 13, Ridgeley School was built, in part, as a result of a Rosenwald Foundation grant.

The foundation provided seed money for the school and the local African American community provided the rest with tax revenue, cash, and in-kind donations.

Along with a nearby church and society hall, also named Ridgely, the school was one of the focal points of the community until it was closed in 1954.

Histor ic sit es & mus e um s

The Department of Parks and Recreation encourages and supports the participation of individuals with disabilities. Register at least a minimum of two weeks in advance of the program start date to request and receive a disability accommodation.

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