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History of Early American Landscape Design

Difference between revisions of "Riversdale"

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Riversdale was the [[plantation]] of the Belgian émigré Rosalie Stier Calvert (1778–1821) and her husband, George Calvert (1768–1838), a planter and direct descendent of the Proprietary Governors of Maryland. Though estates were usually owned by men in the early Republic, Riversdale is one of the few that passed from father to daughter. Rosalie received the house and land from her father, Henri Joseph Stier (1743–1821), as part of her inheritance, and oversaw the development of its extensive grounds. Much of what is known about the layout of the estate derives from Rosalie’s correspondence with her European relatives.
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Riversdale was the [[plantation]] of the Belgian émigré Rosalie Stier Calvert (1778–1821) and her husband, George Calvert (1768–1838), a planter and direct descendent of the Proprietary Governors of Maryland. Though estates were usually owned by men in the early Republic, Riversdale is one of the few that passed from father to daughter.<ref> Writing to her father on Sept. 28, 1804, Rosalie wrote to her father about careful estate planning, since “. . . the laws [in the United States] give little power to women and it is better to err on the side of too much caution.” Quoted in Margaret Callcott, ed., Mistress of Riversdale: The Plantation Letters of Rosalie Stier Calvert, 1795–1821 (Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1991), 98.</ref> Rosalie received the house and land from her father, Henri Joseph Stier (1743–1821), as part of her inheritance, and oversaw the development of its extensive grounds. Much of what is known about the layout of the estate derives from Rosalie’s correspondence with her European relatives.
  
 
==Overview==
 
==Overview==
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'''Alternate Names:''' Baltimore House, Baron de Stier House, Calvert Mansion, Riversdale Mansion <br/>
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'''Alternate Names:''' Baltimore House; Calvert Mansion, Baron de Stier House <br/>
 
'''Site Dates:''' 1800 to present <br/>
 
'''Site Dates:''' 1800 to present <br/>
 
'''Site Owner(s):''' Henri Joseph Stier (1743–1821), Rosalie Stier Calvert (1778–1821) and George Calvert (1768–1838), Charles Benedict Calvert (1808–1864), Riverdale Park Company, Thomas H. Pickford (1862–1939), Thaddeus Caraway (1871–1931) and Hattie Wyatt Caraway (1878–1950), Abraham Walter Lafferty (1875–1964), Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission<ref> Riversdale Mansion, National Historic Landmark Nomination, 26–30.</ref><br/>
 
'''Site Owner(s):''' Henri Joseph Stier (1743–1821), Rosalie Stier Calvert (1778–1821) and George Calvert (1768–1838), Charles Benedict Calvert (1808–1864), Riverdale Park Company, Thomas H. Pickford (1862–1939), Thaddeus Caraway (1871–1931) and Hattie Wyatt Caraway (1878–1950), Abraham Walter Lafferty (1875–1964), Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission<ref> Riversdale Mansion, National Historic Landmark Nomination, 26–30.</ref><br/>
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'''Associated People:''' [[William Russell Birch]] (1755–1834) <br/>
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'''Associated People:''' [[Benjamin Henry Latrobe]] (1764–1820); William Lovering (fl. 1795–1810);  [[William Russell Birch]] (1755–1834) <br/>
 
'''Location:''' Riverdale Park, Md.<br/>
 
'''Location:''' Riverdale Park, Md.<br/>
 
[https://maps.google.com/maps?q=Riversdale+House+Museum,+Riverdale+Road,+MD&hl=en&ll=38.965549,-76.931419&spn=0.073943,0.11982&sll=38.927294,-76.99526&sspn=0.009248,0.014977&oq=riversdale,+&hq=Riversdale+House+Museum,+Riverdale+Road,+MD&radius=15000&t=m&z=13 View on Google maps]
 
[https://maps.google.com/maps?q=Riversdale+House+Museum,+Riverdale+Road,+MD&hl=en&ll=38.965549,-76.931419&spn=0.073943,0.11982&sll=38.927294,-76.99526&sspn=0.009248,0.014977&oq=riversdale,+&hq=Riversdale+House+Museum,+Riverdale+Road,+MD&radius=15000&t=m&z=13 View on Google maps]
  
 
==History==
 
==History==
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Fleeing the terror unleashed by the French Revolution, the aristocratic Stier family left their native Belgium for the United States in the autumn of 1794. Henri Joseph Stier intended to stay abroad with his wife, his two grown children and their spouses, and his teenage daughter Rosalie, until they could safely return to Europe. The family settled briefly in Philadelphia before relocating to Annapolis, where they lived in rented properties. Henri was disinclined to purchase or build a home since he felt certain they would not be long in the United States.<ref> Margaret Callcott, ed., ''Mistress of Riversdale: The Plantation Letters of Rosalie Stier Calvert, 1795–1821'' (Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1991), 1–17.</ref>  
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Fleeing the terror unleashed by the French Revolution, the family of Belgian aristocrat Henri Joseph Stier left their native country for the United States in the autumn of 1794, intending only to remain until they could safely return to Europe. But when the youngest of Henri’s three children, Rosalie, married the Maryland planter George Calvert in 1799, the family decided to make their home in the United States.<ref> Callcott, 1–17.</ref>  
  
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With the rise of the Directory in France, however, Henri decided to purchase real estate in America and become a naturalized citizen, which he thought would ensure his family’s security. His new son-in-law, George Calvert, who wed Rosalie in 1799, suggested a parcel of land near his own in Bladensburg, Maryland. In September of 1800, Henri purchased 729 ¼ acres on which he planned to build a home in the design of his estate in Antwerp, the Château du Mick.<ref>Ibid., 23–25. The property was purchased in his son’s name, Charles John Stier, who had become a naturalized American citizen; Henri would gain citizenship only later that year.</ref> Construction on the house soon began but, by the time it was nearing completion in 1802, Napoleon was offering safe return to émigrés who had fled the Revolution. <ref>Ibid., 33.</ref> Henri reluctantly decided to return to Belgium to join their extended family.  
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Calvert, a direct descendent of the Proprietary Governors of Maryland, was an exceptionally wealthy landowner, possessing over 3,300 acres by 1800, which comprised the tobacco farm he inherited on the Patuxent River, Mount Albion, along with other tracts of land in Prince George’s County, including a small lot in the town of Bladensburg.<ref>Steven James Sarson, The Tobacco-Plantation South in the Early American Atlantic World (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2012), 26–28.</ref> When Henri began searching for property, his son-in-law suggested 729 ½ acres nearby, which would become the site of Riversdale.<ref>Calcott, 23–25. The property was purchased in his son’s name, Charles John Stier, who had become a naturalized American citizen; Henri would gain citizenship only later that year.</ref> Benjamin Henry Latrobe was commissioned to oversee the design and construction of the house, but Henri was vexed by his inefficiency and replaced him with the Washington architect William Lovering. <ref>Calcott, 28–29.</ref>
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Despite the Stier family’s plans to remain in the United States, Henri’s son and daughter-in-law returned to Europe in 1802, and reported that Napoleon was offering safe return to émigrés who had fled the Revolution.<ref>Calcott, 33.</ref> Henri and his wife, along with their elder daughter and her family, decided to join them. Rosalie—married to an American husband, with a young daughter and another child on the way—was determined to remain in her adopted country [fig. 1]. The news disappointed her father: “Since no hope remains of seeing all my family reunited, I must join the greater number.”<ref>Henri Joseph Stier to Charles Joseph Stier, November 1802, quoted in Calcott, 35.</ref> He offered her the land and the newly built house, making a point to have the estate placed in Rosalie’s name.<ref>Henri had an antenuptial agreement drawn up for Rosalie and George Calvert, which ensured that her inheritance would go directly to her children or, if the marriage produced no issue, reverted to the Stier family. Despite this, Rosalie still had to become a naturalized citizen of the United States and required an act of the Maryland Legislature in order to be legally recognized as the owner of Riversdale. See Mistress of Riversdale, 19–20, and William Kilty, Thomas Harris, John N. Watkins, eds., The Laws of Maryland from the End of the Year 1799, with a Full Index, and the Constitution of This State, as Adopted by the Convention, with the Several Alterations by Acts of Assembly: and an Appendix Containing the Land Laws; with the resolutions Considered Proper to be Published, vol. V (Annapolis: J. Green, 1820), 1754, <http://msa.maryland.gov/megafile/msa/speccol/sc2900/sc2908/000001/000192/html/am192--1754.html>.</ref>
  
 
[[File:1112.jpg|thumb|left|Fig. 1, Anthony St. John Baker (artist), B. King (lithographer), “Riversdale, near Bladensburg,” 1827.]]
 
[[File:1112.jpg|thumb|left|Fig. 1, Anthony St. John Baker (artist), B. King (lithographer), “Riversdale, near Bladensburg,” 1827.]]
  
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Yet Rosalie—married to an American husband, with a young daughter and another child on the way—was determined to remain in her adopted country. The news disappointed her father: “We have resigned ourselves to the inevitable decision to return,” Henri wrote. “Since no hope remains of seeing all my family reunited, I must join the greater number.”<ref>Henri Joseph Stier to Charles Joseph Stier, November 1802, quoted in ibid., 35.</ref> He offered her the land and the newly built house, which he named Riversdale, making a point to have the estate placed in Rosalie’s name.<ref>Henri had an antenuptial agreement drawn up for Rosalie and George Calvert, which ensured that her inheritance would go directly to her children or, if the marriage produced no issue, reverted to the Stier family. Despite this, Rosalie still had to become a naturalized citizen of the United States and required an act of the Maryland Legislature in order to be legally recognized as the owner of Riversdale. See ''Mistress of Riversdale'', 19–20, and William Kilty, Thomas Harris, John N. Watkins, eds., ''The Laws of Maryland from the End of the Year 1799, with a Full Index, and the Constitution of This State, as Adopted by the Convention, with the Several Alterations by Acts of Assembly: and an Appendix Containing the Land Laws; with the resolutions Considered Proper to be Published'', vol. V (Annapolis: J. Green, 1820), 1754.</ref>
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Riversdale would serve as an important point of connection between Rosalie and her European family. She and her father wrote each other regularly, and among their voluminous correspondence are Henri’s suggestions for the landscape’s design: “Note that the water, as a mirror in an apartment, is the principal ornament; the north side of your home is very convenient for this embellishment."<ref>Henri Joseph Stier to Rosalie Stier Calvert, May 1, 1806, quoted in Calcott, 142.</ref> Her letters to her father indicate that she engaged the landscape designer and artist [[William Russell Birch]] to draw up plans. However, Birch never visited the estate nor supervised the work and thought “very little” of his design had been implemented.<ref>  Relying on both hired and enslaved labor, Rosalie created a [[pond]] on the south side of the estate and divided the grounds at Riversdale into [[flower garden|flower]] and [[kitchen garden]]s, [[orchard]]s, and a series of falling [[terrace]]s.<ref> Rosalie’s location of the pond to the south, rather than north, of the mansion may have been due to Birch’s influence. See ''Mistress of Riversdale'', 53–54.</ref>A brick [[ha-ha]] separated the [[terrace]]s from the [[pond]] and [[meadow]]s to the south, and an [[icehouse]], [[dovecote]], slave cabin and other structures surrounded the mansion (fig. 1).<ref>Using available archaeological and epistolary evidence, Susan Buonocore developed a map of the grounds at Riversdale during Rosalie Stier Calvert’s lifetime; see Buonocore, “ʻWithin Her Garden Wall’: The Meaning of Gardening for the Republican Woman, Rosalie Stier Calvert and the Gardens of Riversdale (1803–1821),” Ph.D. diss., South Carolina Institute of Archaeology and Anthropology, University of South Carolina, 1996, 106.</ref> She also established an [[orangery]] in her cellar and salon, where she nurtured orange trees, geraniums, and heliotropes.<ref>Rosalie wrote to her father on 1 November 1809 of her use of the salon and basement as a place to start her plants; see ''Mistress of Riversdale'', 213.</ref>Rosalie’s location of the pond on the estate may have been due to Birch’s influence; see Calcott, 53–54.</ref>  
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Riversdale would serve as an important point of connection between Rosalie and her European family. She and her father wrote each other regularly, and among their voluminous correspondence are Henri’s suggestions for the landscape’s design: “Note that the water, as a mirror in an apartment, is the principal ornament; the north side of your home is very convenient for this embellishment."<ref>Henri Joseph Stier to Rosalie Stier Calvert, 1 May 1806, quoted in ''Mistress of Riversdale'', 142.</ref> Her letters to her father indicate that she engaged the landscape designer and artist [[William Russell Birch]] to draw up plans for the [[plantation]]. However, Birch never visited the estate nor supervised the work and thought “very little” of his design was executed. Relying on both hired and enslaved labor, Rosalie created a [[pond]] on the south side of the estate and divided the grounds at Riversdale into [[flower garden|flower]] and [[kitchen garden]]s, [[orchard]]s, and a series of falling [[terrace]]s.<ref> Rosalie’s location of the pond to the south, rather than north, of the mansion may have been due to Birch’s influence. See ''Mistress of Riversdale'', 53–54.</ref>A brick [[ha-ha]] separated the [[terrace]]s from the [[pond]] and [[meadow]]s to the south, and an [[icehouse]], [[dovecote]], slave cabin and other structures surrounded the mansion (fig. 1).<ref>Using available archaeological and epistolary evidence, Susan Buonocore developed a map of the grounds at Riversdale during Rosalie Stier Calvert’s lifetime; see Buonocore, “ʻWithin Her Garden Wall’: The Meaning of Gardening for the Republican Woman, Rosalie Stier Calvert and the Gardens of Riversdale (1803–1821),” Ph.D. diss., South Carolina Institute of Archaeology and Anthropology, University of South Carolina, 1996, 106.</ref> She also established an [[orangery]] in her cellar and salon, where she nurtured orange trees, geraniums, and heliotropes.<ref>Rosalie wrote to her father on 1 November 1809 of her use of the salon and basement as a place to start her plants; see ''Mistress of Riversdale'', 213.</ref>
 
  
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Rosalie’s love for her family was closely entwined with the Riversdale landscape. She wrote Henri, "I feel attached to this place you have created . . . and where I have spent so much happy time with you. . . . When I walk in the garden, each tree and rose planted by your own hand is of interest to me, and I take pleasure in watching them grow and caring for them. . . . [E]very object here is dear to me because you used it."<ref>Rosalie Stier Calvert to Henri Joseph Stier, 28 June 1803, quoted in ''Mistress of Riversdale'', 53.</ref> Following her early death in 1821 and the death of her husband seventeen years later, Riversdale descended to their second son, Charles Benedict Calvert, an important innovator in agriculture and husbandry and the founder of the University of Maryland, originally the Maryland Agricultural College. He made several improvements to the estate, especially in terms of farming methods, which were much commented upon in important agricultural publications of the time. Journalist and landscape designer Frederick Law Olmsted visited in 1852 and commented favorably on the grounds, including the [[fountain]]s and [[flower garden]]s.<ref>Frederick Law Olmstead, ''A Journey in the Seaboard Slave States: With Remarks on their Economy'' (New York: Dix & Edwards; London: Sampson Low, 1856), 6.</ref>
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Rosalie’s love for her family was closely entwined with the Riversdale landscape. She wrote Henri, "I feel attached to this place you have created . . . and where I have spent so much happy time with you. . . . When I walk in the garden, each tree and rose planted by your own hand is of interest to me, and I take pleasure in watching them grow and caring for them. . . . [E]very object here is dear to me because you used it."<ref>Rosalie Stier Calvert to Henri Joseph Stier, June 28, 1803, quoted in Calcott, 53.</ref> Following her early death in 1821 and the death of her husband seventeen years later, Riversdale descended to their second son, Charles Benedict Calvert, an important innovator in agriculture and husbandry and the founder of the University of Maryland, originally the Maryland Agricultural College.<ref> Jason G. Speck, ''The University of Maryland'' (Charleston, S.C.: Arcadia Publishing, 2010), 10.</ref> He made several improvements to the estate, especially in terms of farming methods, but he continued to depend heavily on an enslaved labor force. Journalist and landscape designer [[Frederick Law Olmsted]] (1822–1903) visited in 1852 and offered a description of the grounds of Riversdale in his ''Journey in the Seaboard Slave States: With Remarks on their Economy'', published in 1856. He commented favorably on the grounds, including the [[fountain]]s and [[flower garden]]s, while at the same time registering his disapproval of slavery.<ref>Frederick Law Olmstead, ''A Journey in the Seaboard Slave States: With Remarks on their Economy'' (New York: Dix & Edwards; London: Sampson Low, 1856), 6–11.</ref>
  
 
==Texts==
 
==Texts==
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*Olmsted, Frederick Law, 1856, describing Riversdale, estate of George and Rosalie Stier Calvert, Prince George's County, Md. (1856: 6) <ref>Frederick Law Olmsted. ''A Journey in the Seaboard Slave States: With Remarks on Their Economy'' (New York and London: Dix & Edwards and Sampson Low, Son & co., 1856), [https://www.zotero.org/groups/54737/items/itemKey/ABI26XGF view on Zotero].</ref>
 
*Olmsted, Frederick Law, 1856, describing Riversdale, estate of George and Rosalie Stier Calvert, Prince George's County, Md. (1856: 6) <ref>Frederick Law Olmsted. ''A Journey in the Seaboard Slave States: With Remarks on Their Economy'' (New York and London: Dix & Edwards and Sampson Low, Son & co., 1856), [https://www.zotero.org/groups/54737/items/itemKey/ABI26XGF view on Zotero].</ref>
  
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:The kept grounds are very limited, and in simple but quiet taste...There is a [[fountain]], an ornamental [[dovecote|dove-coat]], and [[icehouse|ice-house]].
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:The kept grounds are very limited, and in simple but quiet taste. . . . There is a [[fountain]], an ornamental [[dovecote|dove-coat]], and [[icehouse|ice-house]].
  
 
==Images==
 
==Images==

Revision as of 20:08, January 16, 2018

Riversdale was the plantation of the Belgian émigré Rosalie Stier Calvert (1778–1821) and her husband, George Calvert (1768–1838), a planter and direct descendent of the Proprietary Governors of Maryland. Though estates were usually owned by men in the early Republic, Riversdale is one of the few that passed from father to daughter.[1] Rosalie received the house and land from her father, Henri Joseph Stier (1743–1821), as part of her inheritance, and oversaw the development of its extensive grounds. Much of what is known about the layout of the estate derives from Rosalie’s correspondence with her European relatives.

Overview

Alternate Names: Baltimore House; Calvert Mansion, Baron de Stier House
Site Dates: 1800 to present
Site Owner(s): Henri Joseph Stier (1743–1821), Rosalie Stier Calvert (1778–1821) and George Calvert (1768–1838), Charles Benedict Calvert (1808–1864), Riverdale Park Company, Thomas H. Pickford (1862–1939), Thaddeus Caraway (1871–1931) and Hattie Wyatt Caraway (1878–1950), Abraham Walter Lafferty (1875–1964), Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission[2]
Associated People: Benjamin Henry Latrobe (1764–1820); William Lovering (fl. 1795–1810); William Russell Birch (1755–1834)
Location: Riverdale Park, Md.
View on Google maps

History

Fleeing the terror unleashed by the French Revolution, the family of Belgian aristocrat Henri Joseph Stier left their native country for the United States in the autumn of 1794, intending only to remain until they could safely return to Europe. But when the youngest of Henri’s three children, Rosalie, married the Maryland planter George Calvert in 1799, the family decided to make their home in the United States.[3]

Calvert, a direct descendent of the Proprietary Governors of Maryland, was an exceptionally wealthy landowner, possessing over 3,300 acres by 1800, which comprised the tobacco farm he inherited on the Patuxent River, Mount Albion, along with other tracts of land in Prince George’s County, including a small lot in the town of Bladensburg.[4] When Henri began searching for property, his son-in-law suggested 729 ½ acres nearby, which would become the site of Riversdale.[5] Benjamin Henry Latrobe was commissioned to oversee the design and construction of the house, but Henri was vexed by his inefficiency and replaced him with the Washington architect William Lovering. [6]

Despite the Stier family’s plans to remain in the United States, Henri’s son and daughter-in-law returned to Europe in 1802, and reported that Napoleon was offering safe return to émigrés who had fled the Revolution.[7] Henri and his wife, along with their elder daughter and her family, decided to join them. Rosalie—married to an American husband, with a young daughter and another child on the way—was determined to remain in her adopted country [fig. 1]. The news disappointed her father: “Since no hope remains of seeing all my family reunited, I must join the greater number.”[8] He offered her the land and the newly built house, making a point to have the estate placed in Rosalie’s name.[9]

Fig. 1, Anthony St. John Baker (artist), B. King (lithographer), “Riversdale, near Bladensburg,” 1827.

Riversdale would serve as an important point of connection between Rosalie and her European family. She and her father wrote each other regularly, and among their voluminous correspondence are Henri’s suggestions for the landscape’s design: “Note that the water, as a mirror in an apartment, is the principal ornament; the north side of your home is very convenient for this embellishment."[10] Her letters to her father indicate that she engaged the landscape designer and artist William Russell Birch to draw up plans. However, Birch never visited the estate nor supervised the work and thought “very little” of his design had been implemented.Cite error: Closing </ref> missing for <ref> tagA brick ha-ha separated the terraces from the pond and meadows to the south, and an icehouse, dovecote, slave cabin and other structures surrounded the mansion (fig. 1).[11] She also established an orangery in her cellar and salon, where she nurtured orange trees, geraniums, and heliotropes.[12]Rosalie’s location of the pond on the estate may have been due to Birch’s influence; see Calcott, 53–54.</ref>

Rosalie’s love for her family was closely entwined with the Riversdale landscape. She wrote Henri, "I feel attached to this place you have created . . . and where I have spent so much happy time with you. . . . When I walk in the garden, each tree and rose planted by your own hand is of interest to me, and I take pleasure in watching them grow and caring for them. . . . [E]very object here is dear to me because you used it."[13] Following her early death in 1821 and the death of her husband seventeen years later, Riversdale descended to their second son, Charles Benedict Calvert, an important innovator in agriculture and husbandry and the founder of the University of Maryland, originally the Maryland Agricultural College.[14] He made several improvements to the estate, especially in terms of farming methods, but he continued to depend heavily on an enslaved labor force. Journalist and landscape designer Frederick Law Olmsted (1822–1903) visited in 1852 and offered a description of the grounds of Riversdale in his Journey in the Seaboard Slave States: With Remarks on their Economy, published in 1856. He commented favorably on the grounds, including the fountains and flower gardens, while at the same time registering his disapproval of slavery.[15]

Texts

  • Anonymous, August 1848, describing Riversdale, estate of George and Rosalie Stier Calvert, Prince George's County, Md. (American Farmer 4:53)[16]
The main building is 68 by about 50 feet, with an elegant Portico on its northern [front], and a Piaza [sic], running its entire length, on its southern front, each constructed with due regard to classic and architectural propriety. . . .On either front is an ample lawn with shade trees, grass plots, parterres, shrubbery, and flowers, whose effect upon the senses impart an interest to the view, warm the mind into admiration, and give assurance, that a chastened taste and artistic skill had presided while these were being fashioned into form. . . . These improvements were made by the present proprietor’s ancestors, in the beginning of the present century, but are still in a state of the most perfect preservation.


  • Warden, David Bailie, 1816, describing Riversdale, estate of George and Rosalie Stier Calvert, Prince George's County, Md. (1816: 156)[17]
The establishment of George Calvert, Esq. at Bladensburg, attracts attention. His mansion, consisting of two stories, seventy feet in length, and thirty-six in breadth, is admirably adapted to the American climate. On each side there is a large portico, which shelters from the sun, rain, or snow.


  • Olmsted, Frederick Law, 1856, describing Riversdale, estate of George and Rosalie Stier Calvert, Prince George's County, Md. (1856: 6) [18]
The kept grounds are very limited, and in simple but quiet taste. . . . There is a fountain, an ornamental dove-coat, and ice-house.

Images

  • Anthony St. John Baker (artist), B. King (lithograper), "Riversdale, near Bladensburg," 1827.

Other Resources

National Park Service Register of Historic Places Documents

Riversdale Historical Society

Department of Parks and Recreation, Prince George's County

The University of Maryland Riversdale Book Shelf

Notes

  1. ↑ Writing to her father on Sept. 28, 1804, Rosalie wrote to her father about careful estate planning, since “. . . the laws [in the United States] give little power to women and it is better to err on the side of too much caution.” Quoted in Margaret Callcott, ed., Mistress of Riversdale: The Plantation Letters of Rosalie Stier Calvert, 1795–1821 (Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1991), 98.
  2. ↑ Riversdale Mansion, National Historic Landmark Nomination, 26–30.
  3. ↑ Callcott, 1–17.
  4. ↑ Steven James Sarson, The Tobacco-Plantation South in the Early American Atlantic World (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2012), 26–28.
  5. ↑ Calcott, 23–25. The property was purchased in his son’s name, Charles John Stier, who had become a naturalized American citizen; Henri would gain citizenship only later that year.
  6. ↑ Calcott, 28–29.
  7. ↑ Calcott, 33.
  8. ↑ Henri Joseph Stier to Charles Joseph Stier, November 1802, quoted in Calcott, 35.
  9. ↑ Henri had an antenuptial agreement drawn up for Rosalie and George Calvert, which ensured that her inheritance would go directly to her children or, if the marriage produced no issue, reverted to the Stier family. Despite this, Rosalie still had to become a naturalized citizen of the United States and required an act of the Maryland Legislature in order to be legally recognized as the owner of Riversdale. See Mistress of Riversdale, 19–20, and William Kilty, Thomas Harris, John N. Watkins, eds., The Laws of Maryland from the End of the Year 1799, with a Full Index, and the Constitution of This State, as Adopted by the Convention, with the Several Alterations by Acts of Assembly: and an Appendix Containing the Land Laws; with the resolutions Considered Proper to be Published, vol. V (Annapolis: J. Green, 1820), 1754, <http://msa.maryland.gov/megafile/msa/speccol/sc2900/sc2908/000001/000192/html/am192--1754.html>.
  10. ↑ Henri Joseph Stier to Rosalie Stier Calvert, May 1, 1806, quoted in Calcott, 142.
  11. ↑ Using available archaeological and epistolary evidence, Susan Buonocore developed a map of the grounds at Riversdale during Rosalie Stier Calvert’s lifetime; see Buonocore, “ʻWithin Her Garden Wall’: The Meaning of Gardening for the Republican Woman, Rosalie Stier Calvert and the Gardens of Riversdale (1803–1821),” Ph.D. diss., South Carolina Institute of Archaeology and Anthropology, University of South Carolina, 1996, 106.
  12. ↑ Rosalie wrote to her father on 1 November 1809 of her use of the salon and basement as a place to start her plants; see Mistress of Riversdale, 213.
  13. ↑ Rosalie Stier Calvert to Henri Joseph Stier, June 28, 1803, quoted in Calcott, 53.
  14. ↑ Jason G. Speck, The University of Maryland (Charleston, S.C.: Arcadia Publishing, 2010), 10.
  15. ↑ Frederick Law Olmstead, A Journey in the Seaboard Slave States: With Remarks on their Economy (New York: Dix & Edwards; London: Sampson Low, 1856), 6–11.
  16. ↑ Anonymous, "Visit to Riversdale," The American Farmer and Spirit of the Agricultural Journals of the Day 4, no. 2 (August 1848): 52–55, view on Zotero.
  17. ↑ David Bailie Warden, A Chronographical and Statistical Description of the District of Columbia (Paris: Printed and sold by Smith, 1816), view on Zotero.
  18. ↑ Frederick Law Olmsted. A Journey in the Seaboard Slave States: With Remarks on Their Economy (New York and London: Dix & Edwards and Sampson Low, Son & co., 1856), view on Zotero.

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