Riversdale

Riversdale Historical Society: http://www.riversdale.org/
Department of Parks and Recreation, Prince George's County: http://www.pgparks.com/places/eleganthistoric/riversdale_tour.html
The University of Maryland Riversdale Book Shelf: http://www.lib.umd.edu/RARE/MarylandCollection/Riversdale/ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riversdale_%28Riverdale_Park,_Maryland%29

Alternate Names: Baltimore House, Calvert Mansion, Riversdale Mansion

Site Dates:

Site Owner(s): George Calvert

Site Designer(s): Henri Joseph Stier

Location:
Riverdale, MD
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Associated Sites: University of Maryland, College Park

Associated Terms: Dovecote/Pigeon House, Fall/Falling Garden, Ha-Ha/Sunk fence

Images

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  Anthony St. John Baker, Riversdale, near Bladensburg, 1827. Print; lithograph. The Huntington Library, San Marino, CA.

Bibliography

• Anonymous. Anonymous. 1848. American Farmer 4, 53.

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.

• Anonymous. 1848. American Farmer 4, 53.

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.

• Warden, David Bailie. 1816. A Chronographical and Statistical Description of the District of Columbia. Paris: Printed and sold by Smith, 156.

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.