My husband and I visited my fourth great-grandfather's Mt. Airy Mansion in Prince George's County, Maryland, in April. We had visited many years ago and were surprised and disheartened by its current state of disrepair. It is obvious that the history of the house and environs has been forgotten and/or undervalued.
Benedict Swingate Calvert, son of Charles Calvert, 5th Lord Baltimore, purchased the land on "His Lordship's Kindness" near Upper Marlboro, Maryland in 1751. Some historians suggest that the building is also attached to what was a hunting lodge owned by Benedict's great-grandfather, 3rd Lord Baltimore, in the 1670's. Whatever was there reportedly burned to the ground in 1752, after which Benedict built his mansion.
The unkempt state of the driveway and grounds are startling compared to its former grandeur
The deteriorating brick portion of the mansion which probably contains the remains of the 1670's hunting lodge.
The decaying stables are also in need of work. A garden club currently uses them for growing seedlings.
Mt. Airy Mansion is significant for Maryland and American History in a variety of ways, perhaps most noteworthy being:
- Benedict's daughter, Eleanor Calvert, married John Parke Custis, George Washington's stepson, in the mansion's parlour when Washington was present on February 3, 1774.
- On December 23, 1783, when Washington resigned his commission in Annapolis after the successful end of the Revolutionary War, he was chastised by many for staying at Mt. Airy with his Loyalist relative.
- It was from Mt. Airy that Benedict wrote against the notorious Stamp Act to his uncle, Cecil Calvert, Lord Baltimore's secretary, on June 24, 1765.
- Benedict worked tirelessly on behalf of the Maryland colony, for example, as a member of the Governor's Council, Patuxent District Collector, and Land Judge beside his patron George Hume Stewart.
Benedict's son, George Calvert, resided at Riversdale with his wife, Roselie Steir Calvert and their children and slaves, also in Prince George's County. One can only wonder why George Calvert's plantation is better funded than Mt. Airy. See Riversdale here: https://www.riversdale.org
I have written to state and county politicians and am awaiting their reply.
