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Sotterley Plantation stands majestically on the banks of the Patuxent River.
It is the only remaining Tidewater Plantation in Maryland that is open to
the public with a full range of visitor activities and educational programs.
Sotterley's significant architecture features the early 18th-century
Mansion, a rare original slave cabin, and a full array of outbuildings set
amidst 95 acres of rolling fields, gardens, and riverfront.
History
James Bowles, son of a wealthy London tobacco merchant and member of
Maryland's Lower House of the Assembly, purchased a 2,000 acre tract that
would become Sotterley Plantation. In 1703, he built the original two
room house which today stands as a unique record of a method of construction
called post-in-ground architecture, once common in the Tidewater regions.
Two years after the death of Squire Bowles in 1727, his young widow,
Rebecca, married George Plater II. Over the years, the Plater family
converted the simple residence into a charming 18th-century Mansion house,
which they named after their ancestral home, Sotterley Hall, in Suffolk,
England. It was under George Plater III, sixth governor of Maryland,
that the house reached its distinctive form which was much admired by George
Washington, and perhaps served as a model for Mount Vernon. The design
of the Chinese Chippendale staircase and the shell alcoves in the drawing
room is attributed to Richard Boulton. They are considered among the
finest examples of 18th-century American woodwork.
In the late 19th century, Sotterley experienced a period of decline, and
ownership was transferred to the W.H. Stone Briscoe family in 1826. It was
during this era that the Plantation was site of one of the largest
communities of enslaved African-Americans in the Southern Maryland region.
While the traditional historical record contains scant information about
members of this community, much is known about the Kane family. Hillery
Kane, a skilled plasterer, his first wife Mariah; then his second wife Elsa;
and fifteen of his twenty children, resided at Sotterley at
mid-century. During this time, Sotterley continued to play a major
economic role in the region as a busy steamboat landing.
In 1910, Sotterley changed hands once again when it was sold to Herbert
L. Satterlee and his wife Louisa, daughter of J. Pierpont Morgan. In a
twist of fate, the Satterlees, like the Platers, traced their ancestry to
Sotterley Hall in England. The Satterlees spent several years
restoring the Mansion house and grounds
to their 18th century condition, subsequently using it as their summer
residence. Their daughter, Mabel Satterlee Ingalls, purchased the plantation
in 1947. Having grown to love Sotterley through a childhood of summers spent
amidst its charms, she determined to preserve it and to share it. In 1961,
she created the non-profit Sotterley Mansion Foundation which holds the
historic site trust for the public.
-from the Official Website of Sotterley
Plantation
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