The book tells the story of Washington’s step-grandchildren, the Custises, who achieved fame as the nation’s first “first family.” -- First Family: George Washington's Heirs and the Making of America by Cassandra Good.
The halo of pleasant memories that surrounds so many of the old Maryland homes is nowhere brighter than at Mt. Airy, the seat of the elder branch of the Calvert family. -- The Prince George’s County Enquirer and Southern Maryland Advertiser, September 16, 1898
For those somewhat familiar with the Parke Custis story, it may seem odd that Dr. Cassandra Good begins her new book at Mount Airy in Prince George's County, Maryland. After all, the Custis story spans an arc that includes the Eastern Shore of Virginia, Williamsburg, New Kent County, northern Virginia, and dips into DC.
But this spot about a dozen miles east of Mount Vernon was where Eleanor Calvert Custis, wife of Jacky Parke Custis, gave birth to what became their four famous children — Eliza, Martha, Eleanor, and Wash. And as Dr. Good fully details, in the public eye, they, for many years, were George Washington’s family.
A checklist of those Custis places in the DMV includes Mount Vernon, Woodlawn, Arlington House, Tudor Place, the Honeymoon House, Hope Park, the site of Abingdon, and the Mount Airy Mansion (site of the original). I had been to all but the latter, so we went this past Sunday.
There’s good news and bad news about Mount Airy. Its site and the twice rebuilt mansion sits protected in the middle of Rosaryville State Park, an oasis of trees in an ever-growing county that holds a population about to eclipse the one million mark. The county is planning on rehabilitating the house, but that will take years. Markers are but one, so hopefully more are forthcoming.
The lesser known part of the Parke Custis story is Mount Airy, a Calvert seat that stayed in the family for over two hundred years. Jackie and Eleanor’s wedding brought together two dynastic first families, one from Virginia and one from Maryland.
The Calverts stood tall in Maryland. Unlike Virginia, which was a crown colony, Maryland was ruled under the Proprietary system. Eleanor’s grandfather was Charles Calvert, Fifth Lord Baltimore. As pointed out by Digital Maryland, "the portraits of the six Lords Baltimore constitute a series of historical painting without parallel in America.” The Lords Baltimore owned the colony of Maryland from 1632 to 1776.
A 1984 Washington Post story on Mount Airy told the reader the main section of the house was built in 1660 by Charles Calvert, the third Lord Baltimore, and that it was used as a hunting lodge. A large historical marker by the former entrance to Mount Airy, a large one erected by the Maryland Historical Society, echoes that.
Subsequent research, however, noted at the DHR Maryland website, points out a 1752 edition of the Maryland Gazette “makes clear that whatever was there burned to the ground in that year.” The Gazette article described the home as “a very good dwelling and sundry out-houses." Since out houses were typically scattered, that seems to suggest arson.
Eleanor’s father was Benedict Swingate Calvert (c.1724–1788). Benedict probably built the mansion after the fire. John M. Walton, who was once the Senior Park Historian at Mount Airy (News and Notes,” Prince George’s County Historical Society, tell us:
For 1798, the house was a brick dwelling one and one half stories (40 by 21 feet additions at each end, Kitchen, Meat House and Smoke House).
Alan Virta does point out, “Architectural investigations suggest some seventeenth-century elements may be incorporated into a small wing.” That was the 1980s so perhaps more has been learned.
As Founders Online notes, Calvert, born in England, was an illegitimate son of Charles Calvert, Fifth Lord Baltimore (1669-1751). Riversdale Historical Society tells us his mother is thought to have been Petronilla Melusina Schulenburg (1693-1778, daughter of King George I and his mistress, Melusine von der Schulenburg, Duchess of Kendal).
In 1742, Benedict was sent to Annapolis by his father, Charles Calvert (1699-1751) Fifth Lord Baltimore. He was put under the care of Dr. George H. Steaurt, an Annapolis physician and political ally of the Calvert family.
Benedict owned scores of enslaved humans, as well as at least one indentured servant. The April 29, 1777 issue of the Maryland Gazette shows an almost 200-word notice that began with:
RAN Away, from the subscriber, living at Mount Airy, in Prince George’s county, Maryland, HUGH MORRIS, a convict, a tailor by trade, has better than four years to serve, he is about five feet ten inches, of a fair complexion, blue eyes and brown hair.
In 1748, Benedict had married, in Annapolis, Elizabeth Calvert (1730-1798). She was a distant cousin and daughter of Captain Charles Calvert (1688-1734), who was governor of Maryland from 1720-1727 and a cousin of Charles Calvert, Fifth Lord Baltimore.
Benedict inherited the Mount Airy spread of land (9,200 acres), probably from his father, Fifth Lord Baltimore. It was a good location. Mount Airy is located about halfway from Mount Vernon/Alexandria and Annapolis, and about four miles from Upper Marlboro, which was established in 1706 and is still the county seat. The colonial road probably ran along parts of modern day Piscataway/Woodyard Road. Seems likely visitors entered where the marker is located on Rosaryville Road. The only way in now is the gate by Highway 301.
Benedict at one point farmed apples. Like some other Chesapeake and Tidewater gentry, he bred, trained and race thoroughbred horses.
Elizabeth gave birth more than a dozen times. Eleanor (1758-1811), Jackie’s future wife, was born at Mount Airy, and presumably, her siblings, too. Eleanor sat (oil on canvas) at Mount Airy for artist John Hesselius in 1761. Her most famous image is a 1782 ivory miniature in an oval gold brooch and pendant mount (artist unknown).
One of her brothers was Charles Calvert (1756-1777), who was schooled by Jonathan Boucher in 1772, when Jackie was 18.
Eleanor’s most famous sibling was her brother, George Calvert 1768-1838. A good discussion could be had on which of the two was more famous. George married Rosalie Stier, daughter of Belgium emigre Henri Joseph Stier, Baron de Stier (1743-1821), who built and lived in Riversdale, the five-part mansion that gave Riversdale (about fifteen miles north of Mount Airy).
“Mistress of Riversdale, The Plantation Letters of Rosalie Stier Calvert” (edited by Margaret Law Callcott), is a must read for insight into the early years of some of Washington high society. George and his wife Rosalie were aunt and uncle to the four Custis children. After she separated from Thomas Law, Eliza Parke Custis Law spent a year with Rosalie and George at Riversdale.
In what would have been about a two-hour trot once he got off the ferry at Piscataway, George Washington came to Mount Airy a number of times. On July 30, 1773, George and Martha went to Mount Airy for dinner. On the 31st, they stayed all day.
As noted on the state marker, Washington came to Mount Airy on February 4, 1774, to attend the marriage of Jacky and Eleanor (Martha was still in mourning. Her daughter Martha had died the previous summer at age 17 at Mount Vernon). Washington would eventually have time to be with Jackie and Eleanor’s four children, but across the span of their births (1776 to 1781), the General was commanding the Continental Army. When Washington was elected President in 1789, Nelly and Wash went to New York and then Philadelphia with him and Martha. Eliza and Martha were isolated at Hope Park, so when Washington retired, visits to Mount Vernon were all the more special.
No one has written a book about Jacky, but Alice Coyle Torbert wrote one (“Eleanor Calvert and Her Circle”) on Eleanor in 1950. At Mount Airy, Eleanor and her siblings “were allowed to ride about the fields through the farm roads if they kept to the roads and jumped no fences.”
Benedict had the profitable job of Collector of Customs in Annapolis. In the winter months, the family stayed there. Founded in 1649, the seaport had a century jump on Alexandria. It had become the capital of the colony in 1694 and Jacky no doubt enjoyed its cosmopolitan nature.
More than a dozen historical markers touch on Washington’s time there, including a big one at the State House where he resigned his commission before the Continental Congress in December 1783. On his way to and from New York, Philadelphia and other places northward, Washington crossed the Severn River on a ferry at Annapolis.
Torbert tells us the young Eleanor spent some time in Virginia, including visits to Mount Vernon and Sunday sermons at nearby Truro Parish Church. She also visited the Fairfax family at Belvoir, where Washington gained insights into what it meant to be a gentleman and a surveyor.
Jackie, whose wealth on paper included scores of enslaved humans, struggled to find direction in his teenage years. Instead of reading books, he enjoyed socializing and horse racing. In 1772, when Jackie was 18 years old, Washington hired the Rev. Jonathon Boucher (1738-1804) to try and steer him in right direction.
Boucher, rector for Queen Anne's Parish, lived at Mount Lubentia, about four miles from Mount Airy. The two and a half story, five bay, Georgian/Federal style house with Flemish brick (c.1760) stands today. Jacky and others dubbed it “Castle Magruder,” after owner Enoch Magruder.
As part of his care and concern for Custis, Washington visited Boucher a number of times in 1772. His plan was sound, but Jacky had the free spirit of a wild horse. As Founders Online points out:
Unknown to the Washington or the Bouchers, Jacky Custis was at the time courting Nelly Calvert. When their romance did become known several months later, Boucher was shocked. You will remember, I always thought that he was enamored with Miss Betsey (Calvert).
Washington tried to convince his step-son and guardian to wait to get married, but Jacky was persistent. Also a factor was the fact that Martha liked Eleanor. So much so that when the two did get married (February 3, 1774 at Mount Airy), Martha penned a letter to her new daughter-in-law.
My Dear Nelly,
God took from me a daughter when June roses were in bloom. He has now given me another Daughter about her age when Winter winds are blowing, to warm my heart again. I am as happy as One so Afflicted and so Blest can be.
Jackie would die in 1781 near the battlefield at Yorktown. Eleanor remarried to David Stuart and would give birth fifteen times. Sadly seven died in infancy. Her twenty times giving birth is astonishing, even for a time of large families.
Eleanor was not feeling well in the summer of 1811. She went to Tudor Place in Georgetown to be with her daughter Martha and family. Dr. Good tells us Eleanor wrote her daughter Nelly that she "coughed a great deal" (probably from tuberculosis). Martha comforted her to the end. Her mourners were many, including her four children with Jackie and eight with David Stuart. Her named lived on with Eleanor Calvert Stuart (1796-1875). Eleanor's final resting place is in the Saint Thomas Episcopal Church in Croom, under the chancel rail in vault beside her father Benedict and mother Elizabeth, just three miles to the east of Mount Airy.
Note:
In 1902, Mount Airy went out of Calvert family ownership. The Baltimore American noted the last to live there had been Miss Eleanora Calvert, who passed away at Mount Airy in 1901 at age 83. Her brother Cecilius Calvert also had lived there. The estate included 820 acres of “fine grassing or farm land.”
An auction of family heirlooms was held in Washington (1407 G. Street NW) in February, 1902. Items included portraits, silver and jewelry. A number of descendants attended, some from Virginia. No doubt all eyes and many hopes were on the portraits of the Lord Baltimores — Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth.
In 1903, Matilda R. Duvall acquired the house. C.W. McCormick (The Washington Post, "Famous Old Colonial Mansion," April 7, 1907) visited the house. A Mrs. Lancaster, a Calvert descendant living at Riversdale, provide information and insight.
He noted:
“There is a beautiful portrait of Eleanor Calvert in riding habit, which now hangs in the drawing room of this house. She has a loverly girlish face, full of intelligence and animation. She was a spirited horsewoman."
After a fire gutted Mount Airy in 1931, Eleanor Patterson (owner and publisher of the Washington Times-Herald) bought and rebuilt it. She added a swimming pool, tennis court, guest cottages, and a large green house for her collection of orchids. Her guests included FDR and Eleanor and Alice Roosevelt Longworth. Patterson spent summers and weekends here until she passed in 1948.
Patterson gave the property to her friend, Ann Bowie Smith. The family, apparently descendants, lived there until 1973. The Maryland State Department of Natural Resource then acquired it.
In 1985, Frank and Patricia Kulla (Chambord Corporation), a couple from Connecticut, restored the two-story dwelling and opened it as a country inn. Perhaps because of its out-of-way location, the restaurant closed in 1989. It became a rental facility.
Additional Info:
The Library of Congress has a series of photos. Some were taken after the fire in 1931 and some are from the rebuild.
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