Riley-Bolten House
The house is one of several examples in the county of older homes that were renovated in the Colonial Revival style in the wake of the popularity of Colonial Williamsburg, developed in Virginia by the Rockefeller Foundation at the same time. It was originally the main house on an extensive plantation but was reduced to a 1-acre (0.40 ha) plot of land to serve as the centerpiece for a new suburban development in the mid-20th century.
An early owner of the home was Isaac Riley, who bought the enslaved Josiah Henson while living there. Henson was put to work on the plantation, in time coming to manage much of the Riley estate. The autobiography he produced after his escape, The Life of Josiah Henson, Formerly a Slave, was the model for Harriet Beecher Stowe's novel Uncle Tom's Cabin. The slave quarters on the Riley plantation where Henson actually lived were destroyed in the 1950s when much of the former plantation was developed into suburban tract housing.
The Riley-Bolten House was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2011.
References
- ^ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. July 9, 2010.
- ^ "Riley-Bolten House". Maryland Historical Trust. Retrieved 2013-07-06.
- ^ Jennifer Lenhart (2006-06-15). "'Uncle Tom's Cabin' Will Open to Visitors". The Washington Post. Retrieved 2013-07-06.
External links
- The Ridge, Montgomery County, Inventory No.: M: 30-6 at Maryland Historical Trust website