Rose Hill (Port Tobacco, Maryland) Explained

Rose Hill
Location:	Rose Hill Rd., Port Tobacco, Maryland
Coordinates:	38.5119°N -77.025°W
Architecture:	Georgian
Added:	March 30, 1973
Refnum:	73000914

Rose Hill is a historic house built in the late 18th century near Port Tobacco in Charles County, Maryland, United States. It is a five-part, Georgian-style dwelling house. It has a two-story central block with gable ends. It was restored during the mid 20th century.^[1]

Rose Hill was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1973.

Significance related to residents

It is notable for the following:

• Dr. Gustavus R. Brown, a lifelong friend of George Washington and one of his physicians, built the house and lived here.
• Olivia Floyd (1826-1905^[2]), a noted Confederate agent and blockade runner during the American Civil War, lived here
• It is the reputed site of the Port Tobacco Blue Dog Legend

Dr. Gustavus Richard Brown

Around 1780, Dr. Gustavus Brown bought and combined four tracts of land^{[3] [4]} from his neighbor; the property is now known as "Betty's Delight". Combining this land with his own, he had built the house later named Rose Hill, which was completed in about 1783.^{[5] [6]}

The house has been owned by a number of families since it was built. It was restored in 1937^[7] and more recently in the early 1970s by Charles Stuart.^{[8] [9] [10]}

Olivia Floyd

The Maryland archives appear to show that Rose Hill Farm (with the manor) was sold to Ignatius Semmes, but do not provide a clear account, i.e., whether it was to the elder Semmes (born 1773^[11]), or the younger (born 1821^[12]), and when this took place (from 1804 to the early 1820s). Another Gustavus Brown is mentioned more than once in the same area, up to 1826. But the archives do show that older Semmes died in 1826, and the younger Semmes died in 1843, willing the property to his maternal uncle Holmes and paternal aunt Sarah (Semmes) Floyd, married to David I. Floyd, and her children.

Olivia Floyd was among the family of Sarah and David Floyd who lived at the manor. She is notable as a Confederate agent and blockade runner during the American Civil War.^{[13] [14] [15] [16]} Floyd sold the property to Maryland State Senator, Adrian Posey, in 1892.^[17]

The Blue Dog

Port Tobacco village, at the bottom of Rose Hill, is a town. Rose Hill Road (which is outside Port Tobacco) passes a few widely scattered houses, most notably the home of Thomas Stone, youngest signatory of the American Declaration of Independence.

References

• Book: Arnett , Earl . Maryland: A New Guide to the Old Line State . registration . 44 . rose hill charles county. . Robert J Brugger . Edward C. Papenfuse . Edward C. Papenfuse . Johns Hopkins University Press . 1999 . 978-0-8018-5980-9.
• News: Washington stayed here, as does loyal dog's ghost . Hayden . Faith . Baltimore Sun . September 29, 2002 . 2007-10-05 .
• Book: O'Rourke , Timothy J. . Catholic Families of Southern Maryland . Genealogical Publishing Company . 1985 . 2007-10-19 . 978-0-8063-1106-7.
• Book: Ridgely , Helen West . Historic Graves of Maryland and the District of Columbia . 63 . rose hill charles county. . The Grafton press . 1908.
• Book: Scharf , John Thomas . History of Maryland from the Earliest Period to the Present Day . 750 . gustavus r brown. . John B. Piet . 1879.
• Book: Wilstach , Paul . Potomac Landings . 102 . gustavus rose hill. . Doubleday, Page & Company . 1921.
  • Web site: [{{MHT url|id=141}} National Register Listings in Maryland ]. Maryland Historical Trust . 2007-10-04.

External links

• Olivia Floyd, Confederate Spy And Messenger
• Lists several photographs of Rose Hill
• Description and photograph of Betty's Delight
• , including undated photo, at Maryland Historical Trust

Notes and References

1. Web site: National Register of Historic Places Registration: Rose Hill . July 1972. 2016-01-01 . William Morgan . Nancy Miller . amp . Maryland Historical Trust.
2. News: OLIVIA FLOYD DEAD.; Famous Woman Blockade Runner of the Confederacy . The New York Times . December 12, 1905 . 2007-10-17 .
3. Arnett, pp 44-45
4. http://www.msa.md.gov/megafile/msa/stagsere/se1/se5/007000/007900/007982/pdf/msa_se5_7982.pdf
5. Sometime after the 1783 tax assessment, according to the Maryland Historical Trust web page.
6. Web site: Rose Hill . The Historical Marker Database . June 17, 2007 . 2008-11-01.
7. The Historic American Buildings Survey notes that it was restored in 1937, when the survey photographed the building.
8. Before Stuart bought it in 1972, it was owned by Frank Wade for 12 years.
9. Web site: Memorial Obituaries  - Charles Edward Stuart . Brinsfield Echols Funeral Home . August 19, 2007.
10. Web site: Nixon White House Staffer, Charles Stuart, Dies at 69 . The Richard Nixon Library & Birthplace Foundation . 2007-10-05.
11. O'Rourke, pp 12.
12. Web site: The Early Nineteenth Century Burials at Mount Carmel, Maryland . Sister Miriam John+, OCD, Discalced Carmelite Nuns, Carmel of Port Tobacco . 2007-10-19 . https://web.archive.org/web/20070713060401/http://ftp.rootsweb.com/pub/usgenweb/md/charles/cemeteries/carmel.txt . 2007-07-13 . dead.
    File modified October 7, 2000. It lists dates on gravestones 1778-1826 and 1821-1843 for the elder and younger Ignatius Semmes. See external link to St. Ignatius Church which shows worn gravestones (1773 may be read as 1778).
13. Web site: Rose Hill . The Historical Marker Database . June 17, 2007.
14. Book: Women in the Civil War: Extraordinary Stories of Soldiers, Spies, Nurses, Crusaders and Others . registration . 108 . olivia floyd. . Larry G. Eggleston . McFarland & Company . 2003 . 978-0-7864-1493-2.
15. The Maryland Historical Trust web page states that Olivia Floyd was a descendant of Gustavus Brown.
16. Web site: Miss Olivia Floyd . John T. Marck . About Famous People . 2007-10-05.
17. https://mdlandrec.net/main/ Charles County Land Records, Liber JST 5 Folio 317-319