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Older than Mount Vernon, older than
Monticello, older than the nation itself, 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. 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. 19th Century View the genealogical records found in the Slave Statistics of St. Mary's County on the emancipation of the Kane family and other Briscoe slaves. (This information is provided through the AfriGeneas Slave Date Collection website). 20th Century
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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. 
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.
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.
