Araby is a historic house located near Mason Springs,

Charles County Charles County is a county in Southern Maryland. As of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, the population was 166,617. The county seat is La Plata, Maryland, La Plata. The county was named for Charles Calvert, 3rd Baron Baltimore, Charle ...

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...

. An example of

Federal architecture Federal-style architecture is the name for the classicizing architecture built in the newly founded United States between 1780 and 1830, and particularly from 1785 to 1815, which was heavily based on the works of Andrea Palladio with several inn ...

, it was built in the mid-1700s and underwent extensive renovations a hundred years later. Much of the house remains unaltered from that time. Merchant William Eilbeck built the plantation house, where he lived with his wife Sarah. He was one of the wealthiest men in Charles County, and held the rank of colonel in the local militia, and by 1745 was one of the gentleman justices of the local court. Eilbeck also had another plantation nearby, but only one child, a daughter Anne. In 1750, planter

George Mason George Mason (October 7, 1792) was an American planter, politician, Founding Father, and delegate to the U.S. Constitutional Convention of 1787, one of the three delegates present who refused to sign the Constitution. His writings, including s ...

married Anne. The young couple lived with the Eilbecks while constructing

Gunston Hall Gunston Hall is an 18th-century Georgian architecture, Georgian Plantation house in the Southern United States, mansion near the Potomac River in Mason Neck, Virginia, Mason Neck, Virginia, United States. Built between 1755 and 1759 as the m ...

on his Virginia estates, and continued to visit Araby from time to time. Another of Anne's former suitors,

George Washington George Washington (February 22, 1732, 1799) was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Father who served as the first president of the United States from 1789 to 1797. Appointed by the Continental Congress as commander of th ...

, who owned a nearby property, was a frequent visitor. Sarah Eilbeck survived her husband, so Araby did not pass to their third grandson

William Mason (1757-1820) William Mason may refer to: * William Mason (gunsmith) (1837–1913), American engineer and inventor working for Remington, Colt, and Winchester *William Mason (composer) (1829–1908), American composer and pianist * William Mason (locomotive bui ...

until her death in 1780, when he was 23 and an officer in the Fairfax militia.Copeland pp. 211, 234-235 It was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

in 1974.

References

External links

*, including undated photo, at Maryland Historical Trust Houses completed in the 18th century Houses in Charles County, Maryland Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Maryland Federal architecture in Maryland Georgian architecture in Maryland Mason family residences National Register of Historic Places in Charles County, Maryland 1700s establishments in Maryland {{CharlesCountyMD-NRHP-stub