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Pleasant Prospect is a historic home located at Mitchellville, Prince George's County, Maryland. It is an outstanding and important example of a 
The architectural design and unique features of the house were documented in the permanent collection of the Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS) at the Library of Congress in 1936 and again in 1983. This documentation notes: "Pleasant Prospect reflects the wealth and elegance of the upper class of planters in Prince George's County during the late 18th and early 19th century. The house was unusually large and well appointed for its time, with a large hall or passage, formal parlor, separate dining room and a library in the main block of the first floor."
Pleasant Prospect was built c. 1798 for Dr. Isaac Duckett, described as one of the most opulent slave owners in the state. It is one of four houses built in Prince George's County during this period that were valued at $1,500 or more in the 1798 Federal Direct Tax assessment and is described in that document as "a new Two story Brick dwelling, very elegantly furnished with passage 20 by 16, kitchen 19 by 14, all of Brick." Pleasant Prospect is one of three plantations built by the Duckett family in Prince George's County. The other two are Fairview, built by Isaac Duckett's brother Baruch around 1800, and Melford in the 1840s.
Pleasant Prospect was listed on the
File:GENERAL VIEW OF EAST (FRONT) SHOWING ENVIRONMENTAL SETTING AND AN HISTORIC APPROACH TO THE HOUSE (A ROAD BED NO LONGER USED) - Pleasant Prospect, 12806 Woodmore Road, HABS MD,17-WOOD.V,2-6.tif, General View of East (Front) Showing Historic Approach to the House
File:PERSPECTIVE VIEW OF EAST (FRONT) LOOKING SOUTHWEST - Pleasant Prospect, 12806 Woodmore Road, Mitchellville, Prince George's County, MD HABS MD,17-WOOD.V,2-8.tif, Perspective View of East (Front) Looking Southwest
File:PERSPECTIVE VIEW OF WEST (REAR) OF THE MAIN BLOCK, LOOKING NORTHEAST - Pleasant Prospect, 12806 Woodmore Road, Mitchellville, Prince George's County, MD HABS MD,17-WOOD.V,2-13.tif, Perspective View of the West (Rear) of the Main Block, Looking Northeast
File:Historic American Buildings Survey John O. Brostrup, Photographer April 13, 1936 10-25 A.M. DOOR DETAIL (off Entrance Hall) - Pleasant Prospect, 12806 Woodmore Road, HABS MD,17-WOOD.V,2-4.tif, Federal Style Door Detail
File:INTERIOR VIEW, FIRST FLOOR, DETAIL OF NEWEL POST AND BALUSTRADE OF STAIRWAY - Pleasant Prospect, 12806 Woodmore Road, Mitchellville, Prince George's County, MD HABS MD,17-WOOD.V,2-17.tif, Detail of Newel Post and Balustrade of Stairway
Federal
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*Federation, or ''Federal state'' (federal system), a type of government characterized by both a central (federal) government and states or ...
style plantation house
A plantation house is the main house of a plantation, often a substantial farmhouse, which often serves as a symbol for the plantation as a whole. Plantation houses in the Southern United States and in other areas are known as quite grand and e ...
, consisting of a 2½-story main structure over a full basement with a 2-story kitchen linked by a 1-story hyphen
The hyphen is a punctuation mark used to join words and to separate syllables of a single word. The use of hyphens is called hyphenation. ''Son-in-law'' is an example of a hyphenated word. The hyphen is sometimes confused with dashes ( figure ...
. The kitchen wing and hyphen are typical of late eighteenth century ancillary architecture in Southern Maryland. The walls are laid in Flemish bond
Brickwork is masonry produced by a bricklayer, using bricks and mortar. Typically, rows of bricks called ''courses'' are laid on top of one another to build up a structure such as a brick wall.
Bricks may be differentiated from blocks by siz ...
, and the chimneys are typical of Maryland; wide on the side, thin and high above the ridge, rising on the gable ends of the house flush with the building wall. The interior exhibits outstanding Federal style trim, including elaborate Adamesque moldings and plasterwork ornamentation such as garlands, swags, and urns applied to interior doorways and mantles. A pyramidal roof, log meat house stands on the immediate grounds.
The architectural design and unique features of the house were documented in the permanent collection of the Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS) at the Library of Congress in 1936 and again in 1983. This documentation notes: "Pleasant Prospect reflects the wealth and elegance of the upper class of planters in Prince George's County during the late 18th and early 19th century. The house was unusually large and well appointed for its time, with a large hall or passage, formal parlor, separate dining room and a library in the main block of the first floor."
Pleasant Prospect was built c. 1798 for Dr. Isaac Duckett, described as one of the most opulent slave owners in the state. It is one of four houses built in Prince George's County during this period that were valued at $1,500 or more in the 1798 Federal Direct Tax assessment and is described in that document as "a new Two story Brick dwelling, very elegantly furnished with passage 20 by 16, kitchen 19 by 14, all of Brick." Pleasant Prospect is one of three plantations built by the Duckett family in Prince George's County. The other two are Fairview, built by Isaac Duckett's brother Baruch around 1800, and Melford in the 1840s.
Pleasant Prospect 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 ...
in 1976.
Gallery
References
External links
*, at Maryland Historical Trust website * * {{National Register of Historic Places in Maryland Historic American Buildings Survey in Maryland Houses completed in 1798 Houses in Prince George's County, Maryland Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Maryland Federal architecture in Maryland Plantation houses in Maryland National Register of Historic Places in Prince George's County, Maryland Plantations in Maryland