The South River Club is a
social club
A social club may be a group of people or the place where they meet, generally formed around a common interest, occupation, or activity. Examples include: book discussion clubs, chess clubs, anime clubs, country clubs, charity work, criminal ...
located just south of
Annapolis
Annapolis ( ) is the capital city of the U.S. state of Maryland and the county seat of, and only incorporated city in, Anne Arundel County. Situated on the Chesapeake Bay at the mouth of the Severn River, south of Baltimore and about east o ...
in
Anne Arundel County, Maryland
Anne Arundel County (; ), also notated as AA or A.A. County, is located in the U.S. state of Maryland. As of the 2020 United States census, its population was 588,261, an increase of just under 10% since 2010. Its county seat is Annapolis, whi ...
. The name also refers to the group's clubhouse, which was built in 1742.
The club
The South River Club (also known as "The Old South River Club")
is one of the country's oldest, continuously active organizations of its type. Early records were lost when the first clubhouse burned down,
but there is evidence that the club existed in 1732 and perhaps as early as 1700.
Club records show that it existed before February 11, 1742, when a resolution was passed to attempt to record all previous members' names.
As early as 1746, the club was referred to as "The Ancient South River Club" in the ''
Maryland Gazette
''The Gazette'', founded in 1727 as ''The Maryland Gazette'', is one of the oldest newspapers in America. Its modern-day descendant, ''The Capital,'' was acquired by The Baltimore Sun Media Group in 2014. Previously, it was owned by the Capita ...
.''
Early members included prominent landowners, merchants, and the local doctor and clergyman, all of whom lived within a 10-mile radius of the clubhouse.
The members of the club meet at the clubhouse four times per year for feasts prepared in the detached kitchen.
Women are only allowed in the clubhouse on "Pilgrimage Days."
The clubhouse
It is not clear where the first clubhouse stood.
There is speculation that it was in
Londontowne, Maryland
Londontowne is an unincorporated area and former census-designated place (CDP) in Anne Arundel County, Maryland, United States, and the site of a former colonial seaport founded on the South River in 1683. The population was 7,595 at the 2000 cen ...
.
The present structure was built in 1742 on land purchased from Captain Thomas Gassaway, son of
Colonel Nicholas Gassaway.
[Warfield, Joshua Dorsey, The founders of Anne Arundel and Howard Counties, Maryland, Kohn & Pollack, Baltimore, MD 1905, P.199] It is a small frame, -story one-room clubhouse with a gable roof and a narrow exterior chimney on the east gable end.
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 1969.
Members
*
Joseph Noble Stockett
Joseph Noble Stockett was prominent Maryland landowner during the late 18th and early 19th century.
Career
Stockett was a staunch Federalism in the United States, Federalist who studied medicine but never practiced. He was a member of the Whig Pa ...
See also
List of traditional gentlemen's clubs in the United States
The following is a list of notable traditional gentlemen's clubs in the United States, including those that are now defunct. Historically, these clubs were exclusively for men, but most (though not all) now admit women.
On exclusivity and ass ...
References
External links
*, including photo from 1967, at Maryland Historical Trust
*
*
{{Authority control
Clubhouses on the National Register of Historic Places in Maryland
Buildings and structures in Anne Arundel County, Maryland
Cultural infrastructure completed in 1742
Historic American Buildings Survey in Maryland
Gentlemen's clubs in the United States
1742 establishments in Maryland
National Register of Historic Places in Anne Arundel County, Maryland