Darnall's Chance, also known as Buck House, Buck-Wardrop House, or James Wardrop House, is a historic home located at 14800 Governor Oden Bowie Drive, in Upper Marlboro,

Prince George's County Prince George's County (often shortened to PG County or PG) is located in the U.S. state of Maryland bordering the eastern portion of Washington, D.C. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the population was 967,201, making it the second-most populous ...

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It borders the states of Virginia to its south, West Virginia to its west, Pennsylvania to its north, and Delaware to its east ...

, United States. It is named after Colonel

Henry Darnall Colonel Henry Darnall (1645 – 17 June 1711) was an Irish-born planter, militia officer and politician who served as the chancellor of Maryland from 1683 to 1689. He was also appointed as the proprietary agent for Charles Calvert, 3rd Bar ...

, a wealthy

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

planter, who was the Proprietary Agent of

Charles Calvert, 3rd Baron Baltimore Charles Calvert, 3rd Baron Baltimore (August 27, 1637 – February 21, 1715) was an English colonial administrator. He inherited the province of Maryland in 1675 upon the death of his father, Cecil Calvert, 2nd Baron Baltimore. He had been his ...

and who served for a time as Deputy Governor of the Province. The house itself was built c. 1742 by a merchant named James Wardrop who bought some of Darnall's land from

Eleanor Darnall Carroll Eleanor Darnall Carroll (1703–1796) was a prominent heiress in colonial Maryland. She married Daniel Carroll, a wealthy planter, and together they became the parents of two notable figures in American history: Daniel Carroll, a Founding Father ...

and her husband Daniel Carroll, a politician and wealthy planter. Wardrop enslaved 32 people at the house. Today, Darnall's Chance houses the Darnall's Chance House Museum, a

historic house museum A historic house museum is a house of historic significance that is preserved as a museum. Historic furnishings may be displayed in a way that reflects their original placement and usage in a home. Historic house museums are held to a variety of ...

which opened to the public in 1988.

History

Origins

The tract of land the house sits on was patented in 1704 by Col.

(1645–1711), a wealthy Maryland Roman Catholic planter, Proprietary Agent of Charles Calvert, 3rd Baron Baltimore and, for a time, Deputy Governor of Maryland. However, during the Protestant Revolution of 1689, Darnall's proprietarial army was defeated by the Puritan army of Colonel John Coode, and he was stripped of his numerous offices. When Col. Darnall died in 1711, he owned in Prince George's County, as well as holdings in four other counties. The property of what became known as Darnall's Chance passed through his family to his granddaughter Eleanor Darnall, who married

Daniel Carroll I Daniel commonly refers to: * Daniel (given name), a masculine given name and a surname * List of people named Daniel * List of people with surname Daniel * Daniel (biblical figure) * Book of Daniel, a biblical apocalypse, "an account of the activi ...

in 1727. Their family was reared on the large landholding and

plantation Plantations are farms specializing in cash crops, usually mainly planting a single crop, with perhaps ancillary areas for vegetables for eating and so on. Plantations, centered on a plantation house, grow crops including cotton, cannabis, tob ...

. Two Carroll sons were prominent members of colonial and early United States society:

Daniel Carroll Daniel Carroll Jr. (July 22, 1730May 7, 1796) was one of the Founding Fathers of the United States, a Maryland politician, and a plantation owner. He supported the American Revolution, served in the Confederation Congress, was a delegate to ...

became a politician in the

Continental Congress The Continental Congress was a series of legislature, legislative bodies, with some executive function, for the Thirteen Colonies of British America, Great Britain in North America, and the newly declared United States before, during, and after ...

and

Maryland Senate The Maryland Senate, sometimes referred to as the Maryland State Senate, is the upper house of the General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Maryland. Composed of 47 senators elected from an equal number of constituent single ...

, and member of the Constitutional Convention; and John Carroll became the first Roman Catholic

bishop A bishop is an ordained member of the clergy who is entrusted with a position of Episcopal polity, authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance and administration of di ...

in the United States, and founder of

Georgetown University Georgetown University is a private university, private Jesuit research university in Washington, D.C., United States. Founded by Bishop John Carroll (archbishop of Baltimore), John Carroll in 1789, it is the oldest Catholic higher education, Ca ...

. In 1741, the Carrolls sold 6 acres of their land to James Wardrop, a Scottish merchant. Wardrop built a 15-room brick dwelling house within a year, originally a -story,

Flemish bond Flemish bond is a pattern of brickwork that is a common feature in Georgian architecture. The pattern features bricks laid lengthwise (''stretchers'') alternating with bricks laid with their shorter ends exposed (''headers'') within the same cou ...

brick house. It is that house that currently stands on the property. After living at Darnall's Chance as a bachelor for six years, Wardrop married 22-year-old Lettice Lee, whose father, Philip Lee Sr., was a member of the

Lee family The Lee family of the United States is a historically significant Virginia and Maryland political family, whose many prominent members are known for their accomplishments in politics and the military. The family became prominent in colonial Bri ...

Westmoreland County, Virginia Westmoreland County is a County (United States), county located in the Northern Neck of the Virginia, Commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2020 United States census, the population sits at 18,477. Its county seat is Montross, Virginia, Montross ...

Nineteenth century

In the mid-19th century, the house was remodeled to two stories, of

stucco Stucco or render is a construction material made of aggregates, a binder, and water. Stucco is applied wet and hardens to a very dense solid. It is used as a decorative coating for walls and ceilings, exterior walls, and as a sculptural and ...

ed brick, with

Italianate The Italianate style was a distinct 19th-century phase in the history of Classical architecture. Like Palladianism and Neoclassicism, the Italianate style combined its inspiration from the models and architectural vocabulary of 16th-century It ...

and

Greek Revival Greek Revival architecture is a architectural style, style that began in the middle of the 18th century but which particularly flourished in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, predominantly in northern Europe, the United States, and Canada, ...

stylistic elements. The major alterations to the property were probably carried out under the ownership of Edward Grafton W. Hall, who owned it between 1857 and 1887.

Modern era

The house and property were acquired by the

Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission The Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission (M-NCPPC) is a bi-county agency that administers parks and planning in Montgomery and Prince George's counties in Maryland. History The commission was formed in 1927 by the Maryland G ...

in 1974, for administrative offices, but was later renovated and reopened as a

house museum A historic house museum is a house of historic significance that is preserved as a museum. Historic furnishings may be displayed in a way that reflects their original placement and usage in a home. Historic house museums are held to a variety of ...

. Darnall's Chance was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

in 1978. The official name for the house, the Buck House, is for a late-20th-century owner, Harry Buck, Sr. After renovations and opening as a house museum, the property was subsequently renamed Darnall's Chance, after its first owner. In 1986, the entire second floor and roof were removed, and the house was reconstructed to its 18th-century appearance. Two years later, it opened as Darnall's Chance House Museum.

Darnall's Chance House Museum

Darnall's Chance House Museum is a historic house museum which opened to the public in 1988. It is operated by the

. The tour at Darnall's Chance focuses on the life of Lettice Lee, as she lived in the house for almost thirty years, married three times, and was an unusual 18th-century woman. It also includes more general information on the other women who lived at Darnall's Chance and in Prince George's County at that time. The house is open for tours on Friday from noon to 4 pm, Sunday from noon to 4 pm, and at other times by appointment. Public programs offered at the Museum include tea lessons for young ladies, a pirate-for-a-day program, and an annual

gingerbread Gingerbread refers to a broad category of baked goods, typically flavored with ginger root, ginger, cloves, nutmeg, and cinnamon and sweetened with honey, sugar, or molasses. Gingerbread foods vary, ranging from a moist loaf cake to forms nearly ...

house contest and show. The Museum rents its tented patio, which has a capacity of 125, for weddings and other events.

Burial vault

During 1987, a
underground vault
was discovered on the property. The vault when discovered, was filled with 8 feet of trash from the 18th and 19th century. Under the trash were found nine sets of human remains: three adults and six children. It was later determined that five of those remains were of native-born Americans. It was concluded that the people died of various illnesses.

References

External links

*, including photo in 1996, at Maryland Historical Trust website *
Darnall's Chance at the Washington Post
Retrieved 23 August 2018 {{National Register of Historic Places in Maryland Houses completed in 1742 Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Maryland Historic house museums in Maryland Carroll family residences Lee family residences Plantations in Maryland Museums in Prince George's County, Maryland Houses in Prince George's County, Maryland Museums established in 1988 1988 establishments in Maryland Historic American Buildings Survey in Maryland 1742 establishments in Maryland National Register of Historic Places in Prince George's County, Maryland