Mount Hope is located at 1 Cheverly Circle in the town of

Cheverly Cheverly is a town in Prince George's County, Maryland, United States, located very close to Washington, D.C., though not bordering it directly. The town was founded in 1918 and incorporated in 1931. Per the 2020 census, the population was 6,1 ...

Prince George's County, Maryland 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 United States census, 2020 U.S. census, the population was 967,201, making it ...

. The

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 ...

is a two-story, five-bay frame house built in several stages. The three-bay west section was built about 1834, and included an earlier overseer's cabin, c. 1782, with a two-bay "new addition" to the east in the 1860s, after the Civil War. A one-story kitchen wing appears to date from the 1830s as well, building on earlier foundations. A broad front porch was added in the early 20th century along with a 3-bay garage and screened porch (which housed the town's Delco Power Plant). The home was built by Fielder Magruder, Jr., member of the prominent Magruder family who first settled in Maryland in 1652. Part of the house sits on the stone foundations of an earlier structure. The earlier component is contemporary with an outbuilding c. 1782 which also remain on the property. The town of Cheverly occupies much of the original tobacco

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 ...

of Fielder Magruder, Jr. The house was formerly the town symbol, appearing on the official town seal and town flag. The house was renovated from 1919 to 1922, as the home and office of Robert Marshall, founder of Cheverly. He lived there until 1929. Cheverly's first mayor owned Mount Hope from 1941 to 1977. It was the town's official symbol from 1931 until 2020 when the town council voted to remove the image of the plantation from the seal. The property was extensively restored in 1985 and 2005 by the current owners, Drs. Elizabeth Tuckermanty and Dale Manty. Historical myths abound regarding a number of events at Mount Hope over its approximately 232 years as a residence. These include British troops allegedly stopping at the Magruder Spring on the plantation on August 24, 1814, en route to the armed resistance at the Battle of Bladensburg and burning of Washington. And there is the case of a young nephew (John?) Magruder, lieutenant in the CSA, mortally wounded at the Battle of Gettysburg, transported by buckboard (behind enemy lines) to his aunt and uncle's house where he died a fortnight after arriving. The mythical ghost of a young woman associate of Lieutenant Magruder, with a wry sense of humor, occasionally visits Mount Hope.

References

External links

*, including photo in 1977, at Maryland Historical Trust website Houses in Prince George's County, Maryland Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Maryland Plantation houses in Maryland National Register of Historic Places in Prince George's County, Maryland {{PrinceGeorgesCountyMD-NRHP-stub