National Register of Historic Places

Riley-Bolten House

North Bethesda, Montgomery County, Maryland
Listed
December 30, 2011
Type
Building
Period
Industrial
Ref No.
11000961

About this property

The Riley-Bolten House, known locally as Uncle Tom's Cabin, is a historic home located at North Bethesda, Montgomery County, Maryland, United States. It is a 1+1⁄2-story early-19th century frame house with a mid-19th century log wing, formerly located on the Riley plantation along with much of the suburb that presently surrounds it. Both the house and the wing were renovated between 1936 and 1939 in the Colonial Revival style according to designs by Washington, D.C. architect Lorenzo S. Winslow. The house is one of several examples in the county of older homes that were renovated in the Colonial Revival style in the wake of the popularity of Colonial Williamsburg, developed in Virginia by the Rockefeller Foundation at the same time. It was originally the main house on an extensive plantation but was reduced to a 1-acre (0.40 ha) plot of land to serve as the centerpiece for a new suburban development in the mid-20th century. An early owner of the home was Isaac Riley, who bought the enslaved Josiah Henson while living there. Henson was put to work on the plantation, in time coming to manage much of the Riley estate. The autobiography he produced after his escape, The Life of Josiah Henson, Formerly a Slave, was the model for Harriet Beecher Stowe's novel Uncle Tom's Cabin. The slave quarters on the Riley plantation where Henson actually lived were destroyed in the 1950s when much of the former plantation was developed into suburban tract housing. The Riley-Bolten House was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2011.

Location

11420 Old Georgetown Rd.
North Bethesda, Montgomery County, Maryland
39.04397, -77.12160

Categories

ARCHITECTUREBLACK
National Register nomination ›
Sources

Property data from the National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service (public domain).

Description adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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Nearby Historic Sites

Montrose Schoolhouse
Industrial
0.7 mi
Garrett Park Historic District
Listed
1.5 mi
Rock Creek Woods Historic District
Modern
2.3 mi
Dawson Farm
Industrial
2.4 mi
Bethesda Meetinghouse
Industrial
2.7 mi

Nearby Battles

Rockville Cavalry Skirmish (Stuart's Ride to Gettysburg via Maryland, 1863)
1863Civil War
3.2 mi

Questions about this property

When was Riley-Bolten House listed on the National Register?

Riley-Bolten House was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on December 30, 2011.

What type of historic resource is Riley-Bolten House?

Riley-Bolten House is classified as a building in the National Register of Historic Places.

What is the period of significance for Riley-Bolten House?

The period of significance for Riley-Bolten House is recorded as the industrial era.

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