To: Derrick Cornell Cephas

The property that you cite is just west of the western boundary of the tract known as Three Sisters, and lies within the boundaries of the adjoining tract known as Landover. The Colonial-revival style house now standing on the property was built around 1940, though there certainly was an earlier house standing very close to where the present house stands, and that earlier house may well have dated to the 19th century. It is possible that the earlier house could have been that owned by the Wells family which appears on the 1861 Martenet map and the 1878 Hopkins atlas of Prince George's County. The property (over 100 acres) passed from the Wells family in 1878, and then to Adam Dade in 1881, and from Dade's widow to John McCoy in 1890 (John McCoy's house appears on the 1894 map of Prince George's County). This house and farm was acquired by Francis Scruggs in 1939, and it was almost certainly he who built the present house on the property. Scruggs carved out a smaller parcel (just under 2 acres) for this house lot, and sold it to Arnold Barnett in 1945. When Barnett sold the property in 1958, there was an interesting document attached to the deed: a description of the mansion in 1945 with all of its furnishings, garage and guest house (Maryland Land Records Liber #2277, folio 296 and following).

You are correct that this property is very close to the Three Sisters tract, in fact it is practically on the boundary line between Three Sisters and Landover. Three Sisters was patented by members of the Hilleary family in 1683, bounding on the eastern line of the previously-patented Landover tract. The mid-19th-century house of Washington Hilleary still stands on the northwest quadrant of the intersection of Lottsford Vista and Yellowwood Lane, but there is nothing left of the farm buildings of Sally (Sarah Ogle) Hilleary's part of the property, approximately where Flowers High School now stands.

Hope this helps, and do visit the Historical Society library when you have a chance. You might like to see some of the maps that I've cited above.

Susan G. Pearl, Historian
Prince George's County Historical Society


--Previous Message--
:
: Does anybody have any idea
: the history of this big white house
: sitting on a hill in Springdale Maryland
:
: The house looks to me like house
: out of the civil war 2 chimmeny on each
: sides
: of the house.
:
: The house is located at the corners of
: UTICA PLACE AND LA DOVA WAY
: NEAR BALD HILL STREAM PARK
: