Oxon Cove Park and Oxon Hill Farm

Historic district in Maryland, United States

Oxon Cove Park and Oxon Hill Farm
IUCN category V (protected landscape/seascape)
Map of the United StatesShow map of the United StatesOxon Cove Park and Oxon Hill Farm (Maryland)Show map of Maryland
Location	Prince George's County, Maryland, US
Nearest city	Oxon Hill, Maryland
Coordinates	38°48′17″N 77°00′43″W / 38.8046°N 77.01182°W / 38.8046; -77.01182
Established	1959
Governing body	National Park Service


Oxon Cove Park
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
U.S. Historic district

Oxon Hill Farm, December 2010
Location	Government Farm Rd., Oxon Hill, Maryland
Area	289 acres (117 ha)
Architectural style	Italianate, et al.
NRHP reference No.	03000869
Added to NRHP	September 02, 2003

Oxon Cove Park and Oxon Cove Farm is a national historic district that includes a living farm museum operated by the National Park Service, and located at Oxon Hill, Prince George's County, Maryland. It is part of National Capital Parks-East. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2003.

The park provides an excellent resource for environmental studies, wildlife observing, fishing, and other recreational activities made possible by easy access to the Potomac River. Fourteen buildings and two structures are located in the historic district and associated with the property's sequential development as a plantation, an institutional agricultural complex, and a farm museum.

History

Oxon Cove Park was formed in 1967 when the land was transferred to the National Park Service for educational purposes, before that it moved through several owners.

Before European settlers arrived, the Piscataway Indian people were farming land along the Potomac River in the area. From the late 17th century to the early 19th century, the farm was owned by John Addison and his descendants who grew tobacco, oats and corn on the land using enslaved people to do so. Part of the estate was known as Oxon Hill Manor at the time. In the early 19th century, Dr. Samuel DeButts, a native of Ireland bought part of the Addison property and renamed it Mount Welby in honor of his wife's family and he held onto the land until 1843. During the rest of the 19th century the land changed hands many times until the federal government bought it, and an adjoining 100 acres, in 1891 as a farm to provide food for patients at nearby St. Elizabeths Hospital. Farming ended in the 1950s and the land was then transferred to the NPS in 1967. For some time it was known as the Oxon Hill Children's Farm.

In the 1990s the Park service built a 3.9 mile paved trail around the park and connected to DC via a bridge across Oxon Creek built in the 1980s.

Oxon Hill Farm

The Oxon Hill Farm includes the Mount Welby home, Farm Museum, barns, a stable, feed building, livestock buildings and a visitor activity barn. Farm animals include cows, horses and chickens. Visitors can view the animals up close daily and learn about the workings of a farm. The Farm Museum building displays historical farm equipment dating from the late 19th century.

The district also includes a hexagonal frame outbuilding; c. 1830 brick root cellar; c. 1973 frame hog house; c. 1890 frame horse and pony barn; c. 1991 frame chicken house; c. 1970 steel-frame implement shed; c. 1980 frame visitor barn; c. 1970 steel-frame windmill; c. 1940 frame hay barn; c. 1890 frame feed building; c. 1830 brick stable; c. 1970 frame tool shed; c. 1980 frame "sorghum sirip" shed; and a c. 1980 frame dairy barn, and c. 1940 tile silo. From the 1890s to 1950s, under the ownership of St. Elizabeth's Hospital, the site was used as a therapeutic treatment center for the mentally ill known as Godding Croft. The Oxon Cove Farm historic district is located on the crest of a ridge overlooking the Potomac River, north of I-95 and very close to National Harbor.

Mount Welby

The principal dwelling, known as "Mount Welby," is a c. 1807–1811 two-story three-bay brick structure laid in Flemish bond with Italianate detailing and sheltered by a shed roof, and visible to motorists crossing the interstate Woodrow Wilson Bridge. The house was built by Irish immigrant Dr. Samuel DeButts. It was entrusted to the National Park Service in 1959 in order to protect its resources from increased development. From 1891 to 1950, the property was used as a therapeutic farm by St. Elizabeths Hospital, and was known as Godding Croft.

The house is operated as a historic house museum, with exhibits about period life in the early 19th century for the owners and slaves on the plantation. Other exhibits focus on the home's role at Godding Croft.

Gallery

NPS Official "Oxon Hill Farm / Oxon Cove Park Fall View," November 2008
Mt. Welby and Root Cellar, December 2010
Mt. Welby, December 2010

References

^ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. March 13, 2009.
"Oxon Cove Park and Oxon Hill Farm". The historical marker Database. Retrieved June 12, 2023.
Hodge, Paul (January 14, 1993). "New Bike Trail Within Va. Riders' Reach". The Washington Post.
Kathryn Kuranda; Hugh McAloon & Michelle Moran (September 1994). "National Register of Historic Places Registration: Oxon Cove Farm" (PDF). Maryland Historical Trust. Retrieved January 1, 2016.
Oxon Cove Park: History & Culture

External links

National Park Service, National Capital Parks - East, Oxon Cove Park and Oxon Hill Farm website
Oxon Cove Farm, Prince George's County, Inventory No.: PG:76A-13, including photo in 1988, at Maryland Historical Trust website
M-NCPPC Inventory of Historic Sites (Prince George's County); Mount Welby, entry 76A-013, p. 118
The Historical Marker Database, Oxon Cove Park and Oxon Hill Farm entry

Protected areas of Maryland

Federal

National battlefields	Antietam Monocacy
National historical parks	Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad
National historic sites	Clara Barton Hampton Thomas Stone
National monuments	Fort McHenry National Monument and Historic Shrine
National marine sanctuaries	Mallows Bay–Potomac River
National seashores	Assateague Island
National Park Service parks	Catoctin Mountain Fort Foote Fort Washington Glen Echo Greenbelt Harmony Hall Oxon Cove and Oxon Hill Farm Piscataway
National wildlife refuges	Blackwater Eastern Neck Glenn Martin Patuxent Research Susquehanna River
National historic and scenic trails	Appalachian Captain John Smith Chesapeake Potomac Heritage Star-Spangled Banner
Other protected areas	Chesapeake Bay Gateways Network Chesapeake Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve

State

State parks	Assateague Big Run Bill Burton Fishing Pier Calvert Cliffs Canal Place Casselman River Bridge Chapel Point Cunningham Falls Dans Mountain Deep Creek Lake Elk Neck Fort Frederick Fort Tonoloway Gambrill Gathland Greenbrier Greenwell Gunpowder Falls Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad Hart-Miller Island Herrington Manor Janes Island Martinak Matapeake New Germany North Point Palmer Patapsco Valley Patuxent River Pocomoke River Point Lookout Purse Rocks Rocky Gap Rosaryville Sandy Point Seneca Creek Smallwood South Mountain St. Clement's Island St. Mary's River Susquehanna Swallow Falls Tuckahoe Washington Monument Wye Oak
State forests	Cedarville Chesapeake Doncaster Elk Neck Garrett Green Ridge Mount Nebo Pocomoke Potomac Savage River Seth Stoney Wicomico
Wildlife management areas	Avondale Belle Grove Billmeyer Bodkin Island Bowen Cedar Island Cedar Point Cheltenham Chicamuxen Chicone Creek Cunningham Swamp Dan's Mountain Deal Island Devil Island Area Dierssen E.A. Vaughn Earleville Ellis Bay Fairmount Fishing Bay Fort Hill Globe Com Gravel Hill Swamp Grove Farm Gwynnbrook Heater's Island Hopkins Branch Hugg-Thomas Idylwild Indian Springs Islands of the Potomac Isle of Wight Johnson Kent Island Research Center Le Compte Linkwood Little Patuxent Oxbow Maryland Marine Properties McIntosh Run McKee-Beshers Millington Mt. Nebo Myrtle Grove Nanjemoy Nanjemoy Creek Nanticoke River Old Bohemia Parker's Creek Pocomoke River Pocomoke Sound Prather's Neck Ridenour Swamp Riverside Sideling Hill Sinepuxent Bay South Marsh Island Strider Tar Bay Taylors Island Warrior Mountain Wellington Wetipquin
Natural environment areas	Belt Woods Mattawoman Morgan Run Severn Run Soldiers Delight Youghiogheny Scenic & Wild River Zekiah Swamp

County and
municipal

Parks and sanctuaries

Non-
governmental

Parks and sanctuaries	Battle Creek Cypress Swamp Conservation and Environmental Research Areas of UMBC Merkle Wildlife Sanctuary and Visitor's Center Mount Pleasant Farm Center Sherwood Gardens Somers Cove Marina Sugarloaf Mountain University of Maryland Arboretum & Botanical Garden Western Maryland Rail Trail Youghiogheny Scenic & Wild River
Nature centers	List

v t e Hiking trails in Washington, D.C.
Anacostia Tributaries Archbold Bolling AFB Bikeway Capital Crescent C&O Canal Dalecarlia Tunnel East Coast Greenway Fort Circle Kingman Island Massachusetts-39th Marvin Gaye Trail Melvin C. Hazen Metropolitan Branch Mount Vernon Oxon Hill Farm Potomac Heritage Rock Creek Theodore Roosevelt Island Whitehaven

v t e U.S. National Register of Historic Places in Maryland
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