The Mansion at Sotterley

The mansion of Sotterley is on a small hill. The mansion was first owned by James Bowles and was then sold to the Plater family. The Plater family lived in the mansion for four generations. The mansion may look odd, because of the way the house was built. The mansion is this way because it started out small, but as the family got more wealthy, they added on extra rooms over the years. The mansion is long, but not tall like many of the mansions we see in pictures, or in real life. This style of house is called a telescope house. The original house was only a two room house. The mansion has many windows because in colonial times, that was the only way for the house to stay cool. Off to the side there is a brick building with a dirt and gravel road leading up to it. This building is the kitchen, and is placed like this so that if a fire started in the kitchen, the house would be safe and not burned to ashes. Over to the back of the house was a strategically placed outhouse, built separately from the mansion. The outhouse was placed so that it was not directly next to the main house. They did not want the smells from the outhouse to enter the main house while James Bowles or the Plater family was hosting a party, having an elegant dinner, or just living their lives.

After the owner of the mansion died, an inventory was taken of all of the belongings. "Taking an inventory" is when a list all of the things the person previously owned is made and the list is separated into categories and heading like the list below. They took the names of all the things and priced them according to their value. The items were expensive because the family who owned them was very wealthy, meaning that they owned many valuable objects. Some things on the inventory that Mr. Bowles, his wife, and their children owned were a few pieces of golden jewelry, a big grandfather clock, and a elegant set of chairs with a big table. As you can see from the pictures below, almost all the furniture that the Plater family owned was very elegant and expensive.

Interesting Facts about the Mansion

The Sotterley mansion has a big living room, dining room and much more living quarters and rooms. All three owners added rooms and even fancier furniture for their time in history. The house itself was very large as you can see in the pictures below. Upstairs there are four bedrooms, one dressing room, and one sitting area. The mansion was and is still a huge part of Sotterley’s history and how Sotterley is today.

The mansion has beautiful furniture from the 1600, 1700, 1800, and 1900s. There is a wooden table with glass goblets and a fancy rug. Also, there was no air conditioning in the mansion.

This mansion is a special mansion because it was one of the first mansions in Maryland. Go enjoy the wonders by visiting the mansion at Sotterley!

Did you Know...

• Did you know the Mansion has been remodeled 3 times and when it was first built it wasn’t sturdy?
• Did you know the Mansion was just a really, really big house?
• Did you know the kitchen wasn’t even connected to the Mansion?
• Did you know that the Mansion had an outhouse (which is the bathroom)?
• Did you know that the Mansion had furniture like we have today?
• Did you know that the Mansion looks new but it is really old?
• Did you know that the Mansion has a beautiful red roof?
• Did you know artifacts have been found around the Mansion?
• Did you know that James Bowles owned the Sotterley Plantation and claimed the land to build the Mansion in 1699? He purchased 2000 acres of land on the Patuxent River.
• Did you know that the Mansion has 5 windows on the front of it?
• Did you know by 1703, James Bowles had built the first two room plantation house on his property and later added a third room in 1720?
• Did you know the Mansion was where James Bowles lived?
• Did you know the Mansion has a good view of the fields so they can see the slaves and make sure they are working?
• Did you know that the Mansions crest looks like a shield?
• Did you know that the Mansion has 4 chimneys?
• Did you know the people at Sotterley have the floor plans for the Mansion?
• Did you know the Mansion was built right by the slave cabin?
• Did you know that from the back of the Mansion you can see the Triangular Trade Route?
• Did you know that the Mansion is much better looking now, so it looks new, but it is very old?
• Did you know that after Sotterley found the Mansion they fixed it and made it better?