The Mount Aventine manor house, constructed in two phases in 1840 and 1860, is one of Charles County’s most important antebellum houses. The 1840 portion of the structure, designed as a “side passage” house, includes a kitchen wing constructed of cut stone, unique in homes of this period in southern Maryland. In 1860 the house was expanded to the center hall design you see today. The house and viewshed were listed on the National Registry of Historic Places in 1996 (www.nps.gov/nr/). The property is notable for being one of the few Potomac River plantations essentially retaining its original patent boundaries. The house is situated on a high terrace and commands a broad vista of farm fields and the Potomac River. The view across the Potomac to the Virginia shoreline is undoubtedly one of the most beautiful in the area. Mount Aventine’s commanding site led to its use as a signal point for Federal troops during the Civil War.

 

Patented in 1673 to Luke Gardner, the plantation was purchased in 1751 by Nathaniel Chapman, a wealthy Virginia planter. Members of the Chapman family lived on the property until the early twentieth century. The Chapman family had extensive ties to many prominent Virginians, including George Mason of Gunston Hall (www.GunstonHall.org.) and to the family of George Washington. In addition to the plantation operations, Mount Aventine boasted several commercial enterprises based on the Potomac. From the time of the Revolutionary War, Chapman’s Landing was one of several important ferry crossings connecting Virginia and Maryland. By the 1840’s, the Chapman family ferry boat business had expanded to include a steamboat wharf and served traffic from Washington, Annapolis and Baltimore. The Potomac River fishery at Chapman’s Point began as early as 1740 and operated into the twentieth century.