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Bladensburg Dueling Grounds

Bladensburg, MarylandDuelingGeography of Prince George's County, MarylandHistory of the United States Congress
Stephen Decatur3
Stephen Decatur3

Bladensburg Dueling Grounds is a small spit of land, a fraction of its original size, along Dueling Creek, formerly in the town of Bladensburg, Maryland, and now within the town of Colmar Manor, just to the northeast of Washington, D.C., United States. Dueling Creek, formerly known as '"Blood Run" and "The Dark and Bloody Grounds", is a tributary of the Anacostia River, which was formerly, called the East Branch Potomac River. From 1808 the grove witnessed approximately fifty duels by gentlemen, military officers, and politicians, settling "affairs of honor". A formalized set of rules and etiquette, the code duello was usually enforced by the duelers and their seconds. The exact number of duels and the names of all the participants who fought at Bladensburg may never be known because surviving records are obscure, the events are not well documented - and dueling was illegal. Following the Civil War, dueling fell out of favor as a means of settling personal grievances and declined rapidly; the last known duel was fought here in 1868.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Bladensburg Dueling Grounds (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

Bladensburg Dueling Grounds
Anacostia River Trail,

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N 38.925166666667 ° E -76.940388888889 °
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Anacostia River Trail

Anacostia River Trail
20710
Maryland, United States
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Bostwick (Bladensburg, Maryland)
Bostwick (Bladensburg, Maryland)

Bostwick is a historic home located a short distance below Lowndes Hill, the present-day property of Bladensburg Elementary School in Bladensburg, Prince George's County, Maryland, United States. According to its date plaque, it was built in 1746 by Christopher Lowndes (1713-1785). The house was later the home of Lowndes’ son-in-law, Benjamin Stoddert (1751-1813), first Secretary of the Navy. Colonel Thomas H. Barclay (Tory in the American Revolution; brother-in-law of Lt. Colonel Beverly Robinson; first British consul appointed in New York after the peace of 1783; British agent for prisoners of war in War of 1812) resided at "Bostwick," the oldest surviving structure at Bladensburg. Located nearby is the Market Master's House, also built by Lowndes. Bostwick is a 2+1⁄2-story brick structure laid up in Flemish bond. A basement and ground level lies under the entire house. The gable roof, with dormer windows, is slightly belled at the eaves. The main (west) facade is five bays with a central doorway. A one-story porch extends across the front, and the pedimented central bay of the porch projects forward. "C.L. 1746" in wrought lead painted black is embedded high in the south chimney. Also on the south side is a distinctive buttress added about 1800 by Stoddert, who was concerned about a crack in the wall on that side of the house. At the base of the buttress are two dungeons or cells. A gable-roofed common bond brick detached kitchen stands northeast of the house. Southeast of the house are several 19th century outbuildings and a barn.Bostwick was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1975. The house suffered damage to the north chimney and roof in the August 2011 east coast earthquake. In 2012, Preservation Maryland placed Bostwick on its list of threatened historic properties.

William Hilleary House (Bladensburg, Maryland)
William Hilleary House (Bladensburg, Maryland)

The William Hilleary House, or Hilleary-Magruder House, is a historic home located at Bladensburg in Prince George's County, Maryland, United States. The house is the only 18th-century stone, gambrel-roofed house in Prince George's County. It is now surrounded to the south and west by an exit ramp connecting Kenilworth Avenue with Annapolis Road.It was built between 1742 and 1764 by William Hilleary. The house passed through a number of 18th-century owners, including Richard Henderson. Henderson was a prominent merchant and land speculator, who served as a County Justice and was well known for his "paper wars" in local newspapers. George Washington's diary, May 9, 1787, states that he dined at Richard Henderson's in Bladensburgh. Henderson sold the property in 1793 to Major David Ross, son of the surgeon and merchant Dr. David Ross who had died in 1777–8 ?, as well as business partner of Henderson's in the Frederick Forge on Antietam Creek. Ross' father, Dr. David Ross, was the "Agent Victualer" for the Maryland troops during the French and Indian war. Father Dr. David Ross owned the famed "Ross Home", which was often referred to as the old brick hospital. In August 1814, the Ross Home was used for a hospital during the Battle of Bladensburg of the War of 1812. Dr. Ross was an original inhabitant of Bladensburg, had served as a Town Commissioner, and from 1750 to 1759 had been a Justice of the County Court. The William Hilleary House was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1978. In 1979 Prince George's Heritage, Inc., took on the ownership and restoration of the Hilleary-Magruder House.

Market Master's House (Bladensburg, Maryland)
Market Master's House (Bladensburg, Maryland)

The Market Master's House is an 18th-century vernacular Colonial-era stone dwelling with 20th-century additions, set at the rear of a long, narrow lot in Bladensburg, Prince George's County, Maryland. It was constructed c. 1765, when Bladensburg was an active tobacco shipping port.The Market Master's House is significant for its association with the 18th century development of the town of Bladensburg. Lot 38 of Bladensburg was purchased by Christopher Lowndes, who built nearby Bostwick, on September 23, 1760. The use of the Market Master's House as a headquarters for tobacco inspectors or an overseer of tobacco marketing activity has not been proven, and no description of an approved Market Master has been found for the town of Bladensburg. However, the Market Master's House is one of only four buildings remaining from this significant period of the town's history.The original block is a two-by-one bay, gable-roofed, 25 × 20 foot structure, 11⁄2 stories, of randomly laid roughly shaped non-native stone. The stone is thought to have been brought to the site originally as ship ballast, therefore it is also known as the Ship's Ballast House. It contains one room on the first story, a corner stair, and one room on the second story. A small two-story west kitchen addition and one-story south shed-roofed addition were added about 1920, with later additions and renovations completed in 1956. In May - June 2009, the Maryland State Highway Administration and the Center for Heritage Resource Studies (CHRS) at the University of Maryland, College Park sponsored archeological digs at the site.It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1990.