Rose Hill (Port Tobacco, Maryland)


Rose Hill is a historic house built in the late 18th century near Port Tobacco in Charles County, Maryland, United States. It is a five-part, Georgian-style dwelling house. It has a two-story central block with gable ends. It was restored during the mid 20th century.
Rose Hill was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1973.

Significance related to residents

It is notable for the following:
Around 1780, Dr. Gustavus Brown bought and combined four tracts of land from his neighbor; the property is now known as "Betty's Delight". Combining this land with his own, he had built the house later named Rose Hill, which was completed in about 1783.
The house has been owned by a number of families since it was built. It was restored in 1937
and more recently in the early 1970s by Charles Stuart.

Olivia Floyd

The Maryland archives appear to show that Rose Hill Farm was sold to Ignatius Semmes, but do not provide a clear account, i.e., whether it was to the elder Semmes, or the younger, and when this took place. Another Gustavus Brown is mentioned more than once in the same area, up to 1826. But the archives do show that older Semmes died in 1826, and the younger Semmes died in 1843, willing the property to his maternal uncle Holmes and paternal aunt Sarah Floyd, married to David L. Floyd, and her children.
Olivia Floyd was among the family of Sarah and David Floyd who lived at the manor. She is notable as a Confederate agent and blockade runner during the American Civil War.

The Blue Dog

Port Tobacco village, at the bottom of Rose Hill, is a town. Rose Hill Road passes a few widely scattered houses.

Gallery