An Antebellum Fix-Up Project

In a long historical narrative that Brinckloe wrote about the house, he says, "The preservation, restoration, and embellishment of Gwynn Park Manor was a product of the diligence of the Prince George's County Historic Preservation Commission -- notably its staffer Howard Berger -- and the imagination of Steven Athey."

The house "is a rare surviving example in Prince George's County of a mid-nineteenth century brick plantation house," according to its historic-designation paperwork. "The only comparable dwelling in [the] county is Connicks Folly," built in the same year, about eight miles southeast.

But Gwynn Park "is distinguished by a particularly fine decorative molded brick cornice" and "is the only surviving building in [the] county" of this type.

The land originally was part of the holdings of a Col. Thomas B. Gwynn, the county says. His son, William H. Gwynn, married Christiana Summers and built a house there in 1857. It burned that same year, and a new, grander one was built on the site. The original meat house survived the fire and is part of the property being sold.

"It was in this handsome house that [the Gwynns] raised their eleven children," the Gwynn Park Manor designation says. The home was the "center of much social activity in the Brandywine area" until the Civil War, when Gwynn, like many other local planters, went broke. He sold the house and 510 acres to J. Eli Huntt. The property remained in the possession of Huntt's heirs until 1986. Dyson Road is named after the family into which Huntt's daughter, Susie Huntt Dyson, married.

Brinckloe said the history is more colorful than that; he maintains that Gwynn Park Manor was a Confederate "safe house" during the Civil War and that "spying and battles were planned here." An Andrew Jackson Gwynn, he said, founded the Maryland Brigade in 1862 to fight the Union. He also said he thinks that John Wilkes Booth "probably did stop by here" in his journey through the county after he assassinated Abraham Lincoln.

Howard Berger, the county's planner coordinator for historic preservation, said he can't vouch for anything but the documentation submitted for the historic-site registration. The house is one of 300 individual buildings in the county with the designation. But Berger said: "A person sensitive to the character of this historic house would likely really appreciate the opportunity to live there. It's quite a large house."

But, unfortunately, with only one bathroom.

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