South elevation of Dr. Gustavus Brown's Rose Hill on Rose Hill Road, vicinity of Port Tobacco, Charles County, Maryland. Built late 18th Century, restored 1937. Photograph by Thomas T. Waterman, 1940, for the
Historic American Buildings Survey
Around 1780, Dr. Gustavus Brown bought and combined four tracts of land[4][5] 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.[6][7]
The house has been owned by a number of families since it was built. It was restored in 1937[8]
and more recently in the early 1970s by Charles Stuart.[9][10][11]
Olivia Floyd
The Maryland archives appear to show that Rose Hill Farm (with the manor) was sold to Ignatius Semmes, but do not provide a clear account, i.e., whether it was to the elder Semmes (born 1773[12]), or the younger (born 1821[13]), and when this took place (from 1804 to the early 1820s). 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 (Semmes) Floyd, married to David I. 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.[14][15][16][17] Floyd sold the property to Maryland State Senator,
Adrian Posey, in 1892.[18]
The Blue Dog
Port Tobacco village, at the bottom of Rose Hill, is a town. Rose Hill Road (which is outside Port Tobacco) passes a few widely scattered houses, most notably the home of Thomas Stone, youngest signatory of the American Declaration of Independence.
^Sister Miriam John+, OCD, Discalced Carmelite Nuns, Carmel of Port Tobacco.
"The Early Nineteenth Century Burials at Mount Carmel, Maryland". Archived from
the original on 2007-07-13. Retrieved 2007-10-19.{{
cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (
link)
File modified October 7, 2000. It lists dates on gravestones 1778-1826 and 1821-1843 for the elder and younger Ignatius Semmes. See external link to St. Ignatius Church which shows worn gravestones (1773 may be read as 1778).
^"Rose Hill". The Historical Marker Database. June 17, 2007.