The Riley/Bolten House, a historic structure in the Josiah Henson Special Park in North Bethesda, has been added to the National Park Service’s registry of historic places.
Built between 1800 and 1815, the house once stood at the center of a 260-acre farm where Rev. Josiah Henson lived and worked as a slave from 1795 to 1830. Henson escaped through the Underground Railroad, and his life story later served as the inspiration for Harriet Beecher Stowe’s “Uncle Tom’s Cabin.”
The house has been sold and modified several times, including the addition of a log kitchen in 1850, and had a major renovation in the 1930s.
“The Riley/Bolten House is the only remaining structure associated in the United States with the Reverend Henson and, as such, is a critical piece of our African American history,” said Shirl Spicer, museum manager for the Montgomery Parks.
In 2006, the house was sold to the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission. As a result, it is now open to public tours and programs. In 2009, the M-NCPPC received a $100,000 grant to preserve the house.
