Bethesda house named national historic site

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.” In 2006, the house was sold to the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission. It is now open to public tours and programs. – Rachel Baye