Day is director of the Riversdale House Museum, a National Historic Landmark, owned and operated by the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission, in Riverdale Park. On Saturday, Riverdale will commemorate the Battle of Bladensburg with costumed interpreters portraying both American and British troops from the War of 1812.
How did you get into history?
I’ve always loved history. I’m from Prince George’s County. Growing up around here you can’t not be into it. There’s so much available — Mount Vernon, Civil War history the Smithsonian museums. Williamsburg, Manassas and Antietam are only a hop, skip and jump away.
What is the Riversdale House Museum?
It’s an early 19th-century house built by ?migr?s from Europe to escape the French Revolution. This was during the Reign of Terror, with imprisonment and even beheadings, and they were exporting their revolution to neighboring countries. So the Stiers, the builders of Riversdale, came here to escape the violence and, like everyone else, were looking for opportunity.
What is the Battle of Bladensburg?
During the War of 1812, British troops marched through Prince George’s County to burn Washington. The Americans’ only real resistance was at Bladensburg. The British were seasoned veterans from the Napoleonic wars, and the Americans had a problem with command and control. The Americans were rolled up, and the British burned the White House and the Capitol.
What is the encampment at Riversdale?
Rosalie [Stier Calvert] watched the battle from the second floor. In her letters to her family back home in Europe, she wrote that she saw cannon balls in mid-flight and the windows would rattle when they fired. What we think she saw were Congreve rockets, which are “the rockets’ red glare” we sing about in the National Anthem.
The battle never got its due, maybe because it was an ignominious defeat. But people drive over the battlefield each day — at Eastern Avenue and Bladensburg Road — and nobody knows it. It’s amazing.
– Scott McCabe
