Fran Kline, Kelly Horne, Jackie Balish, and Tom McLaughlin dig for artifacts on the grounds of the Josiah Henson Park during Montgomery County Heritage Days last weekend. Photo by Deb Stevens.
Josiah Henson Park is the former plantation property where the Rev. Josiah Henson was enslaved from 1795-1830. The park was one of several venues highlighted by last weekend’s Montgomery County Heritage Days.
Henson’s 1849 autobiography, “The Life of Josiah Henson, Formerly a Slave,” inspired Harriet Beecher Stowe’s novel, “Uncle Tom’s Cabin.” The park is currently open only during a limited number of dates each season. All events are free and open to the public.
According to the Montgomery Parks’ website, the Josiah Henson Park is part of the National Park Service National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom program.
Ongoing archaeological excavations seek to find where Henson may have lived on the site. Henson’s quarters, described by him in his autobiography as a “log hut,” and part of a “village of log huts” were located somewhere on the plantation grounds.
The house in the park that stands is the slave-owning family’s house, the Riley House, dating from 1800-1815. It is also known as the Riley/Bolten House for its later owners as well, and is listed as such on the National Register of Historic Places. The Boltens altered the house to give it a Colonial Revival appearance and put on a rear addition between 1936-1939.
The Josiah Henson Park had been in private ownership for its entire history, until it was acquired by the Montgomery County Department of Parks, part of the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission in January 2006.