Discover 5 hidden attractions, cool sights, and unusual things to do in Hyattsville (United States). Don't miss out on these must-see attractions: Riversdale, Hyattsville Armory, and United States Post Office–Hyattsville Main. Also, be sure to include Harry Smith House in your itinerary.
Below, you can find the list of the most amazing places you should visit in Hyattsville (Maryland).
Table of Contents
Riversdale
Museum in Riverdale Park, Maryland. Riversdale, is a five-part, large-scale late Georgian mansion with superior Federal interior, built between 1801 and 1807. Also known as Baltimore House, Calvert Mansion or Riversdale Mansion, it is located at 4811 Riverdale Road in Riverdale Park, Maryland, and is open to the public as a museum.
Once the manor house and centerpiece of a 739-acre (2.99 km2) slave plantation, Riversdale was built for Belgian émigré Henri Joseph Stier, Baron de Stier, who lived in the William Paca House in Annapolis, Maryland immediately prior to building Riversdale. Stier planned the house in 1801 to resemble his Belgian residence, the Chateau du Mick. Four years later, Stier returned to Belgium, leaving the unfinished Riversdale to be completed by his daughter, Rosalie Stier Calvert and her husband, George Calvert, the son of Benedict Swingate Calvert, who was a natural son of The 5th Baron Baltimore. Rosalie and George Calvert's son, Charles Benedict Calvert, established the Maryland Agricultural College, now the University of Maryland, College Park, on part of the Riversdale property.
While its design has been attributed to William Thornton, this is not supported by available evidence on Thornton's career. The house is architecturally significant as a well-preserved five-part Federal mansion, and historically important for its association with the Calverts, an important Maryland family. It was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1997.[1]
Address: 4811 Riverdale Road, Hyattsville
Hyattsville Armory
Armory in Hyattsville, Maryland. The Hyattsville Armory is a historic National Guard armory built in 1918 and located in Hyattsville, Prince George's County, Maryland, United States. It was the first Armory built in Prince George's County and the fifth in Maryland. Its architect, Robert Lawrence Harris, served as State Architect under Governor Albert C. Ritchie. In this capacity, Harris supervised the design of similar armories in Salisbury, Kensington, Silver Spring, Hagerstown, Laurel, Easton, Crisfield, Pocomoke City, Centreville, and Cumberland. The structure is distinctly fortresslike and offers a commanding view of the surrounding area. The building is patterned after a medieval English castle and built of native stone, with rectangular turrets flanking the arched limestone entranceway. Carved above the entry is the State Seal of Maryland.
The Hyattsville Armory was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980.[2]
Address: 5340 Baltimore Ave, 20781-1910 Hyattsville
United States Post Office–Hyattsville Main
Building. The Hyattsville Post Office is a one-story brick building constructed over a full basement, located on Gallatin Street in Hyattsville, Prince George's County, Maryland. The Colonial Revival building consists of a central, three-bay block flanked by smaller one-bay flat-roofed pavilions. It was constructed in 1935 and remains in active use. Murals by Eugene Kingman, depicting the agricultural heritage of Prince George's County, decorate the lobby. Its design reflects the attention Hyattsville resident and Fourth Assistant Postmaster General Smith W. Purdum paid to its construction.
It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1986.[3]
Harry Smith House
Historical landmark in Riverdale Park, Maryland. The Harry Smith House is a Queen Anne-style frame dwelling, built in 1890. It stands on one of the original streets platted in the 1889 railroad suburb subdivision of Riverdale Park, Prince George's County, Maryland located northeast of Washington, D.C. The home is representative of the transition in domestic architecture between the Queen Anne style of the 1880s and the popular plan of the turn of the 20th century. Its owners were a middle class, government worker family, the Smiths, who owned it from the time when the developer sold it until the middle of the 20th century.
It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1993.[4]
West Riverdale Historic District
The West Riverdale Historic District is a national historic district located at Riverdale Park, Prince George's County, Maryland, a railroad suburb located northeast of Washington, D.C. The neighborhood was appended to the town of Riverdale Park soon after it was laid out and platted in 1906, and later enlarged in 1937. The district is defined by a modest variety of architectural styles and building types ranging from early-20th century vernacular interpretations of popular styles to diluted, suburbanized examples of revival styles that dominated the second quarter of the 20th century. These styles represent modest examples of Queen Anne, Colonial Revival, Spanish Colonial Revival, Craftsman, and Tudor Revival forms. At the center of the community is the former Eugene Leland Memorial Hospital, now known as the Crescent Cities Health and Rehabilitation Center.
It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2002.[5]