Rosedale Manor House rests on a promontory that rises almost 30 feet above the Patuxent River. On a clear day the view can extend seven miles up river, two and a half miles down river, and one and a half miles across to Calvert County.

The original section of the house is said to have been built in the time of Philip Read who owned the property from 1761 to 1792. The manor house represents a major overhaul and alteration of a dwelling whose major portions date to the mid-1800’s.

Little is known of the property’s ownership between 1793 and 1846 when the land was sold to the Misses Mary and Catherine Millard in a trustee’s sale. It is assumed that the Misses Millards did not live on the property but instead used a manager to farm the land for cash crops such as tobacco.

The Misses Millards sold the farm to Dr. Constantine Neale, a nephew by marriage. He and his wife Rosa, which is likely the origin of the name Rosedale, moved onto the land in 1853 and lived there until 1865. Dr. Neale enlarged the then existing dwelling by extending it to the north-west, creating the central passage, two room plan that stands today.

Shortly after the Civil War, the Neales moved to Baltimore where Dr. Neale subsequently experienced several financial difficulties resulting in heavy mortgages being placed on Rosedale. The Bond family who owned contiguous property purchased the farm from Dr. Neale in 1884 using the land but not the buildings.

Mr. Greenwell bought Rosedale Farm from John and Mary Bond on September 20, 1941. Due to the lack of occupancy and general neglect over the years, the house and out buildings were in disrepair or ruins. After purchasing the riverfront farm, Mr. Greenwell embarked on a major renovation campaign that continued for almost fifteen years.

World War II started shortly after the Greenwell’s purchased Rosedale. For five years it was not possible to do any serious construction work because of wartime shortages of materials and labor. While they waited out the war, Philip and Mary Wallace focused on the estate’s grounds, cutting back hedgerows overgrown with honeysuckle and planting more than fifty varieties of plants, trees, and bushes.

After the war, Mr. Greenwell hired architects specializing in 18th century design to restore the house to its original colonial atmosphere. By 1954 the main portion of the restoration was completed. Original chimneys, mantels, floors and moldings of the central portion were salvaged. Wings were added to harmonize the architecture of the original portion to the additions and lend the feeling of an 18th century manor house.

The manor house is a three-part frame structure composed of a central block which is a full two-stories and gabled roof. The central portion of the house which is the original structure circa mid-1800’s is flanked by two matching one-story wings added in the 1950’s.

The main portion of the house features brick foundation walls, lapped beaded siding and wood roof shingles. The eaves are trimmed with modillion blocks and there is a large, “T”-shaped brick chimney stacks at each end of the roof ridge. The windows are designed as “six-over-nine” pane with fitted louvered blinds. The wings are set at a right angle from the main portion of the house and project forward of the front and rear to give the house an “H”-shaped plan.

All the exterior wall and roof coverings, all masonry work, and all of the trim work of both the central portion and the flanking wings are twentieth century. While the chimneys, mantels, floors and moldings of the central portion of the house are original.

The main floor room arrangement of the central portion consists of a central stairway flanked by two rooms; a dining room and library. The house is only one room deep allowing for front to back ventilation based on the building style of an era before air conditioning.

The dining room offers the focal point of two arched doorways trimmed with fluted pilasters, fretwork and keystones that flank a marble faced fireplace. The mantel original to the house features a series of narrow colonettes on both the pilasters and frieze. The room also offers bold ceiling cornice with fretwork and blind-paneled wainscoting. The ceiling cornice and wainscoting designs are repeated in the adjacent stairway.

The main stairway is narrow, turned newel design with shaped rail and straight balusters. The outside ends of the stair risers are decorated with applied reeding. The characteristically simple Federal styling of the stair balustrade and applied reading is in sharp contrast to the bold, raised paneling enclosing a small stair closet.

The woodwork in the library is more restrained with no wainscoting and a sedate marble fireplace. The mantel has simple gouge work decorations on the frieze for an elegant, simple appearance.

The two bedrooms in the upper main portion of the house have matching ceiling cornice; with matching window and door trim corresponding with the woodwork on the first floor. Each bedroom has a fireplace with marble facings and hearth, and mantels matching those of the first-floor southeast room.