Experience History at Riversdale through unique hands-on activities focused on holiday traditions worldwide. This session will dive into Belgium's heritage and traditions! Perfect for ages 6 to 12, children 10 and under need a chaperone. No more than two adults per family. $10 for children only!
Ticket Price: $10
Walk-through history during this annual evening Open House. During your candlelit tour of the museum, you'll learn about the stories of those who lived and worked in the mansion. Live music will fill the halls, and the Riversdale Kitchen Guild will be baking holiday treats in the dependency kitchen!
Ticket Price: $5
Holiday Treats: Join the Riversdale Kitchen Guild over the open hearth as they highlight holiday beverages and treats-themed recipes using 19th century techniques.
Join Riversdale House Museum this winter to get your Hands-On History! Experience History at Riversdale through unique hands-on activities focused on Holiday Traditions around the world. This session will dive into the beginnings of New Years and its heritage and traditions at Riversdale! Perfect for ages 6 to 12, children 10 and…
Ticket Price: $10
This former 19th-century Maryland plantation site offers over 200 years of diverse stories to tell. The interpretation of this National Historic Landmark is shaped by the private and public records that give a glimpse into the lives of the enslaved individuals, such as Adam Francis Plummer, who were forced to labor at Riversdale, as well as the Stier and Calvert families. We invite you to visit the historic structures, gardens, and grounds to discover all the ways history lives at Riversdale!
Join us for a guided tour of the historic house as we interpret the history of the people who lived and worked at this former plantation from the house’s construction in 1801 through Emancipation in 1864. Visitors engage in facilitated dialogue with Tour Guides while being led through rooms of the historic house and dependency buildings.
This is a one-hour guided tour. We ask that visitors arrive at the Visitor Center five to ten minutes ahead of time to get registered. Pre-reservation or walk-ins are welcome.
Group tours can be scheduled outside of normal tour hours and should be reserved one month in advance. Contact the office for scheduling, group tour rates, and additional details.
If you are looking for a space where your pets can explore, play, and train off-leash, visit Waggertail Dog Park in Riverdale Park.
Your Riversdale Historical Society membership makes it possible to continue to raise funds for the restoration of the house, new interpretive projects, and support the care and preservation of the museum’s collection. Your membership is a vital source of support for Riversdale House Museum!
The Riversdale Historical Society is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that is dedicated to supporting the preservation, the protection, and the presentation of the Riversdale House Museum and Gardens, in cooperation with the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission.
Riversdale’s kitchen garden and orchard feature a variety of fruits and vegetables that are representative of the food grown to support the early 19th-century Riversdale community. A fraction of its original 4.5-acre size, today’s garden highlights original stewards of the land through an Indigenous People’s Garden, a Native Plant Garden, a Children’s Garden, and an Enslaved Laborers Garden featuring plants traditionally grown by African Americans enslaved in Maryland.
Dedicated to long-time volunteer and Riverdale Park resident Betty Gossett, the kitchen and ornamental gardens are maintained today by volunteers who work with Riversdale’s Historic Site Gardener. Learn more about volunteering in the garden.
Using produce harvested from the garden, Riversdale Kitchen Guild members demonstrate open-hearth cooking of historic recipes and foodways techniques on selected Sunday afternoons. Demonstrations are FREE and held during the museum’s operating hours from 12 noon to 3:30 pm, February through December.
Check out our Events page to find the Kitchen Guild’s next 19th-century cooking demonstration. Learn more about volunteering with the Kitchen Guild.
More information coming soon! Feel free to contact the museum to inquire more about educational programs at riversdale@pgparks.com or 301-864-0420.
Riversdale House Museum has a variety of volunteering opportunities, from transcribing Calvert family papers to working in the Riversdale gardens. Since each volunteer serves as a representative of Riversdale and M-NCPPC, volunteers are expected to follow the commission’s policies and standards. Training for each position is provided, only a willingness to learn is required!
All volunteers 15 and older must be fingerprinted and pass a background check.
Contact anna.schauermann@pgparks.com for more information.
Para Informacion en Español contacte hilda.ZepedaEsquina@pgparks.com.
Garden Aides assist with the many tasks related to maintaining the gardens and grounds surrounding Riversdale. Garden Aides plant, water, weed, and harvest in the beautiful gardens surrounding the Riversdale House, under the supervision of the Historic Site Gardener. Garden Aide opportunities are available April-November.
Tour guides engage visitors in discussions on the history of Riversdale through guided house tours. Together with visitors, guides explore the diverse history and culture of the people who lived and worked on the Riversdale plantation as well as facilitate access to the historic house, including managing visitor flow and ensuring the safety of collections. Tour Guide opportunities are available year round.
Kitchen Guild Assistants conduct live cooking demonstrations over an open hearth in our Dependency Kitchen on select Sundays each month and during special events throughout the year. The Kitchen Guild interacts with visitors by answering questions and serving as representatives of Riversdale. Kitchen Guild opportunities are available late February-December.
Collections Aides transcribe the Calvert Family Papers currently on loan to the museum. Collections Aides may also conduct research projects; contact museum staff to inquire about projects. This work is essential to preserving the history of Riversdale. Collections Aides are trained by the Riversdale Historical Society Curator of Collections. Collections Aide opportunities are available year-round. This position is remote.
Special Events Aides engage with visitors at a variety of special events and programs at Riversdale House Museum throughout the year. Assignments are varied and may include greeting visitors, setting up tables/chairs, assisting with ticket sales, providing information, or serving refreshments. Special Event Aide opportunities are available year-round.
