Calvert Memorial Park
In 2025 the Riversdale Historical Society took a significant step to assure that its mission and goals continue to be met, and to provide for perpetual care of the Calvert Family Cemetery and Memorial Park. The mission of RHS states that the Society is “[D]edicated to the preservation, protection and presentation of the Riversdale House Museum and Gardens, and the Calvert Family Cemetery …”
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To ensure that protection, RHS has conveyed ownership of the Calvert Family Cemetery and Memorial Park to the University of Maryland College Park Foundation, established in 2000 as a 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation to receive, hold, invest and manage assets given in support of the University of Maryland, College Park.
The Calvert Family Cemetery and Memorial Park comprise one acre located less than one mile from Riversdale in the center of Riverdale Park, with ornamental shrubs, trees and the fenced gravesite that is the final resting place of George and Rosalie Calvert, Charles Benedict Calvert, and several of their children, with all burials between 1809 and 1864.
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To read more about who is interred at the cemetery, click here.
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RHS has owned the Cemetery and Park since 1968, when the State Roads Commission of Maryland sold the Park to The Historical Committee of Riverdale, the predecessor of the Society. The property was subsequently sold by The Historical Committee of Riverdale to RHS in August 1987.
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For over 50 years, the Society has preserved the cemetery, following accepted preservation standards and has maintained the Memorial Park around the cemetery for a place of public relaxation and enjoyment. In 2018, the Paint Branch Garden Club (PBGC) adopted the Park as a philanthropic community project. Since then, their members have given over three thousand hours of volunteer work, beautifying, restoring, and maintaining the Park. In 2021, the Boy Scouts of Troop 249, working with PBGC, installed a brick outline in the lawn, marking the location of the Riverdale Presbyterian Church which stood on that site from 1897 to 1950. To read more about the church, click here.
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RHS President Patrick Gossett, said, “The University of Maryland was founded in 1856 by Charles Benedict (“CB”) Calvert, and the close connection between Riversdale and the University made the University of Maryland College Park Foundation (UMCPF) the perfect next caretaker of CB’s legacy and his family cemetery.
“We began discussions with the Foundation over a year ago,” said Gossett, “and have recently executed the documents to ensure that the Cemetery and Park will receive the perpetual care they deserve.”
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To that end, in addition to the transfer of ownership, the Society has created an endowment to assure proper upkeep and signed a Memorandum of Understanding outlining the proper maintenance of the Park and the Cemetery. RHS retains full access to the Cemetery for educational programs and historical research.
In an email after the documents were recorded with the County, Jeremy Kugel, Vice President, CFO and Treasurer of the Foundation, wrote:
“I am pleased to say that the Foundation today received the recorded deeds and this generous gift of real estate is now formally complete. It's been a long road and I am grateful for the support we received from many areas across campus. But most importantly, I am grateful to RHS for this uniquely valuable gift - a true piece of UMD history that is now ours to steward for generations to come. It is a privilege. Truly a team effort, and I think a lovely result. Go Terps!”
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RHS Vice President Howard Menaker summed up the transfer by saying “Through these measures, RHS has not only honored the past, but also prepared for the future.”
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