Montgomery Parks staff will discuss schematic plans next week for an interpretative museum planned for Josiah Henson Park in North Bethesda.
The project would rehabilitate the existing Riley/Bolten House and log kitchen on the former plantation (11420 Old Georgetown Rd.) into exhibits that would share the life of Rev. Josiah Henson, who lived on the property as a slave before escaping to Canada.
Henson is the inspiration for Harriet Beecher Stowe’s “Uncle Tom’s Cabin,” the landmark anti-slavery novel published in 1852.
The county bought the property for $1 million in 2006. The log cabin on the site, once known as Uncle Tom’s Cabin Special Park, was discovered to have been built after Henson left the plantation, causing some controversy.
But Montgomery Parks said they would have bought the property with that knowledge as it still is historic.
The review of design plans for the museum project is scheduled for 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. in the cafeteria of nearby Tilden Middle School (11211 Old Georgetown Rd., Rockville.) For more information, visit the Parks’ project page.
Flickr photo by lreed76
