George Washington slept here. He really did. Washington was a good friend of the builder of Tulip Hill, Samuel Galloway, and visited often during the 1770s. Tulip Hill is a Georgian-style house (actually built during the Georgian era) near Galesville, Maryland. The 8,000 square foot house sits on an 93 acre waterfront property on the West River.

Tulip Hill got started when Samuel Galloway bought the 260 acre Poplar Knowle property in 1755. He renamed it Tulip Hill for the tulip poplars that grew on the property. Samuel built the gorgeous Georgian-style house for his wife, Ann, but she died before the house was completed in 1762. Unfortunately, the identity of the architect is unknown. Samuel Galloway grew and exported tobacco at Tulip Hill and also traded in slaves imported from Africa and other indentured servants. He was also a major ship owner and owned more than 30 ships and a nearby shipyard. Samuel passed away in 1785 leaving Tulip Hill to his son, John. John Galloway expanded the house by adding the matching wings and connecting hyphens creating the classic five-part Georgian house that exists today.

Tulip Hill stayed in the Galloway family until 1896. It was then sold to Alexis du Pont Parker, a railroad executive from Denver, CO. During the Parker ownership, the house was all but abandoned and became known to local teenagers as a place to party. In 1918, house was purchased by Henry Flather, a Washington D.C. banker and his wife, May, who was very active in building up the Girl Scouts during the early years of the organization. The Flathers are credited with extensively restoring the house and grounds after decades of neglect. Tulip Hill was then purchased in late 1948 by Lewis Andrews, a British military officer who had been a POW during the Second World War, and his wife, Hope. After Lewis’ death in 1990, the estate was bought by Morgan Wayson, a local contractor, and his wife, Janet. The Waysons put Tulip Hill on the market in 2004 for $4.9 million and it was eventually sold by auction in 2011 for $2.5 million. The trail of ownership grows cold after that and there is local speculation about the identity of the owner and what they plan to do with Tulip Hill but it is private property and not open to the public.