VIRTUAL Free Landmark Lecture: Bound by Fortune and Fortitude: The Calverts of Riversdale and Peters of Tudor Place by Kristi Gross, Education Assistant & Researcher at Riversdale House Museum
In June 1803, Rosalie Stier Calvert of Riversdale wrote of her niece, Martha Custis Peter: “Mrs Peeter [Peter] was with me [at my husband’s plantation]… which was a diversion, and making exertions to amuse her lifted my spirits.” Rosalie, a Flemish aristocrat who married Martha’s maternal uncle, was a friend, rival, and keen observer of the mistress of Tudor Place.
This lecture by Kristi Gross, Education Assistant & Researcher at Riversdale House Museum, will examine the connections between the Calverts of Riversdale and the Peters of Tudor Place. Archival letters and images will illuminate a relationship that linked the high society of Georgetown and Maryland. Martha was born only two months after her “Aunt Calvert,” and these documents reveal a rich portrait of nineteenth-century feminine gentility, spiced with tongue-in-cheek commentary from witty Rosalie. Explore how two families navigated both international and intimate crises, including the War of 1812 and Rosalie’s death at age 42, with her devoted niece Martha at her bedside.
You will be sent a link to Zoom with instructions, meeting ID and password via email one day before the event.
Browse and register for the entire fall Landmark Lecture series here.