Evening star., 1936-04-05
Bv John CIasen Proctor.


II Riggs mansion at Green HILL
A a or Chillum Castle Manor, to
call it by its early name, which was
until recently the home of the late
Col. E. Francis Riggs, who was assas-
sinated a little more than month
ago in Puerto Rico.
1t is a large stone building, with
massive pillars in front, and so situated
on a high elevation as to give an at
tractive view of the surrounding
country. The doors and windows of
the house were closed and ring at
the bell brought no response, while
even the little stone chapel nearby
seemed dismal and gave no indication
of having been used since Miss Cecella
Riggs was married there many years
ago to Lord George Howard of Eng
land. and their son, George Howard,
and his wife in after years made the
mansion their Summer home. But of
to the south of the mansion, in the
lowland, where the elaborate dairy
plant is located. and in the fields at
tached to the 600-acre farm, much of
which is set aside for grazing purposes,
the sheep, and particularly the cute
little lambs. were enjoying themselves
as only little lambs can. jumping and
running here and there over the in
closure, still devoid of sufficient grass
even to nibble upon.
Today. what remains of this once
vast estate lies to the east of the Ager
road, which runs from the Riggs road
at the north to the Queens Chapel
road to the south, leading to Hyatts-
vile.
Originally this was part of tract
of land patented in 1921 by William
Digges, who continued to increase his
holdings until he owned 4,483 acres.
which he consolidated into one tract
under the name Chillum Castle
Manor. An idea of its vastness may
be judged when we are told that it
once included the western part of
Bladensburg, nearly all of Takoma
Park. Rock Creek Cemetery, Brent
wood Mount Rainier, Cottage City and
Colmar Manor Later, when this prop
erty was divided into smaller tracts,
some of their former names were
either readopted or new names ap-
piled.
MAJ. GIST BLAIR, in speaking Of
AA the large tract Of land once
owned by the Digges family, says:
TO the southeast of Silver Spring
lay Wurburton, the home of the
Digges family. A part Of this manor
was known as Green HILL named
after the ancestral home Of the Digges
IN Kent County, England, where Sir
Dudley Digges lived in the reign Of
James l. And William Dudley Digges,
who resided here. has endeared him.
self to every one Of us, because he took
into his home as a guest the now
famous L'Enfant when poor and old
and without a friend but his dogs
and kept him and fed him without
cost until he died in 1925, and he
buried him in his garden-a lovely spot
he had designed and laid out near his
house"
And Maj. Blair reminds us that
he was present as guest "at Green
Hill" upon the occasion Of the re-
moval of the body of Maj. L'Enfant
to Arlington National Cemetery. and
that he was given section of the
cedar tree which grew at the head
Of the grave and whose roots passed
through it and which, no doubt, was
partially nourished by the remains
OF the distinguished engineer.
-
was once called "Warburton," it woult
but seem logical, since the estate oi
Fort Washington nearly opposite
Mount Vernon, was once so named
by the Digges family who patented
1t October 20. 1641. When the city
OF Washington was laid out. George
Digges was the proprietor of War.
burton. on the Potomac. and. accord
ing to the census of 1870. had living
with him one son over l6 years o1
age, wife and one daughter, and hat
los slaves. William. presumably hi
brother, owned % slaves and Mary
who may have been his sister-in-law
owned IS.
Parenthetically, the name 'Digges'
Is sometimes spelled "Diggs." and
when not quoting, the writer is using
what he considers the form most gen.
orally used.
Evidently the Diggeses were very
wealthy family, for, in 1790. OF the
six families of that name mentioned
In the State Of Maryland their com.
bined number of slaves was 298
which, in itself, indicates that Their
farm lands must have been consider
able to employ so much help. This
census mentions as heads Of families
George Digges, Marv Digges and Will
liam Digges of Prince Georges Coun-
ty and William Digges, William
Digges Of John and Edward Digges
OF Montgomery County and Henry
Digges Of Charles County.
The late DR.. James Dudley Morgan
q native of Washington and presi-
dent of the Columbia Historical So
ciety from 1909 to 1916, was . de-
scendant of the Digges family through
his grandmother Na Disss'' who