Landon House

The Landon House was originally constructed in 1754 on the banks of the Rappahannock River near Fredericksburg, Virginia. According to Clio and Wikipedia, the building served as a silk mill at its original Virginia site until 1846, when it was dismantled, moved by barge to Georgetown, and then up the Potomac to Point of Rocks before being reconstructed at its current location on Urbana Pike in Urbana, Maryland.

After reconstruction, the building served as the Landon Female Seminary, a school for young girls, until about 1850. It then briefly housed a military institute for young boys before reverting to a girls' seminary by the end of the 1850s.

On September 8, 1862, Confederate Major General J.E.B. Stuart — riding through Urbana ahead of the Army of Northern Virginia's Maryland Campaign — discovered Landon House (then operating as the Landon Female Academy) and decided to hold a ball that night to give his cavalry officers a break. Stuart's ball, decorated with flags and roses and with music provided by the 18th Mississippi Cavalry's regimental band, became famous as the Sabers and Roses Ball.

The ball is one of the most romanticized incidents of the Maryland Campaign, but its tone changed dramatically the following day when the Battle of South Mountain produced waves of wounded. According to the Landon House historical marker and the Clio entry, the academy was rapidly converted to a field hospital — first for Confederate wounded, then for Union wounded as Federal forces moved through Urbana — and continued in that role through the Antietam aftermath.

In 2013 the property was purchased for $850,000 by Dr. Praveen Bolarum, Dr. Rohit Khirbat, and Chakri Katepalli, who announced plans to restore the building and operate it as an event center with a bed and breakfast. Per a Frederick News-Post follow-up, those plans have been only partially realized, and the property's operating status as a regular public venue has been uncertain in recent years. The Landon House is publicly addressed as 'Frederick, MD 21704' in mailing addresses, but it is geographically located in Urbana, Maryland, an unincorporated community south of the city of Frederick.