In the early 1700’s The 3rd Baron Baltimore granted William Wilson roughly 10,000 acres of what was once known as poplar springs. Wilson renamed the area “Baltimore Manor” described as between the Eastern Branch (Anacostia river) and the Patuxent River. At that time the land was dense forest occupied by the Conoy people of the Algonquian Tribe. One road ran through the area from Georgetown to Annapolis near what is present day Sheriff Road. The Wilson’s established a tobacco farm on the property and prospered from the 1770’s all the way until the Civil war. The Land between Baltimore Manor and the Garrisons Landing (Port of Bladensburg) remained without owner or deed for many years. The land left over was renamed Landover, which is where the present day name comes from.
On August 5, 1741 782 acres of the “Land left Over” was granted to James Beall by Maryland’s Governor for his service in the British Navy, the land was called Beall’s Pleasure. James Beall died before getting a chance to develop the land and his son Ninian sold it to Benjamin Stoddard who was the first secretary of the US Navy. Stoddard built a house in 1795 along the Bladensburg-Marlboro Turnpike (Landover Road). Today the plantation house still stands off of 75th Ave on Beale’s Court.