Education at Sotterley
Education is at the heart of Historic Sotterley. We seek to research, interpret, develop interactive materials, and execute programs that facilitate discovery and learning about the land, history and cultures, and environment of Sotterley, connecting relevance to our lives today. Today, Historic Sotterley serves as a resource to numerous students and teachers.
“Historic Sotterley is a living history, a continuum of more than 300 years of life that provides students an opportunity to step back in time.”
Historic Sotterley’s Maryland State Department of Education approved educational programs are interdisciplinary, focusing on environment, social studies and history. Our hands-on activities allow learning to come alive, and our landscape and authentic structures give a reality to the concepts being taught in classrooms.
Each year over 2,500 children take part in our programs.
Sotterley partners with the St. Mary’s County Public Schools STEAM Academy to host STEAM education programs at its site, providing students with opportunities to learn concepts introduced in the classroom in a more exciting way, through sensory learning.
Interested in learning more, reach out to our Interpretative Programs Manager Katherine Humphries on edteam@sotterley.org
Cultural & Heritage Events and Programs
Each year, we offer events, webinars, lectures and programs as part of our mission to provide educational and cultural resources to our community.
Exhibits
For those who prefer to explore on their own, we have four award-winning historical exhibits which are open on days when the Visitor Center is open and included in your Grounds pass.
Middle Passage Marker
Learn about 165 years of the history of slavery, the legacy of systemic racism, and why Historic Sotterley is proud to be a UNESCO Site of Memory for the Routes of the Enslaved, Middle Passage Ceremonies and Port Markers Project site, and a partner in the Return Passage Initiative.
Land, Lives, & Labor
Learn what life at Sotterley was for those that lived and labored at Sotterley from the 17th century through the 20th century.
Slave Dwelling
Nothing is as powerful as experiencing the reality of our Slave Dwelling for itself. The award-winning exhibit offers a window into the lives of the enslaved in the decades before the Civil War.
Saving History: The Urgency of Preservation
This exhibit features the story of Resurrection Manor and why saving our irreplaceable historic resources is so important.
K-12 Field Trips & Education Programs
Our MSDE approved educational programs for students K-12 allow learning to come alive, and our landscape and authentic structures give a reality to the concepts being taught in classrooms.
Living on the Patuxent
This program is designed to give students a historical overview of life along the Patuxent River. Students learn how early colonists used the natural resources available for the settlement of the region and how it shaped social and economic activity in the 1700’s.
Slavery to Freedom
Learn what the life of an American enslaved family was like and who lived and labored at Sotterley Plantation during the Civil War Era.
Tidewater Plantation Life
Be immersed in the daily lives of children on a Plantation using hands-on activities that illustrate work, games, education, clothing, behavior, and food using the backdrop of Sotterley's outbuildings and gardens. Students will also complete a Colonial craft to take home.
Virtual Field Trips
Join us on a 2 part Virtual Field Trip to the Historic Sotterley Schoolhouse.
Pricing for Field Trips
Groups under 20 students:
- $175 flat rate for group
Group with 20+ students:
- $9 per student in and out of county
- $6 per student for Title 1 schools