The Cottage is an excellent example of a 19th century Prince George's County plantation. The plantation house itself is one of the best surviving examples of a side-hall-and-double-parlor plan dwelling in Prince George's County; it exhibits typical Greek Revival style interior trim and distinctive Italianate cornice brackets. The Cottage plantation, developed in the 1840s for Charles Claggett at the time of his marriage, represents a large and successful 19th century plantation of a prominent local family; the plantation house is one of six surviving frame dwellings in the Marlborough area which were built or acquired for the heirs of Thomas Clagett VI of Weston. Its unique profile and prominent location make it an outstanding visual landmark on the old road between Washington, D.C. and the county seat. The resource is also important for association with Charles Clagett (1819-1894), a prominent member of Upper Marlboro social and political society during the second half of the 19th century. In addition to serving on the Vestry of Trinity Church and on the building committee for the new courthouse (1881), he was president of the company which constructed the Washington-Marlborough Turnpike after the Civil War, and served for 20 years as a judge of the County Orphans Court being elevated to Chief Judge in 1882. He also served as a county commissioner following the Civil War. - Maryland's Historical Trust