The name derives from a 7000-acre grant by Lord Baltimore in 1703. Although the present house, known as Poplar Hill for many years, may date from the latter part of the 18th century, it was believed to have been built about 1728 for Anne Talbot, niece of the 14th Earl of Shrewsbury, upon her marriage to Henry Darnall III, attorney general of Maryland from 1744 to 1756. Robert Darnall, a justice of Prince George's County, lived here about 1770 to 1803. From 1821 to 1853 it was the home of Robert D. Sewall, a member of the county's levy court.