Prince George’s County Maryland Herbs, Tea, and the Arts Festival
On a late April Saturday, the grounds of Montpelier House Museum in Laurel fill with the scent of fresh herbs, the murmur of garden talk, and the soft clink of teacups. Stalls spill across the lawn between the museum and the arts center, musicians play under the trees, and visitors wander from plant tables to painting displays with a scone in hand. That is the Montpelier Festival of Herbs, Tea, and the Arts, a spring gathering that has drawn plant lovers, tea drinkers, and art lovers to the same historic grounds for well over a decade. The sheet title for this article, Prince George’s County Maryland Herbs, Tea, and the Arts Festival, drops the Montpelier element and is never printed exactly in the layers read, so this article uses the published name wherever the event itself is named. The day runs from ten in the morning to four in the afternoon.
About the Festival
The Montpelier Festival of Herbs, Tea, and the Arts is a one-day spring celebration of three linked pleasures: growing things, drinking tea, and making art. It takes place on the grounds shared by Montpelier House Museum and Montpelier Arts Center in Laurel, Maryland, and it is put on by those two institutions working under the county parks department, which lists the festival among the events of the Montpelier site. Local vendors set up beside the museum, live music drifts across the lawn, gardening talks and workshops run through the day, and museum tours open the old mansion. Plant and herb sales give visitors something living to carry home, and a Picnic Tea Box, ordered in advance, arrives with finger sandwiches, pastries, and a scone.
The festival is a modest, friendly affair rather than a sprawling fair, and its pleasures are quiet ones: the smell of basil and lavender at a plant table, a lecture on garden design, a watercolour in the arts center, a cup of tea under the trees. The most recent dated edition fell on Saturday the twenty-fifth of April in twenty twenty-six, and the festival was already running by two thousand eight, when a tea-magazine events calendar listed it for Saturday the third of May of that year.
Quick Facts
| Detail | Information |
| Published name | Montpelier Festival of Herbs, Tea, and the Arts |
| Sheet title | Prince George’s County Maryland Herbs, Tea, and the Arts Festival |
| Host town | Laurel, Maryland |
| County seat | Upper Marlboro, not Laurel |
| Venue | Montpelier House Museum and Montpelier Arts Center, Laurel |
| Organisers | Montpelier Arts Center and Montpelier House Museum, under the county parks department |
| Latest dated edition | Saturday the twenty-fifth of April in twenty twenty-six, ten in the morning to four in the afternoon |
| Earliest dated edition | Saturday the third of May in two thousand eight, ten in the morning to four in the afternoon |
| Admission | Free |
| Signature offering | Picnic Tea Box by advance order, with finger sandwiches, pastries, and a scone |
History
No founding year for the festival is stated in the layers read, and none is derived here. What the record does give is a long paper trail. The earliest dated edition pinned down in the layers read is Saturday the third of May in two thousand eight, when a tea-magazine events calendar listed the festival from ten in the morning to four in the afternoon. That listing proves the gathering was already established by the spring of two thousand eight. A county government bulletin layer records a Saturday the twenty-sixth of April edition without stating its year, and since the twenty twenty-six edition fell on the twenty-fifth of April, that edition must belong to an earlier year, though the layers read do not say which one. A county tourism blog layer gives April the twenty-seventh with no year stated, and this article leaves that mention undated.
The most recent dated edition is Saturday the twenty-fifth of April in twenty twenty-six, from ten in the morning to four in the afternoon, and it is the best documented of the editions, with a county tourism layer, a county newspaper layer, and a regional family-events layer agreeing on the date and the hours. The published forms are Montpelier Festival of Herbs, Tea, and the Arts and Annual Montpelier Festival of Herbs, Tea, and the Arts, carried here unmerged, exactly as printed. The sheet title drops the Montpelier element and is never printed exactly.
For a useful comparison, see the Prince George’s County Maryland Celebrate Africa Festival for another county festival.
The Montpelier mansion is a pre-Federal era house dating to about seventeen eighty-one to seventeen eighty-five. That is the history of the house, not a festival founding, and the two should never be merged. The festival is a modern celebration held on historic ground, and its own story begins, as far as the layers read can show, sometime before the spring of two thousand eight and continues through the spring of twenty twenty-six.
What to Expect
A visit to the Montpelier Festival of Herbs, Tea, and the Arts begins with the grounds themselves. The lawns between the museum and the arts center hold the stalls, and the day unfolds at a walking pace. Local vendors sell plants and herbs alongside handmade goods, and the plant tables are among the busiest corners, with visitors comparing pots of basil, rosemary, lavender, and mint before choosing what to carry home. Gardeners can sit in on gardening talks and workshops, or attend lectures on art and gardening that run through the day. Live music plays across the grounds, and museum tours open the mansion to visitors who want to step inside the old house.
Food at the festival centres on tea. The Picnic Tea Box, ordered in advance, comes with finger sandwiches, pastries, and a scone, and it is the natural centrepiece of a slow lunch on the lawn. County tourism layers describe the box as the festival’s signature offering, and ordering ahead is the way to be sure of one. Beyond the tea box, the day is shaped by browsing: stalls to wander, talks to drop into, and the arts center to explore. The festival’s character is gentle and unhurried, with no rides and no loud midway, and the crowds are the kind that linger at a stall to ask a grower how to keep a plant alive through a Maryland summer.
Planning Your Visit
April in Laurel can be warm or cool, so dress for a day on a lawn. Comfortable shoes matter more than anything else, because the ground is grass and the day involves a good deal of walking between the museum, the arts center, and the stalls. A light layer helps in the cool morning, and a hat is worth bringing if the sun comes out by midday. Entry is free of charge, so there is no ticket to buy at the gate, but the Picnic Tea Box must be ordered in advance. A county government bulletin layer and a regional family-events layer both confirm that entry is free, so the only spending to plan for is whatever you choose to buy from the vendors.
Arrive in the morning to get the full day, since the festival runs from ten in the morning to four in the afternoon. The museum tours and the arts center are worth building into the day rather than treating as an afterthought, and the plant tables are at their fullest early, before the most popular herbs sell out. Bring a bag for plants, and leave room in the afternoon for a slow wander back through the vendors you passed in the morning.
A Sample Itinerary
Arrive at ten in the morning, when the festival opens, and start at the plant tables while the selection is at its fullest. Spend the first hour browsing the vendors and choosing herbs to carry home. By late morning, settle in for a gardening talk or a lecture on art and gardening. Around midday, collect your Picnic Tea Box and find a spot on the grass for a slow lunch of finger sandwiches, pastries, and a scone. After lunch, take a museum tour through the mansion, then wander through the arts center to see what the artists have on display. Spend the middle of the afternoon revisiting the stalls you liked best in the morning, and take one last slow circuit of the grounds before the four o’clock close.
How It Compares
Two other Maryland events touch on the same themes without being the same gathering, and keeping them apart matters. The Chesapeake Herb Gathering in Jefferson, Frederick County, is a different event in a different county, and it should not be confused with the Montpelier festival even though both celebrate herbs. The layers read treat it as a separate gathering entirely. The CreativiTea tea-painting event in Sykesville is different again, a single creative session built around tea and painting rather than a full day festival with vendors, talks, and tours. A visitor looking for a day among herb growers and tea drinkers will find the Montpelier festival the fuller of the three, and it is also the only one of the three tied to a historic house and its grounds.
Within Prince George’s County, the festival stands apart from the county’s larger fairs by its scale and its focus, and its programme of gardening talks, museum tours, and art lectures would be out of place at a midway. Its closest cousins are the county’s other garden and arts gatherings, and among those it is distinguished by the Picnic Tea Box and by the pairing of a historic house museum with a working arts center on the same grounds.
Checklist
- Order a Picnic Tea Box in advance if you want one
- Wear comfortable shoes for grass and a full day of walking
- Bring a light layer for the cool morning air
- Carry a bag for plants and herbs bought at the stalls
- Bring a hat and water for a sunny April afternoon
- Plan to arrive near ten in the morning for the fullest plant selection
- Set aside time for a museum tour and a visit to the arts center
- Leave room in the afternoon for a second wander through the vendors
Beyond the Festival
Laurel rewards a visitor who stays a little longer than the festival itself. The town sits in Prince George’s County, and the Montpelier grounds are its most historic corner, with the mansion’s pre-Federal era rooms and the arts center’s exhibitions offering a full day even apart from the festival. A visitor who has spent the morning among the herb stalls can spend the afternoon walking the grounds and taking in the setting that gives the festival its character. The house dates to about seventeen eighty-one to seventeen eighty-five, and its rooms make the festival’s setting part of its appeal. Upper Marlboro, the county seat, is the natural next stop for a visitor interested in the county’s civic history. The festival is a spring event, and the county in April is at its greenest, so a longer stay in the season is an easy choice for anyone who has come for the herbs and the tea.
Why It Matters
The Montpelier Festival of Herbs, Tea, and the Arts matters because it keeps three quiet arts in the same place on the same day. Growing herbs, pouring tea, and making art are all domestic pleasures, and the festival treats them as worthy of a public celebration rather than as private hobbies. Its free entry opens the day to anyone, and its setting on the grounds of a historic house museum gives those pleasures a dignity they would not have elsewhere. The festival has been running since at least two thousand eight, and its persistence across nearly two decades speaks to a community that values it enough to keep coming back each spring. For Laurel, it is a day when the Montpelier grounds fill with people who care about plants, tea, and art, and that gathering is itself the point.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why does the festival carry two different names?
The event’s published name is Montpelier Festival of Herbs, Tea, and the Arts, and it is also printed as Annual Montpelier Festival of Herbs, Tea, and the Arts. The sheet title, Prince George’s County Maryland Herbs, Tea, and the Arts Festival, drops the Montpelier element and is never printed exactly in the layers read. This article uses the published name for the event itself.
What comes inside a Picnic Tea Box?
A Picnic Tea Box comes with finger sandwiches, pastries, and a scone, and it is ordered in advance. County tourism layers describe it as the festival’s signature offering, and ordering ahead is the way to be sure of one.
Can I buy plants and herbs at the festival?
Yes. Plant and herb sales are part of the programme, and the stalls carry potted herbs and plants for visitors to take home. Arriving in the morning gives the fullest selection before the most popular herbs sell out.
Is Laurel the county seat?
No. Laurel is the host town, but the Prince George’s County seat is Upper Marlboro, as a state archives reference layer confirms. The festival belongs to Laurel and to the Montpelier grounds, and the distinction is worth knowing for anyone planning a wider visit to the county.
What to Expect From the Next Prince George’s County Maryland Herbs, Tea, and the Arts Festival
How often is Prince George’s County Maryland Herbs, Tea, and the Arts Festival held?
The festival is a spring event, and the dated editions in the layers read fall in late April and early May. The most recent dated edition fell on Saturday the twenty-fifth of April in twenty twenty-six, and an earlier edition fell on Saturday the third of May in two thousand eight. Visitors should look for it in that season.
When is the next Prince George’s County Maryland Herbs, Tea, and the Arts Festival?
The most recent dated edition in the record is Saturday the twenty-fifth of April in twenty twenty-six, and the record gives no date beyond it. A visitor planning ahead should watch the Montpelier House Museum and Montpelier Arts Center for the next spring listing.
Will the dates change?
The festival has fallen on different spring Saturdays across the editions in the record, from the third of May in two thousand eight to the twenty-fifth of April in twenty twenty-six, so the exact Saturday moves from year to year. Check the current listing rather than assuming the same date will repeat.
Closing
The Montpelier Festival of Herbs, Tea, and the Arts is a small spring day with a large heart. It brings herbs, tea, and art together on the grounds of a historic house in Laurel, it charges nothing at the gate, and it has been doing so since at least two thousand eight. Come for the plants, stay for the tea, and leave with a scone in hand and something green in a pot.
