It is a long 1+1⁄2-story, nine-bay frame building, covered with wide, beaded clapboard siding and wood shingle roof, overlooking the Patuxent River.

Opened to the public in 1961, it was once the home of George Plater (1735–1792), the sixth Governor of Maryland, and Herbert L. Satterlee (1863–1947), a New York business lawyer and son-in-law of J.P.

[1] Sotterley was declared a National Historic Landmark in 2000, its national significance due to the extremely rare surviving elements of the main house's oldest phase, a c. 1717 post in ground structure, and the other elements of its later historical architecture and landscape.

Visitors can tour the early 18th-century mansion, an original slave cabin, a customs warehouse, smokehouse, necessary and corn crib, as well as a formal Colonial Revival garden.

The property comprises 95 acres (380,000 m2) of rolling fields, gardens, and riverfront.