The neighborhood was originally settled by James Holmead, who in 1727 received a land grant from Charles Calvert, 5th Lord Baltimore, then governor of Maryland Colony. James's son Anthony inherited the land (which included the present-day Mount Pleasant, Adams Morgan, Columbia Heights, Park View, and Pleasant Plains neighborhoods) in 1750, renaming it Pleasant Plains. After the District of Columbia was created by Congress in 1791, the estate became part of Washington County, the section of the District lying between what is now Florida Avenue and the Maryland border.