A 1920s estate on St. Helena Island, a Severn River getaway with a colorful history as an illicit gambling den and party spot, has sold ahead of the auction scheduled for this week.

Brad Kappel, the listing agent, said the 7-acre estate sold for $2.8 million.

He had advertised plans to auction the property Wednesday if no buyer came forward. That led to a wave of publicity about the chance to own the mansion house, guest cottage, office space and pier on the only habitable island in the Severn River.

“The auction created the exposure for this listing that led to a buyer coming forward and making an offer that the seller couldn’t refuse,” he said.

Kappel said the buyer was a local family, but he declined to identify them.

The estate occupies about half of the island in the middle of Round Bay, just off the shores of Crownsville in Anne Arundel County.

Built in the 1920s by Paul M. Burnett, chairman of the board of the Monumental Life Insurance Company, the mansion was modeled on Baltimore’s famous Homewood House.

Burnett sold the island in the 1940s to Eugene J.C. Raney, of Montgomery County, a beer distributor, firefighter and owner of bowling alleys.

In the summer of 1951, Anne Arundel County Police raided the island and found Raney and partners operating an illegal gambling den.

The island has been owned by a judge, a prominent lawyer and a real estate tycoon. In the 1990s, shoreside neighbors fought a plan by the company Fantasy Island Management Inc. to turn the island into a wedding and party venue.

David Clickner, a wood-floor wholesaler in Glen Burnie, was the most recent owner. In 2019, he bought the mansion and half of the island for $2.37 million, according to state tax records.