A historic inn on a river near Maryland’s Eastern Shore started life as a modest manor house. So did a home in a similar riverside setting about 30 miles away. Imagination and love link the two properties in ways only design mavens may truly understand.
Let’s start with the inn, specifically the Inn at Perry Cabin, built around 1815 and named for Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry by the owner, who had served as the naval commander’s aide-de-camp during the 1812 war with America’s British cousins.
When the underling retired in the village of Saint Michaels, he built a manor home and dedicated a wing to his former boss, designing rooms to resemble the cabin Perry occupied on the wooden-hulled brig USS Niagara. Over the years, the home passed through several hands on its journey from a six-bedroom guesthouse to the laid-back luxury of an 82-room hotel given five stars in the Forbes Travel Guide.
Cut to another property with a similar trajectory, minus the hotel part. The property at 141 River Run in Queenstown held a modest brick ranch-style rambler home built around 50 years ago that was nicely renovated, rebuilt and expanded about a decade ago. The five-bedroom home with a private pier on the Wye River, with its dormer windows and peaked roofs, resembles the inn. As does the setting.
It turned out to be exactly what the property’s current owner wanted. She had fallen in love with the relaxed vibe at Perry Cabin’s gardens and waterfront location.
So, in the same way the original manor home duplicated Perry’s shipboard quarters, the owner set out to duplicate the look and feel of the inn. The goal? To create a comfortable, inviting home designed to be all about family.
Because the house sits on a 3-plus acre lot surrounded by protected wetlands – a natural privacy barrier – landscaping and outdoor spaces would be vital to recreating the inn’s vibe. Patios and decking, as well as porches with pergolas, were added. Bushes, perennials and about 500 trees – including a mature crepe myrtle and a sugar maple – were planted. The boat dock, accessing some 700 feet of shoreline, was rebuilt. (It’s rare to have a dock on the river because of subsequent setback laws.)
The renovation also added a saltwater swimming pool, vegetable garden, fire pit and outdoor sauna room. The garage was turned into an indoor-outdoor bar with a game room – a place that exemplifies summers on the bay, filled with kids and dogs, friends and family.
Inside, walls were taken down to create an open plan to connect the great room, kitchen and dining area. Like the inn, light floods into the high-ceilinged rooms and views of the water abound. The dual en-suite attached to the primary bedroom was reimagined and fitted with doors leading out to an outdoor terrace. Bathers using the shower enjoy views of the river.
“We tried to replicate the charm and lushness of the gardens, at the same time respecting the natural beauty of the river and surrounding nature. I wanted it to be true to the Eastern Shore,” says the owner, who asked not to be identified.
During summers at the house, she and her family caught crabs off the dock, boated out to Saint Michaels, watched the river turn pink at sunset, and tracked eagles and osprey wheeling overhead.
Now the owner is ready to move on to somewhere new and has put the house up for sale. “It’s not in the having of things,” she says, but “in the creating of things,” that brings her joy.
The Queenstown house would be well suited for buyers from a metro area, maybe New York City, Philadelphia or Washington, D.C., who want a waterfront retreat for family gatherings.
The owner’s next project? Building a Zen forest house of glass and natural wood and stones. Think waterfalls and forest landscape, and designing another duplicate infused with comfort and beauty.
