If you are like me, you can’t get enough of old houses. They inspire and bring the past to the present. I was born and raised in an old house in Cape May, New Jersey – a c.1915 American foursquare originally owned by sea captain Zadoc Sharpe. Cape May, the historic city on the Atlantic, filled with amazing architectural gems, was my playground.
Our c.1915 Foursquare was originally a single-family house, then converted into a mother-daughter before my parents bought it a year before I was born in 1995. The walls were made out of horse hair plaster, contained lead-based paint, had a bat infestation of the old closed off chimney, and a basement that would flood during nor-easters and hurricanes. This was a complete fixer-upper, but had the potential to be a great home. My father constantly was fixing the house, and made it into not only a home but a loved member of our family.
“717” had so much charm, from the trap cellar door within the kitchen floor, the claw-foot tubs in the bathrooms, to the original barn and build-in cabinets within the home. There were acres of National Wildlife Refuge behind and next to our one-acre property that my siblings and I would either ride the moped around, shoot our BB gun rifles, or during hurricane season row our canvas canoe in. During the Summer months we would look out into the woods to view the lighting bugs and hear the frogs and crickets chirping. Our home was only a 10 minute ride to the ocean, and 5 minutes to the bay. There were multiple trails, and historic sites to walk around as well. I could not ask for a more wonderful place to call home.
And that is why I have such a draw to old houses. Old houses call my name, and I hope they call yours, too. Here is a sampling of recent old houses on our site that have called my name the loudest.
