Pre-revolutionary historic home moves locations
A local entity and local farm owner are breathing new life into a pre-revolutionary war home. The Waddy House, constructed in the mid-18th century, has been unoccupied for the past two decades.
After 250 years, the historic Waddy House in Princess Anne is sitting on wheels, waiting to settle into it's new home after making the move on Thursday.
It's all part of an effort to save the pre-revolutionary war structure.
"When this opportunity came along to preserve this house they couldn't stand by and just let it be torn down. So these buildings are cultural landmarks that mark the passage of time," said Paul Touart, a local architectural historian.
The price tag just to move this structure a quarter mile down the road was $60,000. Those funds were raised by the Somerset County Historical Trust, in collaboration with Daryl Insley.
Insley told us he has many memories of the home from his childhood.
"As a kid I always liked this house and I knew Mr. Waddy, who was during my generation who owned the house. And I've always said I'd love to have the house, and literally now I have the house."
Insley's farm is the new permanent home for this historic brick house. And now that the house is sitting on Insley's land, the next step will be reconstructing the home's foundation using the original bricks from its original lot.
"It's basically we're inheriting a pretty sound shell of a house. So you could imagine we've got roof, we've got dormers, we've got architectural things we're trying to preserve. We've got a lot of brick work, chimney work, and the list goes on and on," said Insley.
The Waddy House was named to the National Register of Historic Places in 1988, and the hope is this restoration project can protect that title. This is all part of Somerset county historical trust's work to preserve local history.
"So these are distinctive architectural traditions that distinguish this area and are important to preserve in this area to educate those that are living now, those that are coming in the future," said Touart.
Insley tells us when the renovations are complete the plan is more than likely to make the Waddy House into a private residence, but Insley adds that it could also be used for functions as well.
