Historic Long Meadows property for sale for $1.25 million

Authority on historic architecture in Washington County: 'We need a new steward for this house'

August 02, 2012|By DON AINES | dona@herald-mail.com

Kevin G. Gilbert/Chief Photographer

The house has some age to it, but its various owners have made a lot of additions and improvements over the past three centuries, and it can be someone’s property for just under $1.25 million.

In about 1739, Col. Thomas Cresap built a one-room stone cottage on 400 acres, naming the property Long Meadows. The manor, now owned by retired Washington County Circuit Judge Daniel Moylan and his wife, Mary, is on the market through Gary Gestson of Long & Foster Real Estate and the Historic Homes Marketing Group.

Moylan could not say for sure that Cresap’s original stone house is part of the structure he purchased in 1975, but its stone section dates to the 18th century.

Cresap originally had several hundred acres when he moved here, but the current property is a fraction of that, Moylan said.

While they made improvements to the house, such as the Greek revival porch, Moylan said those changes were in character with the different parts of the house, which evolved during three or more distinct historic periods.

“It’s an important property. It’s on the National Register” of Historic Places, said Patricia Schooley, an authority on historic architecture in Washington County.

A historic property is at its greatest risk when changing hands, Schooley said.

“We need a new steward for this house ... We need someone who will love it and care for it,” she said.

“She’s exactly right,” said Gestson, a certified historic properties specialist who has been involved in the sale of other historic properties, including Rockland and Tulip Hill. “The purchaser of a property like this is going to understand the virtues and benefits” of a historic home, he said.

“It’s my hope when the place is sold that someone gets it who appreciates its history” and will serve as its steward for many years to come, Moylan said.

The manor has eight bedrooms, 11 fireplaces, two full and two half bathrooms, a tennis court, swimming pool and outbuildings on more than four acres on Marsh Pike, Moylan said. The last major addition was made in 1908, when a wood-frame section was replaced with a brick addition.

“A History of Washington County, Maryland,” published in 1906, states that Cresap knew George Washington during Gen. Edward Braddock’s campaign in the French and Indian War.

Cresap was an interesting figure in his own right, having earned the moniker “The Monster of Maryland” during a border dispute with the Pennsylvania colony, Schooley said. The conflict in the 1730s was known as “Cresap’s War.”

“He was just kind of a general bad boy,” Schooley said. “He picked fights. He won them. He was a frontiersman.”

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