Cool House of the Day

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Today's Cool House is Trevanion in Taneytown, Maryland. Dirk found it (he always finds us the coolest places) and sent it to me. Eight acres of loveliness, outbuildings, stables, even an eight-seater brick outhouse original from 1817. I experienced love-at-first sight and began scheming so we could buy it and move in right away (did you not realize we were househunting? Ha! We aren't! We plan to stay in our current house for at least three years, but we cannot seem to help ourselves . . .).

Sadly, even with a price tag of a mere $320k, I cannot figure how we would swing it, as it is currently uninhabitable, chock full of lead paint and dust, roof leaking everywhere, and has no working plumbing, electric, or anything else, really. So, I think we would need about $200k to replace everything that's broken, and it could go well over that. Oh, and did I mention that the purchase price would have to be paid in cash? Financing is not an option when the house is falling apart. Alas, I will have to love it, pure and chaste, from afar. Anyway, here it is:

You see what I mean? A huge 6500 square feet in the main house, it has held up pretty well for 200 years, I'd say. That tower part in the front was added after the house had been around for a few years. I am not sure when, though. There is a staircase that climbs to the top of it with a perfectly charming room up there, which we thought Isaac would like. There are slave quarters right behind the house with a huge fireplace, which I would convert into an outdoor kitchen. Then the outhouse is behind that, with a female side and a male side and four seats on each. Crazy, right? The house is all boarded up now, and locked down tight. Except for one door with a lock box whose code may or may not be really easy to guess for two people with a sense of adventure. We drove out just to see it and walked the property and may or may not have gained access to the inside where I may or may not have fallen even more deeply in love. Woodwork and criss-cross patterned windows and hardwood, oh my. There are a couple of sets of stairs and it is built in the old style, with no hallways, but rooms that just go one to the next. I can close my eyes and imagine Civil War soldiers tromping through with their boots on. Unbelievable. I have a moveable feast, now I have accessed this gem that seems to have been forgotten.