From The Archives

Historic Estate Home

Nestled on Bay Street in charming Downtown Berlin, this 4 bedroom, 1 full bath and one half bath home awaits your loving restoration. Known as the Ashmead House, this home and its historic outbuildings are listed with the Maryland Historical Trust. Please see the attached Historic Trust Inventory Form for many details on the home and outbuildings, one of which was a former slaves quarters, according to the seller. Boasting an incredible floorplan, this home’s charm is absolutely inspiring – from the painted cabinetry in the large kitchen to the wide front porch to the beautiful yard with mature landscaping. Walking distance to such Berlin landmarks as the Atlantic Hotel and The Globe. City water and sewer. Heated with oil and a furnace replaced in late 1997.

From the Maryland Historic Trust Inventory Page

The Ashmead house, situated on the north side of Bay Street is a gable-roofed wood frame dwelling built in two sections. The front and principle section is 2,-story, gable-fronted, two by two bay, situated on a poured concrete foundation. Its size, roofline and fenestration are markedly similar to the Walker house, a probable Federal house adjacent on the west. Behind this lies a 1,-story, four by four bay section atop a block foundation.
The principle facade facing south features a flat-roofed verandah with half walls and flat-sided columns above. The entrance is in the right bay and contains a door with ten large glass panes arranged in a decorative pattern. The remaining bay is a double 3/1 window. Windows throughout the house are 3/1 except for a small single sash marking stairway on the west side and notably, the small 2/2 pair of windows in the gable end. These windows and surround molding are identical to the Walker house. On the gable side, the cornice is boxed with a beaded edge, and a frieze board with additional molding lies adjacent.
The interior of this house, as well as much of the exterior, is early 20th century in origin. The stairs are located on the west side, the entrance in the east bay so that no side hall floor plan is evident. Upstairs, however, there are two doors having six raised panels with molding similar if not identical to doors existing in documented Federal Berlin houses. In addition a door to the attic is beaded shiplap with a iron latch with brass knob; again, known to Federal Berlin houses.
The rear section, built atop a concrete foundation is of early 20th century origin.
To the rear of the house, two gable-roofed, wood shingle and frame, outbuildings are situated. Both appear to rest on the ground. The larger, whose only opening is a wide shiplap door with imposing strap hinges, has a loft whose joists extend through the exterior wall. The inside is floored and walls covered with horizontally placed white washed boards. The smaller second building has window openings in the gable ends, decorative end boards and a shiplap door with strap hinges and iron hook closure. The gable sides have a deep boxed cornice overhang.
The site of the Ashmead house on a street known to be the east/west road through Berlin In the 19th century as well as being located adjacent to the Walker house, together with the physical evidence of Federal details and early outbuildings, makes this property of great interest in the investigation of early 19th century Berlin. In the Sanborn maps of 1897 and 190~ the property is shown with the location of the outbuildings on the east side of the house.

The historic outbuildings on the lot of 9 Bay Street, Berlin, MD consist of two, one-room frame structures. The structures appear to date earlier than the dwelling house on the lot-- a third quarter of the nineteenth century, two-story, gable-fronted structure-but they are aligned \with the house, with the lot lines and with a concrete block garage dating to the second quarter of the twentieth century.
This conflict of date and orientation suggest that the structures are not in their original location.
The first structure sits closer to the house and is a 10' 3" by 10' 4" one-story, frame-building set on concrete piers. The materials and construction of the structure suggest that it was built in the second quarter of the 19th century and thus the concrete piers cannot be the original foundation; the building was either moved to this location or it was given a new foundation in situ. Given its size, construction and date, the structure was most likely a slave house or quarter. The south elevation of the building has a doorway offset to the east; the west gable end has one window offset to the north; the north side features a window on line with the doorway; the east gable end is blank. There is evidence of white wash or paint on the exterior.
The walls of the quarter are covered with cypress shingles measuring 4"-6" wide by 2' 2" long with an 11" - l' exposure and secured with mature cut nails. The walls lack comer boards, but feature rake boards in the gable. The framing of the lower walls was inaccessible, but the sash-sawn gable studs measure 3" by 3 ~". The rafters are also sash-sawn, measuring 3" by 4", half-lapped and pegged at the ridge. They sit upon a board false 1" by 10" board false plate at a pitch of 47 degrees.
The main or south side of the quarter has a doorway set toward the east end. The door is of board-and-batten construction, consisting of 5 boards (the largest of which is 10" wide), secured to two 16" wide battens, beveled all around. The door is hung with two wrought-iron strap hinges, 2' 2" long and is secured with an iron latch and staple. The door opening is finished with a plain board architrave which is face nailed. The west gable end has a 2' by 3' foot window opening boarded over on the exterior. The window framing is wire nailed indicating that it is not original. There is not sash. The north wall features an original l' 9' square window that contains a 4 light fixed sash.
The interior of the walls of the quarter is sheathed with circular sawn boards that are cut nailed. Window and door architraves are all plain boards. The floor is also of boards. The two, sash-sawn tie beams are exposed and measure 2 3/t" by 7 3/t". They appear to have been tarred or painted black, but the coloration does not appear to be the darkening associated with a smokehouse. The interior pitch of the quarter is 6' 1 31J" to the bottom of the tie beams.
The garret is floored by sash-sawn boards, with widths ranging from 14" to 8". I n the southwest comer of the room an unframed opening for a stair is cut through the floor boards; the original size of the opening is unclear due to the presence of some replacement boards. There is a ghost of a ladder stair along the front wall, ascending from the west comer at an angle of 73 degrees. A circular hole for a stove chimney is cut through the garret floor at the center point of the west gable wall; terracotta stove pipe remains in place. A square opening apparently for a chimney is cut through the roof above the stovepipe.
The second building, a 6' 4" x 8' 3 'li" frame, one-story structure with a side-gable roof sits about ten feet to the east of the quarter.
Like the adjacent quarter, this structure was set on concrete piers, indicating that it was either moved here or was given new piers in place. The south facade features a center door; single window pierce the east and west gable ends; the north side has no openings. The walls are sheathed with cypress shingles measuring l' 6