The Gables

Capt. Fisher, made rich by the turn-of-the century menhaden fishery, aligned the roof of the five-story mansion along his compass. He erected the wooden mast of his beloved schooner, the "John B. Adams" that sailed the Atlantic, through the top two stories, and stacked the 10-inch walls of brick brought south from Baltimore.

Building the Gables took eight years because what was built one day, Capt. Fisher was likely to have torn down and rebuilt the next. A local historian, Miriam Haynie writes, "Finally, it was finished and stood in all its gabled Queen Anne glory -- with a fountain in front, a coach house on the side and a handsome wrought-iron fence to enclose it all." The Fishers moved into their new home in 1914.

The brick arcadia wraps around three sides of the house with double doors opening into marble floored vestibules at each end of the wide center hall. The grand quarter- sawn oak staircase with hand carved “waves of the sea” and original parquet “sunrise” landings, sweeps up to the third floor. Opposite the stairwell are the antique filled parlors separated by massive oak pocket doors. Across from them is the formal dining room with its exquisite Venetian chandelier.

On the second floor, French doors open into the marble floored vestibules leading to the wicker filled sun porches on each end of the center hall. There are three bedrooms, one of which is now used as office space by the owners. The other two along with the sun porches, the large Cyprus floored bath, and an additional bath on the 3rd floor are dedicated to the B&B.

The third floor was the Captain’s billiard room. It is an octagonal room with the main cabin mast from the ship as the center support. It runs from the 3rd floor through the 4th floor and the massive slate roof is hung from the top of the mast on the compass rose. Small bell shaped rooms finished in double planking tongue and groove wood are located off the billiard room on the cardinal points of the compass. A number of artifacts were found in the house including a pool cue, wooden bridge and pool ball polish. This room is a common room with television, bumper pool table, an antique player grand piano, organ and sofa’s to relax and read, view TV, or visit. The fourth floor is a virtual museum area, essentially unchanged since the Captain had it built. The mast continues to the top of the roof. The walls are all varnished double planking tongue and groove. All of the construction is mortise and tenon and was done by shipwrights. It is truly an architectural treasure. We hope you will visit and we can share it with you!