February 2004

• Our Harbour Homes--different, diverse and even distinctive - by Ben Blankenship
  
  
  
  Finally in February, an Aquia Harbour home got featured in the Free Lance-Star's popular House and Home section that runs on Fridays. The series by Richard Amrhine picks out a home, usually awfully upscale or awfully historic, and tells all about it and something about its community.
  
  The one he picked here isn't exactly representative of what Aquia Harbour has to offer. At an advertised price of $899,900 it's a bit pricey, wouldn't you agree? But like most others nowadays, it's likely to get sold lickety split.
  
  Boaters will recognize the property as the place on the hill opposite Government Island that, before being built in 1997, had huge amounts of concrete poured to form terraces down toward creekside and an expanse of lilypads.? And if you ever find your way to the tail end of Aquia Drive, you will have passed by the home's prominence on the right side, perched at 3615 Aquia Drive.
  
  The home has seven bedrooms in over 6,500 square feet. Marilyn Love can tell you all about it, assuming she hasn't already sold it.
  
  The newspaper story got me to thinking of other homes in the Harbour I have thought to be unusually distinctive over the years. I hadn't thought of that one before it was featured in the paper.
  
  Another one on the same side of the street, though, and just a bit further toward the end of Aquia Drive, has long been a favorite of mine--the Pattersons' at 3707. That's class.
  
  They've lived there for years after deserting our beloved first section. That oldest section, and the one nearest my heart, is where some of my early choice properties to covet were built.
  
  First in mind was the Talley house off Washington Drive. You know it as the Christmas place where the Browns try to outdo themselves each year, and succeed. It had one of the first permanent swimming pools in the Harbour, if I recall correctly.
  
  Two others in the first section really stand out. One that everyone knows as Crown Manor on Potomac Drive is said to have cost a million bucks to build. I can believe it; I watched it go up. Brickwork outside and woodwork inside the Quinns' home are truly exceptional.
  
  Another house I observed under construction turned out to be probably one of builder Dick Coleman's very best. The Minchins' contemporary at the end of Washington Drive next to the marina affords a gorgeous view of Aquia Creek downstream.
  
  Back off the shoreline and up in the hills, a new home by Harbour builder Steve Henry is sited beautifully on Blackbeard and now occupied by the Fugetts. According to visitor Lynette Bell, another Henry new-home owner here, "The Fugetts' kitchen is to die for."
  
  A charming oldtimer in the second section, the house that Aquia developer Bill Roth and family built at 2035 Midshipmen Drive, is an English tudor on one floor and a big lot.
  
  Near the top of the third section, with an expansive view of the Harbour's hills below, lies the custom brick home of the Spagnolis at 3255 Titanic. The interior layout is terrific and the dinners delicious.
  
  Other places that make our community memorable for its diversity include the unique property at the corner of Aquia Drive and John Paul Jones. It's the one with a driveway smack in the middle of the house.? Another is the Morrisons'? fantastic rose display? just over the bridge into section two on Aquia Drive. Another is the formal garden look the Singers have long had on continuous, meticulous display at 1101 Spain Drive. There's also that place with a yard full of glorious azaleas...but I digress.
  
  One thing is for certain. Our homes are certainly increasing in value. Concrete evidence is in the reassessment notices being sent out by the county for tax purposes. Ouch. The average is said to be higher than two years ago (the last time reassessment occurred) by 34 percent countywide.
  
  Meanwhile, In the fourth quarter of 2003, prices here continued upward. For example, I recorded 27 homes as being sold in the Harbour with prices averaging $275 thousand.That compares with 42 homes sold in 2002's fourth quarter averaging $245 thousand.