| Author | Message | ||
     crossroads Citizen Username: Crossroads Post Number: 20 Registered: 12-2001  |
I see the Timothy Ball House is for sale. Oh if I were to move back to Maplewood... | ||
| amandacat Citizen Username: Amandacat Post Number: 418 Registered: 8-2001  |
where did you see it listed? | ||
| kmk Citizen Username: Kmk Post Number: 283 Registered: 5-2001 |
There is a Rutgers painting sign outside the house - not a "For Sale" sign. | ||
| crossroads Citizen Username: Crossroads Post Number: 21 Registered: 12-2001 |
http://www.burgdorff.com | ||
| jab Citizen Username: Jab Post Number: 207 Registered: 3-2003 |
I saw the listing, too, and would love to see the inside of the house. I'm curious, are older homes such as the Timothy Ball House generally sought after? | ||
| Dave Citizen Username: Dave Post Number: 6780 Registered: 4-1998  |
Buy it. Get it filed as an historical site. Taxes go to $0. | ||
| Musetta Citizen Username: Musetta Post Number: 43 Registered: 6-2003 |
It was for sale all last Spring and Summer as well. Where is it, BTW? I'm too curious and need to drive by ;-) | ||
| Musetta Citizen Username: Musetta Post Number: 44 Registered: 6-2003 |
just had to add to my post...looked at the listing...HOLY COW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! $745,000!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Someone must have done a bit of work over the last year; that home was listed for $275,000 last Spring. Quite a nice profit. (ok - there's a CHANCE I may be wrong though - maybe not the same house?? the one last year was painted yellow and listed on gsmls as a two bedroom. It did say it was the Timothy Ball house though, and I'm guessing there are not two.) | ||
| Dave Citizen Username: Dave Post Number: 6803 Registered: 4-1998 |
It's on Ridgewood Road, near St. Lawrence Ave (close to border of S.O.). There's a stream adjacent to the property, too. The Ball family was related somehow to Washington, but who wasn't back then? | ||
| Barbara Real Name Username: Blh Post Number: 240 Registered: 5-2001 |
Musetta, There are two Ball houses in Maplewood. The one you're thinking of is on Elmwood or Parker. This is the other one. | ||
| Addy Citizen Username: Addy Post Number: 101 Registered: 12-2003  |
Maplewood has 2 Balls This is normal | ||
| bella Citizen Username: Bella Post Number: 428 Registered: 7-2001 |
If I remember correctly, the Balls were related to Washington on his mother's side. Cousins, I believe. When the house was for sale in the mid to late 80s my parents looked at it. I was so dissapointed that they didn't buy it. | ||
| galileo Citizen Username: Galileo Post Number: 129 Registered: 7-2001 |
The house was not for sale last year.The property is so pretty and back in the forties it was a restaurant called The Washington Inn. | ||
| kathy Citizen Username: Kathy Post Number: 823 Registered: 5-2001 |
Dave, Registering a property as historic does not do away with your property taxes. | ||
| jab Citizen Username: Jab Post Number: 209 Registered: 3-2003 |
I just found a pamphlet -- "A Walking Tour of Historical Maplewood" -- that I received from Burgdorff along with other local information before moving here. This pamphlet lists 18 sites, including the Aaron Ball House on Parker Avenue, the Philander Ball House on Parker Avenue, the Ezekiel Ball House on Elmwood Avenue (yellow house that was for sale last year), and the Timothy Ball House on Ridgewood Road (presently for sale). I would be happy to make a copy of this pamphlet for anybody who is interested. I also have Newcomers Club pamphlets for anybody who is interested. PL me if you would like either. | ||
| Dave Citizen Username: Dave Post Number: 6811 Registered: 4-1998 |
There's a 20 percent federal tax credit and there's some loophole that if you open it to the public a minimum no. of times a year there's a significantly larger credit. I knew someone in Bergen County in the early '90s who had this arrangement or at least said they did. | ||
| mim Citizen Username: Mim Post Number: 334 Registered: 5-2001 |
The Timothy Ball house was open on the Rotary house tour a few years ago. It has a lot of amazing historical features, including the original stone cabin kitchen with a huge fireplace (ox-roasting size), but the layout isn't practical for modern family life. It is utterly charming, but will take a special buyer. (Indeed, with that price tag.) | ||
| bella Citizen Username: Bella Post Number: 429 Registered: 7-2001 |
I just Googled George Washington's family tree, and his mother was Mary Ball. Not definitive, but at least it lends credence to what I was told about the Ball house growing up. I know that we were told in school that Washington visited the house while in New Jersey. now, if I could only win the lottery, quit my job, and buy this house. sigh. | ||
| sac Citizen Username: Sac Post Number: 1062 Registered: 5-2001 |
Sounds like it needs some philanthropic person (or foundation) to purchase it to be turned into a museum of sorts - perhaps something like the Durand-Hedden house. Isn't it very close to that house, also? | ||
| Lizziecat Citizen Username: Lizziecat Post Number: 226 Registered: 5-2003 |
There are manuscript documents that verify George Washington's visit to the Timothy Ball house in the collection of the NJ Historical Society Library. | ||
| Brett Citizen Username: Bmalibashksa Post Number: 933 Registered: 7-2003 |
http://www.altlaw.com/edball/tim_ball.htm | ||
| jab Citizen Username: Jab Post Number: 210 Registered: 3-2003 |
The story I heard was that Washington greeted a member of the Ball family by the saluation "cousin" because Ball was also Washington's mother's maiden name, but that there was no actual knowledge of whether Washington was related to the Ball family of Maplewood (or South Orange as I believe it was then). | ||
| kathy Citizen Username: Kathy Post Number: 826 Registered: 5-2001 |
Dave, There is a Federal tax credit (meaning that a portion of money spent on renovation can be deducted from your Federal income taxes) but although there has been a proposal to extend this to private residences, I believe that it currently applies only to commercial properties. Perhaps opening to the public a certain number of times per year is sufficient to turn one's residence into a commercial property? (But then one might run afoul of local zoning ordinances.) At any rate, property taxes are not affected unless the local municipality has special laws. | ||
| galileo Citizen Username: Galileo Post Number: 130 Registered: 7-2001 |
Thank you Brett.Very interesting and informative. | ||
| Brett Citizen Username: Bmalibashksa Post Number: 935 Registered: 7-2003 |
Thank Google. | ||
| crossroads Citizen Username: Crossroads Post Number: 24 Registered: 12-2001 |
The asking price has been lowered from $745K to $699K. | ||
| bobk Supporter Username: Bobk Post Number: 5375 Registered: 5-2001 |
I haven't been inside the house. However, the fact that it seems to be for sale about every five years adds credibility to the post indicating it isn't a comfortable place for a 21st family to live. I have read that Martha Washington was a cousin of Timothy Ball. I don't have a reference for this but I have seen it so many times I tend to believe it. To me the most fascinating thing about the house is the tree in front that projects slightly out into Ridgewood Road. A few years ago Ridgewood had a major rebuild and the tree was left while many others were removed. Local legend has it that General Washington tied his horse to that tree when he visited before the Battle of Springfield. There is also a story that in the 1940s an x-ray of the tree was taken showing a spike inside, which might have been used for a hitching iron when the tree was young. I don't know how much of this I believe, but the fact the tree was not removed during the road work while many others were gives some credibility to the story.  | ||
| Barb Citizen Username: Flannery Post Number: 105 Registered: 8-2002  |
You can find pictures of the house plans for the Timothy Ball house at http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/collections/finder.html. Pick the Art and Architecture link and search on Maplewood. Pretty cool. Also, undated documents with the history and old photos at http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/D?hh:6:./temp/~ammem_UQHH::@@@mdb=hh,gottscho,cic,dag,papr,alad,fawbib,vv,wpapos,qlt,detr,varstg,awh,awhbi b | ||
| Tom Reingold Citizen Username: Noglider Post Number: 3320 Registered: 1-2003  |
Barb, MOL thinks certain characters mark the end of a URL, which makes those URLs above inoperative. A very handy tip: you can convert long URLs to short ones at http://tinyurl.com | ||
| Debby Real Name Username: Debby Post Number: 570 Registered: 5-2001 |
When we were looking at houses back in '96-'97 that was on the market for $275,000. It sounded like so much money for such an old house! | ||
| ffof Citizen Username: Ffof Post Number: 2448 Registered: 5-2001  |
I saw it in '91 and it was on the market for $299,000! | ||
| jasper Citizen Username: Jasper Post Number: 104 Registered: 7-2001 |
We were also househunting in 1997, and we actually looked at the house. I still have the paperwork, with photo, history and house features. It was listed at $310,000, though it had that gimmick of Prudential's PVRM, indicating that the owner would "entertain" offers in the range of $250,000 - 310,000. My hunch is that it sold for closer to 310,000 than 250,000. I suppose anyone motivated to find out could search the public record. The house was certainly charming, but like someone said earlier, it definitely had layout characteristics that were not the norm for this day and age. Somehow, I couldn't quite picture myself being comfortable in a house that almost seemed like it should be a museum. I was also concerned about what kind of maintenance issues would arise in a house of that age. According to the history sheet I have, the house was built in 1743. That's old. | ||
| John Roberts Citizen Username: Undertaxed Post Number: 66 Registered: 5-2004 |
The house is sold. I saw painters in there yesterday. We toured it on one of the open houses and loved it except it looks bad for little ones. Every addition was built about 3 feet above the previous ones so there are tons of 6 foot staircases and no main floorplan. Wonderful historic house, I hope they keep it uo well. | ||
| Joe R. Citizen Username: Ragnatela Post Number: 111 Registered: 6-2004 |
Doesn't one of the murals in the Town Council Chambers depict George W visiting cousin Ball at this very house? |
