House of the Week | Former first ladys home on Eastern Shore for $1.9M

In the 1920s and 30s, wealthy outsiders began buying up the old estates along the Chesapeake Bay and Eastern Shore to use as country homes and hunting retreats. Robert Brugger wrote about this trend in his book, Maryland, a Middle Temperament: 1634-1980.

Brugger noted that during this time an old home on Corsica Neck went to the wife of a du Pont and General Motors millionaire, a New York advertising man commuted to Manhattan from his waterfront property by seaplane and the Steuben Glass chief executive took ownership of Wye Plantation.

The Bryan-Preston House on Parks Point, which is on the west bank of the Wye River in Queen Annes County, was among the properties snapped up.

The land originally belonged to Valentine Bryan as part of his 752-acre Russell Dale estate. His grandson, George L. Bryan, bought part of the estate and built a farmhouse on it in 1860.

The property remained in agricultural use until 1929, when it was bought by Frances F.C. Preston, widow of President Grover Cleveland, and her second husband, Thomas J. Preston Jr. The Prestons, who lived in Princeton, N.J., used it as a second home.

Born Frances Folsom in 1864 and known as Frank to her family and friends, Frances Preston was the only first lady to be married at the White House and the only one to give birth at the White House. She was 21 and Cleveland 49 when they wed in 1886. After Cleveland died in 1908, she married Preston in 1913. Preston was a manufacturer, classicist, archaeologist and art history professor.

The Prestons added on to the two-story, three-bay farmhouse, tripling its size. The 2 1/2-story addition extends to the east and is the full width and twice the depth of the original house. A small wing extends south from the center of the addition. The two-story porch on the north side resembles the river-facing elevation of Mount Vernon.

The Prestons held onto the property until 1940. The current owners acquired the property in 1956.

Views of the water can be seen from every room in the home. Although the house has been through renovations since the Prestons owned it, many period details have been preserved, including the wide plank floors, deep crown moldings, four-panel doors, and beaded door and window surrounds.

The outdoor, kidney-shaped swimming pool is one of the more recent additions. The seven-foot deep water pier has slips for seven boats.

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House of the Week | Former first ladys home on Eastern Shore for $1.9M