Photo Gallery

Section A, Block No. 20, Lots #18 and 19
(the lot that the cottages are currently on and the next lot closest to the beach were sold together until 1977)
 

Information was gathered from the Maryland Land Records, Worcester County:  https://mdlandrec.net/main
 

The plats from 1905 of the Fenwick Land Company (Plat Book ODC 1, pp. 12A-12C) can be found here (140th Street was originally named Kenworthy Avenue) http://plato.mdarchives.state.md.us/msa/stagser/s1500/s1529/cfm/dsp_unit.cfm?county=WO&qualifier=C&series=2157&unit=2198&p_ds_value=3&p_ms_value=3
 

September 28, 1905
Harry T.S. Taylor sold to Fenwick Land Company
 

February 23, 1909
Fenwick Land Company sold to John M. Talley or J. Morrison Talley of New Castle County, DE
 

Aug 7, 1953
John M. Talley (via his will) to Dorothy Mae Milliner of New Castle County, DE
 

Sept 6, 1955
Dorothy Mae Milliner sold to Henry J. Birl of Boothwyn, Delaware County, PA
 

Rumor has it that Henry Birl moved the cottages from “Chemical Row” in Chester PA
Apparently the Sante Cabin was moved in two pieces
 

June 3, 1977
Henry J. Birl sold Lot #18 to Julian E. Sante and Margaret S. Sante (they also tried to purchase the empty lot next to the cottages but were out-bid)
 

September 26, 1979
Realized that the wrong lot was deeded to the Sante’s and was switched to Lot #19
 

December 13, 2014
Julian and Margaret Sante to Nini (Annette) Sante and Greg Renfro

The cottages survived the great storm of 1962: 

This northeaster, which coincided with a spring tide, remained stationary for almost 36 hours so that beach and barrier flooding lasted over 5 consecutive spring high tides (O’Brien and Johnson, 1963). The strong northeast winds, broad fetch, and high angle of wave approach caused record flooding and beach erosion down the eastern seaboard extending from New England to Florida. Most houses near the beach were destroyed by storm waves and washover unless a wide beach and high dunes protected them.
 

“The Ash Wednesday Storm’s high waters covered the narrow island with as much as four feet of floodwaters,” the Sun wrote. “Storm waves crashed through buildings north of Ocean City proper to form a temporary inlet at 71st Street.”
 

As winds raged to 60-70 mph, waves as high 25 feet crashed into Ocean City.  The Delmarva Daily Times noted that it was “the only time anyone can remember Ocean City being totally overwashed by the ocean.”
 

But this storm was unlike others. Strong northeast winds and a new moon built up days of high tides in the bays west of the barrier islands. By the time the storm peaked Wednesday morning, high tide was nearly 91/2 feet above normal low tide levels. That was two feet higher than the other landmark disaster to hit Ocean City a 1933 storm that knocked an inlet through the island.
 

In Delaware, the storm caused about $90 million damages.  The Delmarva Daily Times reported that 1,932 homes were damaged between Dewey Beach and Fenwick Island, describing “catastrophic damage” all along the Maryland shore.
 

The storm demolished 75 homes and businesses in Ocean City. The high, fast-moving waters washed away sand 250 feet wide and as much as eight feet deep along the beach, sending cottages and the lots they stood on into the ocean.
 

See pictures here:  https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150720078901995.467625.315035576994&type=3