Oldtown
- Caitlin Lewis
- 3 hours ago
- 3 min read
Local news covering the Oldtown area
Historic Laurel Manor Goes on the Market
Spend just a few minutes with Dave and Lisa Everett and it will be evident that they love the mansion they spent seven years restoring. Details like the original hardware on the pocket doors between the parlor and the dining room have been carefully returned to their original glory.
This year brings a significant change for the Everetts: they are moving to northeastern Pennsylvania to be closer to their daughter, son-in-law, and two-year-old granddaughter. After opening and running the Laurel Manor House Bed and Breakfast for seven years, they put the house on the market for $874,600 on March 11. The five-bedroom, five-bath house boasts 3,772 square feet of living space, sitting on a lot that’s nearly an acre in size. While the house is listed for sale as a single-family residence, Lisa would like to sell the property as a business and include some of the furniture and the linens.
The three guest bedrooms on the second floor are immaculately decorated and designed. Dave, a NASA engineer, created special tracks so that one bedroom can have either a king-sized bed or the two twin mattresses can be slid apart so the space can be adapted for the needs of the guests. Each room has its own bathroom, and the smallest of the bedrooms has a cozy reading nook made from a converted closet. Lisa laughed as she shared that one of the bathrooms was decorated with a color combination she found on a Kleenex box.
1110 Montgomery Street was built in 1888 by Edward Phelps, one of Laurel’s early mayors, who raised nine children in the mansion. After Phelps, the property had several different owners. In the 1940s, the Steinbauer family bought the house and lived on the first floor while renting the second floor as multiple apartments. Prior to the Everetts’ ownership, the mansion was owned by a neighboring church that used the property as a parsonage but let the building fall into disrepair.
In 2011, Dave and Lisa began talking about their dream of running a bed and breakfast. When Dave began his job at NASA, he and Lisa thought it would be just a matter of time before he went to work at a university and Lisa could run a bed and breakfast in whatever college town they ended up in. But Dave loved working at NASA, so Lisa realized that her dream of running a bed and breakfast would have to come to fruition here in the D.C. suburbs.
One fateful day, Lisa was driving her dog to the vet. En route, she saw 1110 Montgomery for the first time. It was for sale. The Everetts arranged for a viewing without telling the realtor that they were looking for a property suitable to be a bed and breakfast. During the tour, the realtor mentioned that the city was hoping the mansion would be turned into a bed and breakfast. In June of 2011, the Everetts bought the house and began renovating.
Because of the extensive renovations required, the Everetts did not immediately move into the house. They intended for the third floor to be their private living space, but Dave realized that a bed wouldn’t fit up the attic steps. So, he moved the entire second floor staircase over to the other end of the hallway. Dave did most of the renovations (with generous help from friends), while Lisa made the decorating choices and did some of the painting. In 2018, Lisa had procured the necessary license to run a bed and breakfast, and the house was finally ready to be opened to the public.
The Everetts enjoyed their time as innkeepers, hosting guests from as far afield as Germany and the United Kingdom. At one point, they simultaneously hosted a Mennonite couple celebrating their 40th anniversary and a much younger couple visiting the area to see a gothic punk concert.
Lisa found that one of her favorite parts of running the Laurel Manor House was making breakfast and enjoying people’s reactions to her cooking. “I take pride in accommodating all diets,” she said, later adding that receiving rave reviews of her cooking was “really good for the ego!”
As the Everetts embark on their next adventure, Lisa reflected, “I have loved having this bed and breakfast.” At press time, 1110 Montgomery Street was still available for purchase.
Caitlin Lewis holds a Master’s Degree in Education from Covenant College. She worked as a high school English teacher both in the U.S. and Greece, but currently works at home raising her four children and writing her column.
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