25. First House in Douglas

The Wade Cottage at 149 Washington Street, Douglas, in 2006.

The Wade Cottage was built by Jonathan Wade and wife Fanny as their family home in 1851. The house is a two-rooms-up/two-rooms-down type — with a later “lean-to” addition at rear. It is of the primitive, traditional plank construction method of the time (not balloon-frame) with clapboard siding to give it a simple Greek Revival form. It was called “Bay View” because of the view of what is now Wade’s Bayou to the east.

Jonathan Wade was a saw mill owner and founder of the town of Douglas, which was then called Dudleyville. Legend has it that the Wades built their house on the far south side of town to protect their children from the rough culture of mill workers.