While activity has been tepid in the upper echelons of the housing market, deep-pocketed buyers will soon have their choice between dining in the shadows of George Washington or living in the style of Abraham Lincoln.
Up for auction on Saturday, October 26, is 29 Bayberry Road, a log cabin in Hopewell with a Princeton address. Described as a “perfect hideout for the outdoor enthusiast” by Max Spann, the auction company, the home is secluded on 22 acres that includes a private pond.
The home’s interior includes a great room with cedar walls, four bedrooms, a fireplace with a stone chimney, and a full-service bar. Outside, a historic barn can serve as a studio or as storage space. A recent property tax bill was just under $12,000.
The auction takes place at 11 a.m. at the property. Participants must register in advance through www.maxspann.com and bring a $20,000 cashier’s check and blank personal check to the auction. The winning bidder must make a 10 percent deposit the day of the auction, and closing will occur within 30 days of the auction date.
Those who have a taste for the grandiose and historic will be interested in the auction for 166 Cherry Hill Road, Princeton, scheduled for Thursday, November 7.
Better known as Tusculum, the original home was built in 1773 for John Witherspoon, a signer of the Declaration of Independence and sixth president of Princeton University. Washington dined there, and the home is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
By the time Thomas and Avril Moore purchased the home for $3 million in 1996, it had been expanded to 5,000 square feet and had been occupied by a host of notable Princeton families — the Stocktons, the Pardoes, the Pardees. In 1998 architect T. Jeffrey Clarke constructed an addition on three sides of the original home, resulting in 9,235 square feet of space with five bedrooms and four full and two half baths.
The 23.34-acre property also includes a Cape-style cottage, a pond, orchards, a shale barn, a corn crib, and a tennis court, among other amenities. As a result of a deal struck in 2006 between the Moores and Princeton Township, the property is surrounded by more than 60 acres of preserved open space.
In 2007, however, the Moores separated, and the future of the home was uncertain. Listed by Callaway Henderson Sotheby’s, Tusculum has been on and off the market in the past few years, priced as high as $12 million and most recently offered for $8.75 million. Through Concierge Auctions, the home will be sold to the highest bidder at or above $2.5 million. For details call 877-751-8051 or visit www.conciergeauctions.com.
Also scheduled for an October 26 auction by Max Spann is a scenic homestead at 520 Pattenburg Road in Union Township, Hunterdon County. The property, on just over six acres with a tax bill of $8,500, had been listed at $733,000. The minimum bid is $300,000. For information, visit www.maxspann.com.
