Former first lady's home in QA for sale

QUEENSTOWN Queen Annes County has been home to a number of notable people over the years, but how many of us know that a former first lady lived in the county for 11 years?

The house, known as the Bryan-Preston House at Parks Point overlooking the Wye River, was home to Frances Folsom Cleveland Preston and her second husband from 1929 to 1940, according to information provided by Exit Gold Realty, which is currently listing the house for sale for $1.9 million. Her first husband was former President Grover Cleveland, who died in 1908.

It is a four-story, single family home with five bedrooms, three full baths, two partial baths, multiple slip dock, swimming pool, 1,500 feet of waterfront, and other amenities on 7.88 acres, the listing states.

Frances Folsom was born in 1864 and was the only First Lady to be married at the White House and give birth there, according to Exit Gold Realtys information. When she married Cleveland in 1886 in the White House Blue Room, he was 49 and she was 21. He served two non-consecutive terms as president the only person to have done so, according to the Encyclopedia Britannica.

In an effort to seek more privacy, the Clevelands lived most of the time during the two terms at a home outside of Washington, and were the only first couple to do so. They returned to the White House only for official functions, the encyclopedia states.

After Cleveland left office in 1897, the couple lived in Princeton, N.J., until his death in 1908. She married manufacturer, classicist, archaeologist and art history professor Thomas J. Preston Jr. in 1913, and they continued living in Princeton.

The house at Parks Point originally belonged to Valentine Bryan as part of his 752-acre Russell Dale estate, according to Exit Gold Realty. It said George L. Bryan bought part of the estate and built a farmhouse on it in 1860 and the property continued to be used for agricultural purposes until the Prestons acquired it in 1929. The couple used it as a second home, the realty company said.

Additions by the Prestons tripled the size of the farmhouse and included a 2-1/2 story addition. Exit Gold Realtys information states that much that was original to the house has been retained, including wide plank floors, moldings and four panel doors.

The Prestons sold the property in 1940 and the former first lady died in 1947 in Baltimore. The property is listed as a Maryland Historical Trust site.

Exit Gold Realty has scheduled an open house from 1 to 4 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 15, at the property, 120 Parks Point.

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Former first lady's home in QA for sale