Ten years ago, Sam Banks accepted a position with McCormick and Co. in Hunt Valley. His wife, Arlene, was not too thrilled.
She was perfectly happy living among friends and family in her house in Bedford Hills, N.Y.
"I remember yelling, 'Where in the heck is Maryland,' " she says. Then, on a weekend trip to the state, the couple drove along Butler Road in Baltimore County. The casual outing in Worthington Valley set in motion a series of events that %o eventually led them to their home.
"I had been spending time with real estate agents who were showing me large traditional homes, mostly in the Phoenix area," she says. "I really didn't like anything I saw. But on one trip, Sam and I rode across Butler Road and we both liked the area a lot."
While his wife returned to New York State, Sam Banks searched the papers for something to rent in the area. "Sam called me one night and said he saw that a Victorian farmhouse, which I remembered, was for rent on Butler Road," she says. "I told him to get right over there and find out all the details."
As it turned out, the Victorian was already rented. But Mr. Banks heard news of a second place, a stone tenant house, vintage 1837. A doctor and his wife were eager to break their lease on the renovated cottage. The house had a few tiny first-floor rooms, a garret-like bedroom reached via an old stairway to the second floor and a new kitchen/great room wing. A deck ran across the front and around one side.
"I just fell in love with the house," says Mrs. Banks. "It had so much warmth."
Mr. Banks wasted no time renting the house. Then, six years ago, when the out-of-state owner decided to sell, they bought it with its surrounding 1 1/4 acres for $175,000.
"I think what made the house appealing to me was that it was so appealing to Arlene," says Mr. Banks, explaining his eagerness to buy the house for his wife of 19 years. "It is very unique and I like that it is historic," he says.
He also likes being able to look out the windows and see the Greenspring Hunt galloping across the fields. "I grew up in Connecticut where my father ran a riding school," he says. "I like being back in horse country."
Since buying the house, the Banks have made numerous improvements costing about $125,000. One of their first jobs was planting 35 evergreens, which have grown to provide the house with almost total privacy from nearby Butler Road. They added a bathroom off the second-floor master bedroom and built a rear deck and screen porch.
"We always worked to make the additions blend in with the saltbox look of the original house," Mrs. Banks says. Their biggest project was a garage addition that included a large interior loft, which now serves as a guest bedroom, and a first-floor family room.
The loft and the family room are decorated, like the rest of the house, with furniture pieces and accessories that Mrs. Banks has recycled from family attics, antique stores, auctions and flea markets.
The decor is what she calls "country cozy." The fabrics, the wallcoverings, the furniture, including some handsome 19th century antiques, all contribute to the look.