A Brief History of the Moss House    
         
       
 

 
   

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Hello, we are Rebecca and Scott Sipprell, the current owners and innkeepers. We took possession of this grand house in May 2006. We first fell in love with the town of Washington and the river, before we ever discovered the wonderful Moss House. Rebecca has managed a B & B, run a housekeeping business, sung opera, and worked as a receptionist, to name a few skills. Oh and she loves to cook! Scott has worked in the computer field and now works as a handyman extraordinaire, his true passion, always busy with tools.

The settlement that would be called Washington appeared in the 1770s, when James Bonner started a town on his farm, which bordered the Pamlico and Tar Rivers. First called “Forks of the Tar”, the name was changed in 1776 to Washington in honor of General George Washington, making the Original Washington the first town to be named after our First President.

The Moss House was built by Frank Adams Moss and Mary Bonner Moss. The Mosses decided to build the house shortly after their marriage in 1898. Construction started in 1900 was completed in 1902. They lived in the "little house" next door on Van Norden Street while the house was being built.

Local timber, milled at the Moss Planing Mill, provide much of the lumber for the house, including the heart pine floors through out the house. Be sure to check out the carved mantles, each unique in design, they were milled especially for the house, and three of the four guestrooms feature the original mantles with the coal burning face plates. The fourth mantle was removed and the fireplace blocked off for a bathroom addition while Mrs. Moss still lived in the house.

Mary Bonner's Influence

Family history says Mrs. Moss played a significant role in the design of Moss House, particularly the signature red roof and the long, slow incline of the stairs. Although no one seems to know what inspired the concept, the steeply pitched red roof can still be seen from many points in town, including the bridge over the Pamlico River. As for the stairs, her descendants theorize that she designed them that way just so she could slide down the banister, something she did every day, even when she was well into her 70s.

The brick veranda surrounding the house is original and is a unique feature to the house, rather than a porch it is at ground level with gardens. There was a sea captain in Mary’s family history that designed one, similar to this one, on Long Island NY after seeing them in the Caribbean.

The house was sold in the early 1960s, which marked the first time it wasn't occupied by the Moss family. Since then it has seen five different owners and occasional periods of vacancy, but there have been few major changes to the original design. One couple did a great deal of painstaking preservation work, ripping out crumbling plaster, rewiring the entire house, and restoring all of the mantles. This wonderful unique and inviting house has been a Bed and Breakfast for over 18 years and a premier historic home in Washington NC for more than 100 years. Come visit us soon

 

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 The Moss House
129 Van Norden Street
Washington NC 27889

252.975.3967
 
info@themosshouse.com

 
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
 

 
 

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