A House Divided –Part 1-
by “My Father’s Son”
Sallie K. Harrison-Boyce-Auginbaugh-Boyce may have never figured out exactly what she wanted in a husband, but she certainly knew what she fancied from a house. In early 1902, the
Catoctin Clarion and
Star and Sentinel, published “A Matrimonial Mix,” an article explaining how Sallie Boyce first married and divorced a man named Harrison, wed Harrison’s new wife’s father, surname Boyce, to be left a widow, and lastly wed Thurmont’s Water Street Jeweler Eber E. Auginbaugh. Marital mishaps aside, Sallie’s union to Auginbaugh brought Thurmont its most unique and recognizable residence, located at 513 East Main Street.
After the death of her second husband, Sallie moved to Thurmont and, perhaps while scrutinizing gemstones in Mr. Auginbaugh’s store for a specimen fitting of her exquisite taste, became involved with the jeweler. Sallie would soon be Mrs. Eber Auginbaugh, but only after a pre-nuptial agreement was drawn and endorsed by husband-to-be number three. In 1894, Sallie purchased a plot of land on the periphery of town, just west of the road to Apples Church. That autumn saw the start of what would become the spectacular home.
Between 1894 and 1895, the
Catoctin Clarion newspaper provided regular reports on the home’s construction. The outcome rendered a fine example of “Queen Anne”/“Eastlake” architecture unseen throughout Thurmont. Depending upon the historian, Queen Anne and Eastlake may be combined together or kept categorized as two styles, either stance supported by Mrs. Auginbaugh’s address. Queen Anne architecture quickly became in-vogue when introduced to America in the 1880s. “Eastlake” was a term born from the book
Hints on Household Taste, published in the United Kingdom during 1872 by British painter, collector, writer, architect, and designer, Charles Locke Eastlake. Eastlake, the style, is identified by intricate ornamentation added to a home, commonly of Queen Anne-style. The consistency of geometric and larger-scale forms within Eastlake ideology is what some believe makes it an independent style rather than a contributing schematic.
From the exterior, Auginbaugh’s home had a cross-gable roofline, embellished wall surfaces of varying textures, and a large veranda around a central protrusion beneath a crowning front gable, all being Queen Anne characteristics. Also, on queue were decorative horizontal bands, raised wood adornments, fish scale shingles, diamond shaped detailing, truss ornamentation, and elaborate windows like the stained glass piece between the porch and reception area.
Living in the home only briefly, the Auginbaugh’s marriage, too, ended in divorce. By May 1896, Sallie’s home—on the “high ground east of town” as described by the
Clarion—was for sale. Sallie’s former husband, Eber, quietly closed shop and left town later that year, Sallie already gone and reclaiming the name Boyce.
September 1897 ran the first ad for “Aurora Cottage.” Along with a request for all
Clarion readers to assist “in filling the house with guests,” the ad highlighted two acres of shade, bathrooms with hot and cold water, and “all the comforts of home,” address: Mr. & Mrs. Chas. E. Cassell, Aurora Cottage.
Charles Ellsworth Cassell came to Mechanicstown in 1871 and operated a lumber company with his two cousins, sons of father Abraham Cassell’s sister Catherine. Charles was also a land man who purchased tracts to subdivide and resell. Cassell resold many holdings of Col. John C. Rouzer as the lots of West Main, North (now N. Church), and East Streets, for example. Cassell was a distinguished figure involved in many business ventures, lived in many fine homes, and most famously recommended the change from Mechanicstown to Thurmont, a name made official by the Maryland General Assembly on January 18, 1894. Cassell was publisher and editor of the
Catoctin Clarion and a Real Estate and Insurance broker partnered with Fredericktown’s Charles Cramer Waters.
Born in Lewistown to Dr. James K. Waters, Charles Waters returned from Military Academy at age eighteen to engage in the drug business with his father. In 1896, Waters married Rosa L.R. Jones and, more importantly, to our interests, purchased a house in Thurmont with Charles Cassell. The June
Clarion of 1897 informed that Waters “purchased the Mrs. S.K. Boyce property in the east end and is erecting an eight-room addition. Mr. and Mrs. C.E. Cassell will take the property and keep summer boarders this season.”
The addition by Cassell and Waters, known as the “Annex,” resembled a large block. In agreement with the adjoining home, the front of the Annex had a sizeable gable, complete with twin ocular window and decorative band between the upper levels. Expanded to accommodate twenty-five boarders, the property was christened “Aurora Cottage.” Reason unknown, Cassell, having cleverly renamed the town, is probably also liable for this moniker, but is a fact that cannot be said for sure. Current owner Debbie Cochran has her own theory concerning the designation of her home; being that the house was located on the “high ground east of town,” it received day’s first light before its western-lying municipality. Language and legend hold “Aurora” as the Latin translation of “dawn” and, respectively, the Roman Goddess of the Morning.
Beyond the house, Aurora Cottage had a two-story carriage house (present today), a barn, chicken house, and sheds, some still standing on neighboring properties. The driveway, marked by sculptural, pyramid-topped masonry pillars, arrived at the front entrance but also accessed a western entry en route to the carriage house. This secondary entry, now removed entirely, was comparable to a porte-cochere, sheltered by an oriel window, extending from the second floor, used by guests arriving during poor weather.
While Cassell, his wife Julia, and their six children lived on the property, Aurora was the site of many dances, socials, and parties; some hosted by daughter Mary Phoebe for her whist bridge club, who had the evening outside the formidable home illuminated with hanging Japanese lanterns on at least one occasion. The Cassell’s home was also the site of the first private tennis court in Northern Maryland, where many local and inner city matches were viewed.
In 1907, the Cassell family left Aurora Cottage. It was sold to the Roddy family, who refurbished the home and temporarily boarded crews in the home’s excess space while Thurmont was wired for telephone service. In 1911, Chas. C. Waters repurchased the home and relocated wife Rosa and twelve-year-old son James from Fredericktown to become permanent residents of Aurora Cottage in 1912. Multiple town Inns could no longer be filled, so arrangements to rid the Waters’ home of its eastern Annex—returning the structure to Sallie Boyce’s vision of what stands today—were made.
Long owned since 1986 by James and Debra Cochran, Aurora Cottage has received the devotion and preservation many older homes are not paid. The one hundred twenty-two years bonded to Aurora Cottage and, more greatly, Mrs. Cochran’s invaluable interest in the happenings of these dozen decades, leaves much light to be shed on the estate’s story.
As this Part I ends in 1912, some readers may be aware of the fate ahead for the Annex, even less of the tragedy looming to occur in 1918, or the consequential court ruling to forever change the home’s imminent use, among other events. Much more remains on the pages of Aurora Cottage to be shelved only momentarily and revisited here with the arrival of
The Catoctin Banner’s May issue.
