- January 20, 2025
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Kitty Fagen Garrett with Historical Society members Randy Jaye and Joyce Benedict. Photo by Jarleene Almenas
Pattie and George Gertenbach, Erlene Turner, Linda Lampman, Mary Smith, Kitty Fagen Garret, Joyce Benedict, Carol Bigelow, Nancy Ruscitti and Alisha Rogers. Photo by Jarleene Almenas
The marker was placed in front of the cottage last November. Photo by Jarleene Almenas
The Nathan Cobb Cottage, located at 137 Orchard Lane, was built in 1897 from salvaged wood and cargo belonging to the Nathan F. Cobb schooner. Photo by Jarleene Almenas
Historical Society members Randy Jaye and Joyce Benedict speak during the dedication ceremony on Saturday, March 26. Photo by Jarleene Almenas
Historical Society member Joyce Benedict pops open a bottle of champagne. Photo by Jarleene Almenas
Another piece of Ormond Beach history is now marked as a Florida Heritage site.
The Nathan Cobb Cottage, located at 137 Orchard Lane, was built in 1897 from salvaged wood and cargo belonging to the Nathan F. Cobb schooner, which shipwrecked on Dec. 5, 1896, near what is now the Cardinal Drive beach approach. It is believed that the 125-year-old cottage may be the only standing building in the state constructed from the remains of a wooden schooner, according to the Ormond Beach Historical Society.
The Historical Society held a dedication ceremony on Saturday, March 26, for the cottage's new historic marker, installed last November. The marker was approved in May 2021, and cost the Historical Society $2,200.
Randy Jaye, who serves on the Historical Society's Board of Directors, said that there are 4,208 Florida Historical markers throughout the state's 67 counties, meaning that few buildings and sites meet the state's criteria for the designation.
"Fortunately, the Nathan Cobb Cottage checks all the required boxes," Jaye said. "And now the entire state knows what we locally know, and what is that? We have a historical gem here and it's an important landmark, and it's surely worth the money, time and effort to preserve it."
The Nathan F. Cobb schooner, built in 1890, had three-masts, measured 167 feet and weighed 656 tons. It was damaged by a nor'easter storm off the coast of North Carolina on Dec. 1, 1896, during which two of her crewmen drowned. The remainder of the crew was able to right the ship after removing her masts, and the ship drifted for four days until it rain aground on a sandbar off the coast of Ormond Beach.
According to the Historical Society, as soon as Joseph Price of the Hotel Ormond heard the news, he rounded up employees and headed to the beach to help. Among them was 23-year-old Freeman Waterhouse, the hotel's bookkeeper, who drowned in the rescue attempt.
The shipwrecked might have happened over a century ago, but when the tide conditions are just right, you may be able to spot the hull buried in the sandbar — a reason why a sign on the sand by the shipwreck location warns bathers to avoid water activities 50 feet on either side of the sign.
"The hull outline can still be see after all these years," Jaye said. "Absolutely unbelievable."
The Nathan Cobb Cottage was built by Billy Fagen, one of Ormond Beach's earliest pioneers, who was given permission to salvage wood from the schooner for the construction.
In attendance at the ceremony was one of Fagen's descendants: Kitty Fagen Garrett, his great-niece. Her father often recalled tales of playing at the cottage as a child, and she said the first time she and her sister Shirley saw it in the early 1970s, the cottage looked much different. It was worn, and in need of repairs.
"But look at it now, due to all of y'all," she said, referring to the Historical Society. "I was worried that it would never happen, really. But it's happened — I think it's great."
In the past, the cottage was much larger than its current 391-square feet. It had a 25-foot-long breezeway and an outer-kitchen building, both of which were removed in the 1920s after decades of humid Florida summers the result of the ship's wood being untreated resulted in rot.
Jaye said this is why the cottage is an important "historical gem."
"After 125 years, it's not that big of a stretch of imagination to believe that most of these places rotted away or are met with the wrecking ball with modern developments," Jaye said. "... When you think about it, I think it's a time capsule, and I think it tells a story of Florida's past."
In 2014, the cottage was purchased for $132,900 by the late Tom Massfeller, who was a dedicated board member of the Historical Society until his death at 72 years old on June 1, 2020.
In 2018, Massfeller told the Ormond Beach Observer that he had been working hard to preserve the home since he purchased it. He had found historic items in the home's yard: a scythe, a door knob and a miniature doll's toy iron.
“You look around and you see a lot of history," Massfeller said in the interview.
And before his death, he made sure the cottage would remain in good hands, leaving it in his will to the Historical Society.
Historical Society member Joyce Benedict said that if Massfeller could see the marker today, he'd cry.
"He saved the house," she said. "He really, really cared about history, so for us to have it now in our Historical Society for safekeeping is an honor."
Benedict popped open a bottle of champagne during the ceremony, and after all in attendance were served, the Historical Society members raised their glasses.
"To Tom," they cheered.
