A Tribute to 2 Bayview Homes
As you may have heard, a
fire on December 26th destroyed two Bayview homes in Strathmere.
This page will be a small tribute to the history of these homes. The next photos were
sent to us by the Andress Family. Please click on images for
larger views
The house behind it across
the street was also owned by the older Mr. Andress, and son Ed
later lived there.
please click on images for larger views
The first house was built by Edward T. Andress
in 1912. The photo to the right shows a copy of the deed when the
property was purchased in 1912. The photo on the left shows the
house as seen from the bay, in the early 1920's. He ran a boat
rental business and also sold bait. There was a sign out front
that read -
EDWARD T. ANDRESS - BOATS AND BAIT.
In 1928 he married a widow who had a young son named Charles
Shaffer. Their son Edward was born in this house in 1929, and
daughter Katherine was also born in the house in 1931. Very few
people were actually born and raised in Strathmere like the
Andress kids were. They lived there year round and went to school
in Ocean City. Later Katherine would marry Charles (Sonny) Fox in the Strathmere Church, in 1951. Mr. Andress died in 1934, and his wife continued
to run the business with her son Charlie. Charlie served with the
Coast Guard during the war, and during that time son Ed helped
run the business. In 1944 they expanded the bait and boat rental
business to also include a luncheonette on the docks behind the
house. Ronald Panunto, whose family built the Bayview Motel, can
remember buying good hoagies there. After Charlie returned home
from the war, he started his own boating business. 
The first photo shows a
bayside view of the house, taken in the Summer of 1930. That's
the Andress's Aunt Annie holding baby Ed. By this time, the back porch (shown in the photo above) has been closed in.
The photo on the left show Florence Andress, known to friends as Florie, working on the rental boats. She's getting them ready for the summer season. Photo was taken in the 1930's.
The photo on the right shows Florie under the street sign in front of the house. Taken in the late 40's.
The photo on the left shows a street
side view of the house, taken sometime between
1942-1944.
On the right is Cassie Andress on the front steps of the house, around 1947.
The photo on the left was taken around 1945. It shows young Ed Andress
standing on the street side of the house, under the ANDRESS'S
DOCK sign. You can see part of the sign above him. Also right
behind him, you can see the Coast Guard building further down the
street. It was still in use at that time, especially during the war. Brother Charlie served with the Coast Guard during the WWII.
The long low building that you can also see in the photo on the right
was a kennel for the German Shepards that were used to patrol the beaches during the war.
After the war the kennel building was rebuilt into a garage.The photo on the right shows Cassie kneeling in just about the same spot in 1948.
Strathmere bathing beauties from 1948.
From left are Louise Prause, Marion Baar, Marlene Paar, and Cassie Andress.
This is such a great photo, taken around
1951. This photo was taken under the street sign for the
Andress's docks. It also shows a sign for Charlie Shaffer's deep
sea fishing boat - The Starfish. This photo shows the
day's catch of Black Drum, which were all caught on the Starfish.
Those fish are gigantic!
Charlie Shaffer is the man 2nd from the left. First Mate Harry Foster is on the far right.
The home next to the Andress house was built
in the 1920's. It was owned by the Van Dyke family. In 1961, the
Andress's son Charlie Shaffer bought that house after Mrs. Van
Dyke had died.
Charlie ran his deep sea fishing boat 'The Starfish'
out of the bay for many years. The photo on the right shows the boat leaving the bay for one of it's daily excursions. In 1977 Charlie sold the house to
Jean Cotton, who later sold it to the present owners.
First photo was taken in the 1960's. It shows Strathmere residents & good friends Florie Andress, Helen Brown and Gert Charleston. Gert and her husband Howard were once the owners of 'Twisties'
The 2nd photo is from Florie's 80th birthday party in 1981.
Mrs. Andress sold the family's home in
the 1970's, and later the family left the island. Ed & wife Jane left in 1978, and bought a house near brother Charlie in Seaville. In October of
1997, Ken & Jessica Weaver bought the home from the Fettermans. Mr.
Weaver's family the McCulloughs -
had a long history in Strathmere starting with his grandparents
in the early 1900's. By the 1950's most of the family had left
Strathmere, but by the 70's the Weavers started coming back to
Strathmere each year for vacation with their own family. Four
months after they bought the home, a strong northeaster hit, and
they ended up with 6 inches of bay water in the house. In 1999,
the Weavers had their new home raised and renovated, and they
kept many of the original details of the house as the older Ed
Andress had built in 1919. They invited the younger Ed Andress
and his wife to see the renovations, and pointed out the details
that they left just as his father had built so many years ago.
Mr. Andress could remember Ken Weaver as a young boy on the
island, and he was very glad that his family home ended up being
owned by the Weaver family.
The first three photos below were taken by Ken Weaver after the renovations were done to the home in 1999. First is the view from the street, the house to the left was the other home destroyed in the fire, owned by Dr. Krueger. The 2nd photo shows a view from the bay. Both homes can be seen from the 3rd bay shot.
Below are photos taken
after the fire on December 26th, which destroyed both homes.
The first 3 photos were taken by Ken Weaver.
The 2 photos below were sent to us by Mike Mazzeo.
I don't have much
history or any older photos of the other home.
If you have anything to be added to this page, please contact me.
strathmere@comcast.net
Strathmere Home
Thank you to the Andress Family and the Weaver Family for photos and history.
Also Thanks to Mike Mazzeo, Mrs. Bergus & The Panunto Family for their photos that were used on this page.
Photos and text Copyright Carol Baker. Do not copy or reproduce.