b'Finding Homeby the TracksA Brooklyn couples journey to Maplewood with history and hauntingsBY JOY YAGIDThe Montgomery Ogden House, courtesy of the Seligs.S cott and Sonya Selig live in one of theThey rented on Dunnell Road while they looked forAccording to the Maplewood Historic Preservation oldest homes in Maplewood. At ap- a home to buy.Commissions report on the Old Stone House, it was proximately 300 years old, it standsSonya wanted a new ranch home, like one in theknown as the Old Stone House Station from 1838 to tucked hard against the train tracks,Newstead neighborhood of South Orange. Lets get1856, a flag stop on the train line when Maplewood facing the wrong way at 22 Jeffersonone of the modern ones because Im from Califor- was known as Jefferson Village. A flag stop meant Avenue. nia, Sonya said. I was used to one story.you waved a flag at the train when you wanted it to Known as the Montgomery Og- ScottvisitedtheMontgomeryOgdenHouse,stop. You bought tickets in the waiting room, which den House in the Library of Congress listing foralsoknownastheOldStoneHouse,aroundthewas a small general store that Betsy Durand, sister of Historic American Buildings Survey, it is one of twocorner from where they rented, for each of its threeAsher Durand, the famous painter and Maplewood-homesinMaplewoodsurveyedduringtheGreatopen houses. He was sold on it. Sonya needed a bitian, ran from what used to be the kitchen.Depression in the early 1930s. The Timothy Ballmore convincing.Scott finally got Sonya to come to the last open house, where legend has it that George WashingtonA big part of it is because its old, Scott says. Ithouse.Bythistime,thepricehaddroppedby slept, is the second. has a coziness. He adds that its just big enough for$100,000. She walked in and looked up the stairs. I TheSeligsviewthemselvesasstewardsofthistheir family and met all their criteria, even accommo- imagined my daughter walking down those stairs in important home, but that wasnt their plan in 2007dating their goal to be a one-car family. The house isa prom dress, and that was it. It was home, she says. when they moved here from Brooklyn.walking distance to their childrens schools, to townSonya also loved the dining rooms massive fireplace.After realizing that navigating the New York Cityand to the train, which is right outside their windows. In spring of 2010, the Seligs bought the home. school system was not for the faint of heart, they fol- The home faces the tracks because it was a stopThe timing coincided with the Maplewood Histori-lowed friends who followed friends to Maplewood.on what would become the Morris and Essex line.cal Commission designating it as an historic home. 26/ matters magazine / summer 2024'