There are two photos on this page.
The first is the home that Doug and Lisa bought in Edgewater, Maryland. It took a lot of painting and a kitchen remodeling to make it theirs. Here Doug is standing at the door and greeting his mother, Gail.
The previous owner of the house was Gene Stoneman, one of the sons of Ernest V. “Pop” Stoneman, a pioneering country musician. “Pop” Stoneman’s recording of the “Sinking of the Titanic” became one of the biggest hits of the 1920s. He promoted country music, helping to organize the historic Bristol Sessions, where the Carter Family and Jimmie Rogers were discovered. Years later, many of his children formed a band that had a nationally broadcast television show in the 1966s.
The little house started life as a summer cottage for people from Washington, D.C. One story said that these little cottages were given away to people who subscribed to the Washington Post newspaper. The website of the South River Park Citizens Association had a different slant on the association between the summer cottages and the newspaper. The Association’s history page said that South River Park was one of several areas around Edgewater advertised by developers with small lots for sale to build summer vacation cottages for families. Initial prices began at $93 a lot and included the bonus of a subscription to the Washington Post. I suspect that the giving of a newspaper subscription as a bonus for buying a lot is more likely than the story of giving a summer cottage for subscribing to the newspaper.
Before moving to Edgewater, Doug, Lisa, and Joey lived in her house on Baker Avenue in Woodlawn, Maryland.
