Ross-Carroll House

Duane's take

Here's how the marker tells it, and I'll pass it along just the same. Around 1899, a woman named Mary Ross, born Mary Dwyer, built herself a house on land that had belonged to her father, Thomas Dwyer. She inherited that land, and what she did with it was something worth remembering.

She chose cypress for the bones of the place, and she did not stop there. This is a Queen Anne style house, and Mary dressed it accordingly. There's an open tower.

There's a second level porch graced with horseshoe arches. And if you look close, you'll find jigsawn friezes and brackets, the kind of Victorian ornamentation that says somebody cared deeply about how a thing looks, not just whether it stands. Now, houses like this have a way of passing down through families, and this one did exactly that.

In 1941, Mary's daughter Matilda Carroll, born Matilda Ross, inherited the house. It stayed in the family from there, through the years, through whatever the world brought to Washington County, all the way until 1970. Three generations touched by one piece of land, one father's gift, one daughter's vision in cypress and carved wood.

The Ross-Carroll House. It's still standing, and now you know why that means something.

What the marker says

About 1899, Mary (Dwyer) Ross built this house on land she inherited from her father, Thomas Dwyer. Built of cypress, the Queen Anne style house features Victorian ornamentation in its open tower, a second level porch with horseshoe arches, and jigsawn friezes and brackets. Mary's daughter Matilda (Ross) Carroll inherited the house in 1941, and it remained in the family until 1970.