Bohannon resident Danette Machen dreamed her entire life about restoring the house her family has called home for generations. This past July, Machen and her husband Ricky made the dream a reality, opening the newly-renovated Mariner’s Legacy to the rental market.

Originally built in the late 1860s, Mariner’s Legacy was constructed after the Civil War by shipwrights for Danette’s great-grandfather, Isaac Ward, a sea captain. She said her great-grandfather had been a blockade runner during the Civil War and had used Williams Wharf, which is located just across the East River from the home, to drop off goods bound for Richmond. Ward apparently purchased the property with his war profits.

“Mathews County maritime history radiates throughout the house through decorative items and books describing the long and eventful history of her ancestors and the Chesapeake Bay region,” Danette said.

Each room of the house has been decorated to reflect certain stories ...