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Orem’s Delight, a very small dwelling, is one of the few such 18th century structures to have survived without incorporation into a larger dwelling. The house is a 1 1/2-story brick structure, 20’ x 25’ with an interior chimney at the north end. The east facade and north gable are laid in Flemish bond with glazed headers. The east facade has four bays, an entrance door flanked by two windows of equal size and then a tall narrow window in the northernmost bay. The latter is similar to the type of window seen at Cloverfield and Bowlingly, two much grander houses in Queen Anne’s County. The openings have been slightly altered, but the closer patterns show the original placement. Above the door is a rubbed segmental arch, similar to that above a small window at Bowlingly. On the north gable is a belt course two bricks wide with two connected diamonds in glazed brick below the wide chimney. On either side of the vertical diamond pattern is a small window with 4-pane sash. Both the south and west sides were laid in Flemish bond without glazing, but portions have been relaid.
Both have a stepped watertable. There is shiplap siding in the south gable with two small windows like those in the north gable.
Architecturally, Orem’s Delight is important for several reasons. It possesses many unusual original features, including the fenestration of the main facade, the glazed diamonds on the north gable and the early fireplace. It also has good late-18th century interior detail in the paneling and woodwork. Most significant, perhaps, is the fact that it has survived unchanged into the present. Most people of the 18th century lived in houses of this size, though most were frame rather than brick. Because it was never enlarged, Orem’s Delight remains as an example of the space in which the average family lived in 18th century tidewater Maryland.
The Village of Bellevue is a historic waterfront community on the banks of the Tred Avon River in Talbot County, Maryland.
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