Orient house for sale built in 1716 one of oldest in area

A historic home in Orient is on the market for $1.2 million. The taxes are $6,032.

Built in 1716, the property is known as the Petty Homestead. According to a plaque on the side of the house (with information confirmed by building records), it was named for its owner who purchased the property in 1828: Daniel Petty, and his wife, Mehetable King. The house "remained in the Petty family for many years," the plaque reads.

"It is one of the oldest houses in Orient," said listing agent Janet Markarian, of Daniel Gale Sotheby's International Realty. It is noted on the Southold Town Register of Historic Landmarks, and falls within Orient's historic district, which is included on the National Register of Historic Places. The property is in the Oysterponds Union Free School District.

Containing three bedrooms and two bathrooms, the house totals 1,535 square feet. Some original features remain intact, such as hardwood flooring and a wood-burning stove in the living room.

"It was probably built by a shipwright, as a lot of the early houses were," Markarian said. "It almost looks like a ship when you're in it: A lot of exposed beams that are all joined without nails."

There haven't been many owners of the Petty Homestead, and the seller has lived there for almost 30 years, said Markarian. Living in a historic home "requires a certain degree of dedication," she added.

"At heart, I'm a preservationist, so I love to represent historic homes," she said. "They do have a following, and you either get them or you don't. But most people who come to Orient are looking for that sort of thing."

By Rachel Weiss

rachel.weiss@newsday.com@RachMWeiss

Rachel Weiss joined Newsday in 2016. As a real estate/living multimedia reporter, Rachel writes feature stories and contributes to and appears in on-camera video packages. She was the lead reporter on Newsday’s LI Acts of Kindness series.