Ocean City Then & Now - The Inn on the Ocean

1001 Atlantic Avenue 

by Gordon Katz 

September 2018

Mayor William McCabe on the boardwalk with his new Chevrolet Circa 1927

Ocean City Mayor William W. McCabe and his wife Harriett purchased the vacant lot on the northwest corner of 10th Street and the Boardwalk in 1930. They arranged for the construction of a cottage on the property in 1931 or 1932, probably engaging local builder Charles S. Powell, a native of nearby Taylorsville, who erected a number of such structures in Ocean City during the 1920s and 1930s. After Mayor McCabe decided not to run for re-election in 1934, he and Harriett moved to Salisbury. They sold the house and lot at 1001 Atlantic Avenue in 1936 to J. Ada Beardsworth (1877 – 1963) of Staunton, Virginia.
The University of Virginia Library, which holds an extensive collection of Mrs. Beardsworth’s personal correspondence, provides this biographical snapshot of Ada Beardsworth:
“Ada loved politics, travel, socializing and was often in the company of people with wealth and influence even though her family had a modest income. She was strong minded and wanted to find employment during a time in which society did not encourage women to work outside of the home. She took stenography and typing and applied for positions at the post office, but had to give up after four years of pursuing contacts and making a less than ideal score on the postal examination. She was very concerned about being a financial burden on her father or a husband. Her father was also in favor of her finding a career. She eventually married Professor Thomas Beardsworth [in 1902] after a long courtship (1897-1902). Many of her letters during the courtship reflect her concerns about not having enough money and being dependent on others. However once she was married she maintained her independence and helped her husband to tutor the boys at the Staunton Military Academy [where Thomas was employed as the music director], creating a second home for them.”
Ada and Thomas spent their summers at their cottage in Ocean City. Ada continued coming to the resort almost every year after Thomas passed away in 1941, typically arriving in mid- to late June and leaving in early October.
Ada Beardsworth died on December 11, 1963. Her heirs (she and Thomas had no children) sold her cottage on the Boardwalk in 1969 to Ocean City realtor J. H. Lee Fisher and his wife Carroll. Following Carroll’s death on March 1, 1983, Mr. Fisher sold the property less than four months later to William and Mildred Rhodes for $250,000. The Rhodes couple operated a lodging business at the cottage that they called the “Rhodes Inn”.

"Annabell's" as it appeared in 1996
Photograph by Sandy Hurley

In 1986 Joseph and Annabell Plumer bought the Rhodes Inn for $360,000. They converted it to a bed and breakfast with the name “Annabell’s”. The Baltimore Sun reported on May 24, 1987, “The boardwalk [in Ocean City] has its first bed and breakfast inn this year with the opening of Annabell's on 10th Street and the boardwalk. Annabell Plumer, a local real estate agent, has completely remodeled the interior of a two-story house, filling it with wicker and Victorian-style furnishings to bring a little hominess to beachfront vacationing.”
Mr. and Mrs. Plumer sold the inn in 1996 for $649,000 to Robert and Joyce Landsman, who renamed it “Inn on the Ocean”. The present owners, Charles and Vicki Barrett, bought the inn in 1999 for $950,000. A fire in July 2004 destroyed much of the interior and its furnishings, but the Barretts were able to remodel and restore the facility for guest lodging by early 2005.