Mysterious island used as brothel outside Washington, D.C. lists for $2.1M

A mysterious Chesapeake Bay island as soon as used as a brothel has hit the marketplace for $2.1 million.

Generally known as Tippity Wichity Island — a 90-minute drive from Washington D.C. — the 5-acre enclave is understood for its shady, but colourful previous.

The present homeowners, Gail and John Harmon, advised Insider they believed the island served as a brothel after the Civil Battle and was operated by a soldier named Capt. Henry Howgate.

Information present Howgate was one of many first residents of Tippity Wichity Island, in response to the itemizing from Sotheby’s. The itemizing provides Howgate bought it in 1879.

Howgate had a prolonged rap sheet, which included convictions for fraud and embezzlement, in response to an article printed in 1895 by The Information.

In the meantime, the Harmons bought the island as a timeshare within the Seventies for $125,000, once they and one other couple noticed an advert within the categorised part of a neighborhood newspaper, the Washingtonian. The Harmons had been on the hunt for a trip house by the water once they moved to Washington for a navy dedication on the time, they stated.

The advert caught their eye, which included a quote from William Shakespeare’s play, “Richard II,” that learn: “This different Eden, demi-paradise, This fortress constructed by Nature for herself.”

“[We] had been blown away by how fantastic it was,” Gail Harmon stated of the primary time they visited the island.

For 30 years, the 2 {couples} alternated weekends — till the opposite pair determined to promote their share to the Harmons practically a decade in the past, they advised Insider.

Earlier than its use as a trip retreat, it had a wholly totally different objective.

Passing Tippity Wichity Island on a Potomac River cruise in 2017, Jody Argo Schroath, an editor of Chesapeake Bay Journal, reported how locals believed the title suggests a bordello was constructed on the island after the Civil Battle. 

“It’s a corruption of the title ‘Tippling and Witchery Island,’ named for a home of ill-repute positioned there following the Civil Battle,” Schroath wrote within the column.

In the meantime, a good friend advised Gail that the island might have additionally served as an unlawful distillery throughout the Prohibition Space within the Nineteen Twenties. The good friend revealed that their father would import casks of whiskey to the island throughout that interval.

“It was an ideal place to fulfill your purchasers,” she stated. “If the federal authorities got here up the river, you might go roll off the again.”

A five-minute boat journey from the mainland, and with an electrical system that holds a backup generator, the island might additionally function a full-time residence.

The package deal features a three-bedroom cottage with an open-plan residing and eating room, in addition to a wood-burning range. Different options embody a dock, a seashore, a launch space for kayaks and canoes, and a heated outside swimming pool.

“Washington, D.C., was nonetheless a small outpost within the 1800s,” David DeSantis, the dealer on the itemizing, advised Insider. “It was the wilderness. There was loads of piracy on the water, it was type of a lawless atmosphere.”

“By present requirements of what individuals consider within the US as beachfront summer season properties, that is nonetheless fairly modest,” DeSantis added. “Nevertheless it’s obtained loads of attraction. The home is extra like an ‘expanded cottage.’ It’s not like residing in a mansion on an island. You might flip it into that should you needed to however that’s not their vibe.”

Because the Harmons are nearing 80, they stated age performed an element of their resolution to lastly promote their beloved island.

“It’s bittersweet,” Gail stated.