538 Academy Street - Hawley Thomas Taft was born in 1819 to Royal and Sarah Taft. early settlers of Talton. The Hawley Business Notices of 1872 list T.V. Taft & Co., Merchant Millers. Thomas Taft bought nine lots in Hawley Borough from Joseph Atkinson in April of 1871 and built the large Victorian house on the corner of Academy Street and Welwood Avenue that same year. It passed to his heirs and then to Martin and Mary Carlon. The house later became the property of Desmond Carlon and in 1970 was sold to Samuel and Mary Bird. It now belongs to Noel Feustel and Victoria Peterson and is currently for sale. A local resident fondly recalls the house from the time it belonged to her grandmother. The double glass doors and the large center hallway led to an elegant staircase. Pocket doors separated the large parlor from the adjacent living room. Across the center hallway was a music room with curving glass windows and another marble fireplace that was matched with one in the dining room next to it. Wainscoting of light and dark cherry was a feature of both the dining room and the kitchen beyond. The second floor had four bedrooms and two maids rooms. Today the house has six bedrooms and six bathrooms. The cross gabled Victorian has ornate cornices, beautiful spindlework on its wrap-around porch, bay windows, and an elaborate cupola with windows on all sides reached by a winding staircase. It is a fine example of an elegant home of the late 1800's and a showcase of the beautiful woods and talented craftsmen of that era. Historic Preservation Award given in 2004 to Drs.Estela Rosa & Jorge Perez for restoration of this property.

This page was one month of the calendar and was made possible through the Wayne County Commissioners and a Tourism Promotion Committee’s Tourism Grant.