Among Gardens, With Views of the Cove

April 02, 2024 4:40 pm • Last Updated: April 02, 2024 4:40 pm

Buyers in search of a classic colonial house, with a truly special setting, will find this new-to-market property compelling

Newly introduced to the market is 150 Cove View Rd., New London, a four-bedroom colonial with an attached two-car garage. The asking price is $499,000, and the listing agent is Elizabeth Johnstone with Berkshire Hathaway’s Mystic brokerage.

By Gretchen A. Peck

Introduced to the market this week 150 Cove View Road in New London is a colonial-styled home, with a classic covered front porch, an attached two-car garage, outdoor deck, hardwood floors and a remarkable location.

Julia Chase Brand and George Brand are the homeowners. They’ve enlisted Elizabeth Johnstone, a Realtor with Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices New England Properties’ brokerage in Mystic, to present the property to the market. Julia Chase Brand answered questions from Welcome Home about the house and its special setting.

“There is virtually no traffic on this cul-de-sac,” she remarked. “The neighbors are super-friendly.”

The eat-in kitchen has an open-plan design, seamlessly transitioning into the dining area. It also has sliding doors that welcome in natural light and provide an easy flow out to a deck.

As its address implies, the property has views of Alewife Cove, a tidal estuary and home to a host of water birds and striped bass. The nonprofit Alewife Cove Conservancy, a group of local residents and conservationists, organized in 2016 as stewards of the cove, vowing to protect the natural ecosystem.

Local residents enjoy views of the cove from the shores of nearby Ocean Beach Park and Waterford Beach Park. It’s a calm and shallow body of water to explore by kayak or paddleboard, with an outlet to Long Island Sound between the two beaches. On any given day year-round elegant white egrets and great blue herons graze here, and osprey nest on a high perch overlooking the tidal water.

The colonial-style house was built in 2002, with a covered front porch, 2,434 square feet of interior living space, four bedrooms, and an attached two-car garage.

In the living room, there’s a cozy gas fireplace, surrounded by marble. It’s where the family’s Christmas stockings were placed each December.

“Wide windows in every room catch the light from dawn to sunset, with unobstructed views over the meadow, salt marsh and Alewife Cove, and on into the Waterford woods,” the homeowner said.

The main-level floor plan features an open-plan kitchen and dining room, as well as a spacious living room, with a gas fireplace surrounded by marble. Stockings were hung from the mantel each Christmas season. Sliding doors in the eat-in kitchen open out to a back deck, affording more space for outdoor seating and dining furnishings.

From its second-level position, the primary bedroom—one of four bedrooms—serves up a beautiful view of the gardens and the cove beyond them.

As the address implies, 150 Cove View Road looks out across gardens and meadows to Alewife Cove, where local residents enjoy paddleboarding and kayaking.

During their time living here, they made a number of improvements to the house. For example, they replaced the air conditioning units and garage-door motors, and built a new set of exterior steps. Because they wanted to use the back deck for breakfasts in the summer months, they considered the flow from the kitchen through the interiors and out to the deck. They cut at 4-by-3.5-foot pass-through between the kitchen and TV room, bringing a view of the cove into the kitchen area.

The house is situated on a 0.44-acre lot, just a half-mile away from the beaches. It’s also convenient to the region’s major employers, such as L&M Hospital, Pfizer, the Naval Submarine Base, the Coast Guard Academy, Connecticut College, Mitchell College, and General Dynamics/Electric Boat. It’s within a quick drive of Mystic, Connecticut; Westerly, Rhode Island; the Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun resorts and casinos, and a handful of state parks to explore.

“I was a wildlife biologist, and the property has a National Wildlife Certification as a wildlife habitat, with a stream and varied bird- and butterfly-friendly plantings. … There are mulberry, blueberry, raspberry [bushes], figs, plums and a vegetable patch,” the homeowner noted. “Perennials flower from early spring to the first frost, starting with forsythia, daffodils and wild narcissus in both the back and front. English bluebells, lilacs, peonies and iris blooms in late spring—and in summer, daylilies, golden coreopsis, red-yellow Indian blanket, foxgloves, purpose liatris, daisies, and a meadow full of wildflowers.

The setting is spectacular with color three seasons of the year. The owners have tended to a pollinator pathway garden, with pink climbing roses, daylilies, golden coreopsis, red-yellow Indian blanket, and a variety of other flowers.

“Along the summer porch are blue hydrangea and pink climbing roses, and in the fall, yellow, blue and white asters feed the last of the migrating monarch butterflies as they travel south,” she added.

When autumn arrives, the deciduous trees also deliver a dazzling display of color.

“This is an easy house to love,” the seller reflected.

The asking price for 150 Cove View Road, New London, is $499,000.

Property: 150 Cove View Rd., New London

Bedrooms: 4

Baths: 3

Square Footage: 2,434

Acreage: 0.44

Asking Price: $499,000

Listing Agent: Elizabeth Johnstone, Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices, New England Properties, Mystic brokerage; Mobile: (860) 287-1641; elizabethjohnstone@bhhsne.com

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