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Homeowner J. R. Best points out standing water that caused a section of the Nomini Cliffs to give way
Officials declared three homes unfit for occupancy following this landslide along a section of Nomini Cliffs Workers move James and Ellen Best's home across the street to a lot farther from the eroding Nomini Cliffs in Westmoreland County. |
BY FRANK DELANO
"It's the most expensive move I've ever made," Ellen M. Best said as her dream house on a Potomac River cliff near Montross slowly rolled across the street to a safer lot.
Until Tuesday, the 2,700-square-foot, two-story house sat 7,150 feet above the river at the top of Nomini Cliffs. The house and its spectacular view cost the Bests $470,000 in 2005.
"On a clear day, you can see the U.S. 301 bridge 17 miles away up the river," said her husband.
The lot also offers views of the Maryland shore six miles away and the bald eagles returning to their nest in the trees that grew from a shelf of the cliff beneath their house.
But the Bests' paradise became their purgatory in November when a chunk of the cliff gave way after heavy rains. The landslide took most of their fence at the cliff's edge and moved the edge closer to the house.
The Bests paid a geological engineer $1,000 to inspect the property.
"He told us when the last five sections of the fence went--and they were certainly going to--that we could no longer safely stay in our home. We were lucky that the piece of land across the street was available," Ellen Best said.
The Bests paid $25,000 for the new site, plus the costs of clearing and filling it and digging and pouring concrete footers for the new foundation.
If another landslide had demolished the house on its cliff-side lot, "Insurance would not pay for the loss and the mortgage company would hold us to the mortgage," said James Best.
He went online and found Expert House Movers Inc. in Salisbury, Md.
"If man made it, we can move it," said company president Jerry Matyiko. The company has moved many large structures, including the 208-foot-tall Cape Hatteras Lighthouse in 1999.
"I figured if this guy moved the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse, he could move my house," said James Best, who works for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Best said he paid the house movers $36,000 to do the job.
At about 80,000 pounds, the house "was not a particularly heavy load," Matyiko said. "But it was an awkward load with its decks and screened porch."
Last week, Matyiko's men jacked it and balanced it on four, eight-wheeled, self-propelled hydraulic dollies.
Then came the hardest part--wheeling the house around so that its deck and screen porch that once faced the river would face the back of the new lot across the street. "When we rotated the house, the dolly wheels came within five feet of the edge of the cliff," said Matyiko.
Tuesday morning, Westmoreland County deputies closed North Independence Drive to allow the house movers to assemble steel ramps for the house to roll across the street. Power company crews took down electric lines that serve about 400 Stratford Harbour customers. The utility work cost another $7,000, said the Bests.
At 10:59 a.m., the wheels on the dollies began to roll. An hour later, the house had completed its 250-foot journey to its new site.
"The candles were still sitting on the sills of the front windows," said Ellen Best.
She said it will take three more weeks to build new foundations ($20,000) under the house and install a new septic system ($8,000). After that, a new driveway and landscaping will be added.
The final bill will be $100,000 "or maybe a little bit more," she said. The money will come from her retirement account. "But it had to be done," she said.
"I'm sad," she said, "because I've lost my beautiful view. Instead of looking out my kitchen window and seeing the river, now I'll see somebody's backyard."
The Bests hope to sell the house on its new site along with the vacant parcel where it once stood.
"We want waterfront property and we don't have that anymore," said James Best.
Frank Delano: 804/761-4300
Email: fpdelano@gmail.com
