Sold After 84 Years

WILDWOOD – Mike and Tina Stetter were browsing Cape-area real estate listings online last March when they came across a stately, neoclassical, century-old mansion.
The Stetters were living in Las Vegas, Nev. where they worked as event caterers but wanted to move back to the East Coast where they originated. After two years of searching for the right house, they fell in love with photos of the historic mansion and called the Realtor to make an offer.
They were quickly outbid.
“Then that deal fell through,” Mike Stetter said. “I said (to Tina), ‘You need to fly out tomorrow and look at that house.’”
The next day, Tina Stetter toured the house and showed Mike via FaceTime.
“When I came in, I was just in awe,” she said. “The entryways were so grand and it just felt like home.”
But another potential buyer was touring the house at the same time.
“I didn’t even get upstairs and (Mike’s) like, ‘Tell them to put an offer in now,’” Tina Stetter recalled.
The Stetters closed on the J. Thompson Baker House April 30. It was the first time the house changed ownership in 84 years.
The Classical Revival house is the only residence in Wildwood on both the state and National Register of Historic Places. It was built as a beachfront summer home in 1904 by J. Thompson Baker, Wildwood’s founding developer, and first mayor.
Baker wanted his house to resemble the White House in Washington, according to Wildwood Partners in Preservation. Soon-to-be president Woodrow Wilson and artist Norman Rockwell were some of the visitors to stay at the house.
After 11 months as mayor, Baker was elected to represent New Jersey’s southernmost district in Congress. His wife Margaret and their daughters were active suffragettes who formed the Wildwood Civic Club in 1912, giving speeches and holding meetings in the living room of the house.
Baker died in 1919, 10 months after his daughter Katherine died from tuberculosis. Margaret Baker lived in the house until 1934, when she sold it to the Civic Club. They used it as their clubhouse for over eight decades before the Stetters bought it.
Club Treasurer Valerie Trivelis told the Herald in December 2017 they listed the house for sale because membership was dwindling and they could no longer afford to maintain or repair the house.
“We don’t want to spend all of the money we raise on the upkeep of this house,” she said at the time. “It’s beginning to show its age.”
The Stetters specifically wanted a historic house that needed work. They had handiwork experience from flipping houses before they moved to Las Vegas in 1997.
“I lived in a modern house in Las Vegas, but really, the modern houses are not built well,” Mike Stetter said. “There’s nothing really special about them.”
The leaky roof was the first part of the Baker House they fixed. Then, they scraped off water-damaged plaster, replastered damaged walls, and rebuilt rotting exterior steps.
Next, the Stetters plan to restore the original claw-foot tubs, sand and repaint windows, and touch up the Historic Register plaque on the front of the house, as well as the Civic Club sign on the portico.
“I wanted something that I could work on, a project,” Mike Stetter said. “Not just a house that they remodeled everything and made it modern. I wanted an older house that we could restore.”
The Stetters were originally from Central Pennsylvania and lived in Ocean City before moving to Las Vegas. Some of the clients for whom they catered include Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods and the Amazon Corporation.
“My job is great,” Mike Stetter said. “But other than that, I don’t like it there (in Las Vegas.)…It’s not family-oriented.”
Some of what set Cape May County apart from Las Vegas for the Stetters was the Cape’s abundance of family-owned restaurants, the county zoo, Wildwood’s historic downtown, and kind locals.
“I don’t consider (people in Las Vegas) charitable,” Mike Stetter said. “They think about themselves and that’s about it.”
Stetter said many of their Las Vegas neighbors had moved there solely for the warm climate or the proximity to casinos.
“I mean, is that enough of a reason to live somewhere?” he asked.
The main factor that made the Stetters choose Wildwood was the “community.”
“I feel at home here,” he said. “We lived in a part of Las Vegas where there’s a lot of gated areas. I lived there many years, and I don’t know one of my neighbors. All our neighbors ever did was ask us for donations. That’s the only time they’d interact with you.
“It’s not like here,” he continued. “People come over and talk to you and say hello. The people are very friendly here. There’s a hometown atmosphere here.”
“East Coast people are friendlier,” Tina Stetter agreed.
Since the Stetters moved into the Baker House, locals and Civic Club members have given them original furniture from the house as well as other artifacts related to Wildwood history or the Victorian era prior to when the house was built.
On Dec. 31, members of Partners in Preservation toured the house for the first time since the Civic Club sold it. The nonprofit group was responsible for getting the house listed on the Historic Register in 1996.
During the visit, members Cathy Smith, Nilda Langston, Sophia Gonzalez, David Williams, and Theresa Williams brought photos, written histories, and a limited-edition wooden cutout of the house for the Stetter family. They also shared some of their own memories of the house.
“They care about the place,” Mike Stetter said.
The Stetters are retiring from the catering business and living in the Baker House year round with frequent visits from their extended family who live in the area.
“This is my final resting place,” Mike Stetter said. “This is where I want to be.”
To contact Taylor Henry, email thenry@cmcherald.com.