The land on which this Queen Anne mansion was built was bought in 1880 by Otho Green (1840-1917) and Colonel John Thompson Frieze (1826-1898). Otho Green was the owner of the Rogers Tavern on Washington Street from 1886 to 1901 and was an agent of the Adams Express Company of Havre de Grace. Col. Frieze was a partner in the firm of A. & G. T. Lyon & Company with George T. Lyon on St. John Street.

Green and Frieze sold the large parcel of land in 1886 to Murray Vandiver (1845-1916) who built this mansion in 1886 as a wedding present for his new wife, Annie Clayton Vandiver (1858-1939), and to reflect his wealth and prominence. They were married in the Hotel Bellevue in Philadelphia in June 1886, where there were “many invited guests and the wedding was elegantly conducted.”

The year before his marriage Murray Vandiver had a schooner built by Robert A. Magowan and named the “Murray Vandiver,” that was 88 feet long and weighed 112 tons (he sold it later to D. S. Elliott, the Superintendent of the Great Northern Express Company, who in turn sold it to R.B. White in 1913). Murray had started a lumber business in Havre de Grace in 1865 and ran it until 1878 when he joined his father, Robert Rice Vandiver (1805-1885), in the business of shipping brick molding sand to Baltimore, Philadelphia, and other cities. Robert R. Vandiver and his wife, Mary, had come to Havre de Grace around 1839. He was a contractor who built the lock at Lapidum for the Susquehanna and Tidewater Canal, and “The Cut” that took the railroad from west to east on St. Clair Street (now Pennington Avenue) to the river.

Murray Vandiver served as mayor during the construction of the mansion and was a member of the House of Delegates, and State Treasurer for 16 years. In 1889 he was appointed Collector of Internal Revenue for Maryland by President Grover Cleveland. He also was a partner in the “Gold Mine” toll bridge that crossed the Susquehanna River (the pedestals of which can still be seen in the river) and had many other holdings. Murray and Annie Vandiver were also friends with President Cleveland and his wife, even participating in the President’s historic White House wedding. Murray and Annie had two children, Robert M. Vandiver (who later married Katharine) and Dorothy Vandiver (who later married Thomas Hilliard).

The scale of this frame structure is evidenced through five multi-flued chimneys. Original and replicated fixtures and stained glass adorn the building, including the original chandelier in the parlor and the original stained glass pieces in the bay window. The Rodgers and O’Neill rooms enjoy “split chimney” fireplaces adorned with custom tile pieces from the period.

At the time of the Maryland MIHP inventory in 1977, the house was divided into four apartments and had a large garden at the rear containing four outbuildings; a barn, a privy, a gazebo and a garden shed. Most remarkable was the rusticated gazebo. Built of branches and twigs, the gazebo had a pyramidal wood-shingled roof. Similar kinds of open wood structures, also built of branches, were designed for Central Park in New York City, such as the Cop Cot Gazebo. The 1886 gazebo now stands between two of the Vandiver Inn buildings and weddings are often conducted under it.

Murray’s son, Robert M. Vandiver and wife Katharine, as well as their daughter, Anne Vandiver Mitchell and her husband, Harry Mitchell, lived in the mansion at different times until 1981, when Harry Mitchell, as a widower, sold the property to Dr. Murli N. Mathur and his wife, Kamlesh Mathur.

In November 1985, Dr. Mathur sold this property to Allen J. Fair, a local realtor and investor, who with his associates went about a huge restoration and conversion of the mansion from four apartments to a traditional bed and breakfast inn. Their level of detail was such that they even located, repurchased, and reinstalled stained glass windows that had previously been removed from the house. By Labor Day 1987 the new Vandiver Inn opened and welcomed the public on the 1987 Annual Candlelight Tour. The structure was described as painted in a soft green with deep green trim. It had formal dining areas, beautiful tiled fireplaces, porches, large baths, a Victorian parlor, and eight bedrooms, each named for a distinguished citizen of Havre de Grace.

Chef Charles Rothwell, an honor graduate of Baltimore’s International Culinary Arts Institute, was the Innkeeper. By 1990, however, Mark and Jill Traub were the Innkeepers, followed by Mary McKee in 1991, a graduate of the Culinary Institute of America. In 1996, the Vandiver Inn once more was opened to the Annual Candlelight Tour by Innkeepers, Robert and Sarah Scardina; and in 1999 the Innkeeper was Suzanne Mottek.

In 2002, Allen Fair sold the Inn to John and Susan Muldoon. They expanded the inn to adjoining houses (the Kent and Murphy Guest Houses) and improved the property, which they continue to operate as the Vandiver Inn. They later added the Lyon House across the street as an integral part of their boutique lodging and event center. Remodeling of the dining rooms and the parlor had enhanced the elegance of these public rooms. The main dining room had freshly refinished hardwood floors and deep burgundy tones which highlighted the white brick fireplace. The parlor with its 100-year-old pine floor had restful sky blue walls accented by the dark wood trim and the Muldoons are continually making improvements.

This property is owned by John Henry Resorts LLC and received an award from the Havre de Grace Historic Preservation Commission in 2012.

County Records
Built 1886. 5789 sq ft, 9.5 baths, 2 stories, no basement, 0.26 acre lot.