The Pamlico River brought Capt. Josephus Wallace to Washington. Many years later, Denise Marx and her husband, Roger Knapp, also sailed into Washington and decided to stay. One hundred and fifty years after Wallace built his house on East Second Street, Marx calls it home.

“It’s the same story for a lot of people that came through here. There are a lot of ex-boaters here,” Marx said.

Built in 1866, the Josephus Wallace house has changed a bit since its construction.

Between 1911 and 1916, the house was relocated westward on the lot, closer to the intersection with Harvey Street. It was then that the front porch was either replaced or enlarged to its current configuration, stretching across the front of the house. It was likely then that the back porch, at the rear of the central hall, was enclosed, and a kitchen was added on one side; a bathroom and walk-in closet on the other, Marx said.

Though the East Second Street neighborhood grew around it, Wallace did not stick around Washington long enough to see the changes. He left town sometime between 1868 and 1870, when the house was foreclosed upon, likely for political reasons.

“Oral tradition indicates that the house was constructed (date unknown) by Captain Josephus Wallace, a Northern sympathizer who left town during the Civil War,” Washington’s community development planner Emily Rebert wrote in an email.

Other oral tradition has been passed along through the years, from Myrtle Morgan, a past owner, to Thomas Darracott, who grew up next door, to more current neighbors, then to Marx and Knapp. Darracott wrote that the home was built, or partially so, from ships’ masts. While the low, stone wall running the perimeter of the front yard is made of ballast rock, Marx hasn’t confirmed that bit of history.

“We’ve been in the attic and underneath the house, but I can’t tell you if that’s true,” Marx laughed.

It’s a simple home; its details breathe of its history. A wide, central hall, meant to capture breezes from the nearby river, is floored with oak mellowed by time here; heart of pine there. A parlor with bay window and a door and window topped by pediments speaks to a formality of the past — a public room for greeting guests. At 2,300 square feet, with 12-foot ceilings downstairs, it’s both cozy and airy.

Downstairs, Marx and Knapp turned one of four spacious rooms into a master suite, using the corner fireplace mantel, found in each of the rooms, serves as a headboard. Upstairs, along with two smaller rooms, there’s potential for another two-room master suite, with rooms’ exterior walls pitched to the roofline and studded with dormer windows.

Over the past 11 years, Marx and Knapp made the yard blossom — from shrubs and flowers lining a garden path around the Harvey Street side of the house to a sunny, square plot for a vegetable garden, framed by the garage/workshop the couple built and a patio area.

“It’s a perfect place for a vegetable garden,” Marx said.

It’s a historic home; a comfortable home; a place where Marx can sit on her porch on a pretty day and greet those strolling by, but Marx said what’s most enjoyable about the Josephus Wallace house is its location and the neighborhood.

“I like being able to walk downtown. I know the neighbors — I know Chris, I know Sharon, I know Alan, I know Ken,” Marx said, pointing towards her neighbors’ homes. “It’s nice knowing your neighbors. It’s like your own neighborhood watch around here.”