Tunnell-West House

Tunnell-West House. Circa 1860. , Welcome to the Historic Village in Ocean View!, The Tunnell-West House was built around 1860 by John and Sarah Vaughn Tunnell of Muddy Neck. We assume they built it for a tenant farmer to use while taking care of the Tunnell's adjoining property. In 1863, Mr. Tunnell passed away and the property passed on to his daughter and her husband, Eliza and George Handy West. George West was a ship's captain who owned his own ship, The Chief. He and Eliza gave each of their eight children a property in the village of Ocean View. West Avenue is named after him. The park was donated to Ocean View by the family of their oldest child, John T. West., The house is set up to represent a typical Civil War-era home, furnished in period furniture, most of which was donated by the local families. The Ocean View Historical Society (now doing business as the Historic Village in Ocean View) saved the house from demolition in 2008 and has worked to restore the three rooms downstairs as a front parlor off Central Avenue, a keeping room/kitchen in the center, and a bedroom to the east., Between the house and the post office is a two-seater outhouse, donated by the Archut family, which has been restored, but not for modern day use. The outhouse would have been located much farther away from the house because of the odor. Just north of the house, notice the functioning water pump, which would have been the sole source of water for the home until the early 1930s.