Chesapeake Seafood House

The John McGredy Mansion in the Mid 1800’s was turned into Chesapeake Seafood House in 1983. In 1827, James Henderson entered this land at the government land office. Henderson sold the land to Humphrey Keyes in 1832. Keyes was an early settler of the county and died in 1833, leaving the property to his sons Robert and Gershom. In 1857, John McGredy bought the five acres on which this house stands for $1,000. The house was then built shortly after this, and John McGredy lived here until his death in 1890. Mrs. Grace Bullard Colby now recalls there were a great number of peach trees near the house and believes these were a large nursery at one point in time. In 1893, McGredy’s widow sold the house and 5 acres for $10,000 to William H. Colby who named it Hazelwood. It was to become the scene of many fine parties and social gatherings.

The life of Judge William H. Colby is the great American success story we all love to hear! Judge William lost both his parents by the age of 13 and, penniless, found his way from New York to Springfield Illinois. He was employed by George Bergen whose farm was across the road from this house and is now Bergen Park. He worked hard and on rainy days secretly studied law books, hiding them in a wheat bin. He was to become prominent as a lawyer, city attorney, and probate judge. His family lived here until 1912. For the next forty years the house passed through many hands and from 1955 to 1984 was occupied by the Crifasi family. In 1984 the house was purchased by the Joslins whom re-opened it under the name of “Chesapeake Seafood House.” Since then, we have specialized in fresh seafood from all over the world.