The plot of ground at 421 N. State Road, where the Maris house stands, was originally part of a 400 acre parcel which George Maris, Sr. purchased from Robert Toomer in 1683. For the next 229 years this property remained in the Maris family, and only in 1912 did the homesite (then 30 acres and one rod), pass on to one Josiah Smith for the handsome sum of $7,500.

As the tract of land diminished over the years, thru being subdivided, so the dollar value increased in inverse proportion. i.e. a 30 acre and one rood (40 square rods or 1/4 acre) plot which was sold to Asa Maris in 1827 for $1,260.42, brought $160,000 as a 2.6 acre plot in 1983.

Also worth noting is the fact that as late as 1919 there were special deed restrictions against using the Maris property for "a hotel, tavern, drinking saloon, store, warehouse or factory, blacksmith, carpenter or wheelwright shop, steam mill, tannery, slaughter house, skin dressing establishment, livery stable, glue, soap, candle or starch manufactory."

Moreover, there were certain types of building code restraints placed upon the Maris land as follows: ".. .Heirs and assigns shall not at any time hereafter erect or build, or permit to be erected or built,.. .more than two dwelling houses, and the cost of said two dwellings shall not be less than $4.500 each, that with the exception of two stables or garage. .."

Yet another point of interest is the ironical situation in which the 1827 deed assigning the Maris tract to Asa Maris was somehow lost. A generation later, Ellis Maris, seeking a clear title to the property, "... on the 16h day of April, A.D. 1858, presented to the Court of Common Pleas of Delaware County a petition setting forth, among other things, that the aforesaid deed had been lost, is not in the possession of your petitioner, and cannot be found."

Over many years this Joseph P. Maris home has undergone several additions, including a new kitchen and a Mansard roof, and stands today as an imposing Quaker-Victorian dwelling.

Most century-old houses harbor their own special secrets and the Maris home is no exception. In fact, some years ago when a large front porch was being rebuilt, a walled-in room was discovered below ground level just in front of the northeast corner of the original building. Could the vault-like space have been a root cellar? or perhaps a hideaway for slaves escaping north via the underground railroad? or a bomb shelter built during World War II?

Such ideas sound plausible, but strangely there is no identifiable door, window, or other access to this hidden chamber, and thus its mysterious role in the lives of the Maris family remains a puzzle for historians to ponder.