A local man named William Fagen built the cottage in the vernacular architectural style using salvaged cargo and wood parts including railroad ties, flooring, balustrades and stairs.

[1][2] On December 1, 1896, the Nathan F. Cobb schooner was heavily damaged by a nor’easter storm off the coast of North Carolina and lost two crewmen.

While attempting to rescue the six surviving crewmen a local Ormond Hotel employee named Freeman Waterhouse drowned.

[5] The interior originally had two bedrooms on the top half story level and heart pine floor boards extended the length of the cottage.

The front of the cottage originally featured a full length wood deck porch that was built from pieces of the ship’s sole (floor).

[7][8] The dining room includes a small closet and the original wood staircase that leads to the bedroom on the upper half story.

During a rescue attempt to save the surviving six crewmen, Freeman Waterhouse, a bookkeeper for the Ormond Hotel, drowned, his body never recovered.

The Nathan Cobb Cottage is one of Volusia County, Florida's most iconic surviving historic landmarks, and stands as an excellent example of vernacular craftsmanship from the late nineteenth century.