Photo: http://realestate.yahoo.com/promo/famed-presidential-fishing-hole-hits-the-market.html
Presidents came here to relax and decompress. Celebrities came here to get away from the glitz and glam of Hollywood. And now it can be yours.
Located at 12929 Catoctin Hollow Road in Thurmont, MD, Trout Run is known as the second Camp David — in part because of its close proximity to Camp David, but also because it stood in for the real Camp David in several 2004 episodes of the political TV drama, “The West Wing”.
This 13 bed/9 bath piece of novelty real estate is comprised of five, fully furnished stone buildings, all of which are housed on 453 acres in Maryland’s Catoctin Mountains. Among its many amenities are features such as an “Olympic-size swimming pool, barbecue pavilion, [wooded] trails, horseback riding,” tennis court, private two-mile trout stream named Little Hunting Creek (heralded as “one of the best [fishing streams] in the Mid-Atlantic region” by naturalists), and as much grouse, deer, and wild turkey hunting as you can stand.
Trout Run’s history begins in 1929, when its land was bought by one of President Herbert Hoover’s staff members before Camp David’s construction. When he initially stayed on the property, President Hoover camped out in a tent, then later stayed in a one-room cabin that met its unfortunate end at the hands of a tornado. Today, one of Trout Run’s five buildings is named Hoover House. Not only does this 1930s one-bedroom cabin feature an enclosed heated porch within sight of the creek, but it also comes furnished with Hoover’s own furniture.
Photo: http://realestate.yahoo.com/promo/famed-presidential-fishing-hole-hits-the-market.html
Other presidents, as well as celebs and VIPs, have visited this tranquil location. President Franklin D. Roosevelt and British prime minister Winston Churchill retreated here to fish during World War II — in fact, a fishing bridge on the property was named after him and features a sign with his initials. President Dwight D. Eisenhower visited so he could fish and take part in watercolor painting. And many a famous Hollywood star — Betty Davis, James Cagney, Clark Gable, Amos ‘n’ Andy, and Claudette Colbert to name a few — stayed here as well.
In 1945, a Washington D.C. Cadillac dealer by the name of Floyd Akers purchased Trout Run after leasing it a while. The property has since passed on to Akers’ daughter, Tomajean, and her husband, Howard Haugerud, “a former high-ranking State Department official who served under three presidents” and “a former publisher of the ‘Stars and Stripes’ newspaper”. The couple have owned Trout Run for the past 60 years.
Photo: http://realestate.yahoo.com/promo/famed-presidential-fishing-hole-hits-the-market.html
The pair wanted to sell this sportsman’s dream retreat in an auction back in 2003, but Howard backed out at the last minute. Originally, they wanted $20 million. However, if you are interested in purchasing this property now, the listing price has been reduced to just $8.95 million.
A small price to pay for so much privacy and so much history, don’t you think?
