Wade cottages on the market
Family plans to close bed & breakfast
BY MARY LANCASTER INDEPENDENT WRITER
Another piece of island history will soon disappear as the Wade Greene family prepares to close its 'Sconset bed and breakfast and has already placed their two vacation rental cottages up for sale. Since 1930, visitors have enjoyed the tranquility and beauty of the summer retreat with its expansive yard overlooking the Atlantic Ocean, its simple, comfortable guest rooms off the rustic and rambling main house and the property's proximity to the quaint village center.

ROB BENCHLEY/The Independent Wade Greene and his wife Susanne in the spacious living room of the main house on the Wade Cottages property.

Now, Wade Greene and his wife, Susanne, are getting older - he is 74 and she is 67 - and their children, in their late 30s, do not wish to take over the business. A decision was made to sell the rental cottages and keep the main building strictly for family stays. No definite date has been set to close the bed and breakfast.

"The idea of not running things has an appeal," Wade Greene said last week while sitting in his spacious living room with exposed beams, lots of dark woodwork, a large fireplace, furnishings that are a mix of family antiques and wicker and many old photos decorating the walls.

The view from outside the front entrance to the Wade Cottages main residence. Currently, there is a bed and breakfast area on one end of the house which will close to the public at a future date. ROB BENCHLEY/ The Independent

The area was called Ocean Park when Greene's grandfather, Frank Edward Wade, purchased the property that had a scattering of small cottages on it. These were either taken down, moved off the land or incorporated into the compound that he built for his family's use and included five new cottages, and the construction of the current living room which joins what were two older, separate cottages that are now the kitchen and dining room on one side and the bed and breakfast rooms on the opposite side. Wade died just before the compound was completed in 1930. That was also the time of the Great Depression, and when the family's finances became affected, Wade's wife, Margaret, began renting some of the cottages.

Around 1940, Greene's mother Anna (Wade) Greene-Pearson, known as Nan, started running the property and increased its business. She was overseer until Greene and his wife assumed responsibilities in 1976. At that point, the couple bought out some of the estate members, sold one cottage to cousin Suzanne DeHeart and sold two others to families. Greene said though there are lot lines established for the two cottages now on the market, the plan is to retain the open yard for all to enjoy.

Greene and his wife spend May through October on Nantucket and live the rest of the year in New York City. She is a sculptor and he is a philanthropic advisor for the Rockefeller family. Prior to that he was a reporter and editor and worked for Newsweek and The New York Times. They have no intention of selling the primary residence, he said, describing it as 'almost like an institution' with a long tradition of hosting 'Sconset Casino cast parties and meetings of island nonprofit groups.

"We want to keep it and hope we can live happily ever after for another

half a century," said Greene. I