Ocean City Woman Opens Dollhouse Row Home for Holiday Tours

Ginny Chappell has thrown open her 800-square-foot dwelling on Wovern Place for Ocean City's Holiday House Tour for the third year. The structure perches on Dollhouse Row, where nine dwellings erected in 1927 line the street.

Chappell adorned her house in blue and white this year. Visitors flock to see it. As many as 500 guests wander through each year when the tour runs.

The retired nurse stumbled upon the street as a twentysomething visiting the Shore. She snatched up the place in 2020 after a previous deal on a different house collapsed two months earlier.

She'd owned a 400-square-foot cottage in the south end of Ocean City since 2015. Chappell was living in Franklinville when she first hunted for a vacation spot on the street, but nothing was available then.

The homeowner now juggles two part-time jobs in Ocean City as a salesperson at Artisan Body Products and as an assistant innkeeper at Coastal Chateau. She shares the residence, which previous owners named Grayce, with two long-haired mini-Dachshunds.

The first floor holds a family room, kitchen, and dining area. Upstairs? A full bathroom sits wedged between two bedrooms, with a stacked washer and dryer tucked behind a curtain.

Chappell spent four days hunting for Christmas-themed mugs in blue and white for her coffee and hot chocolate station. Residents of Wovern Place call themselves the cottage keepers.