Home Buying

Listed: For $77,000 cash, a seasonal gingerbread-style cottage in a religious community

Nestled in a quaint corner of Hamilton, the pink cottage at 6 Mount Zion Ave. looks like the blueprint for a gingerbread house.

The cottage at 6 Mount Zion Ave is one of around 90 seasonal homes in Asbury Grove, a religious community with Methodist roots. Shelley Dame Smith

By Kelly Garrity -- Boston.com correspondent

November 16, 2021

2 minutes to read

Nestled in a quiet corner of Hamilton, the quaint, pink cottage at 6 Mount Zion Ave. looks like the blueprint for a build-your-own gingerbread house, with white bargeboard along the edge of the gabled roof.

The home’s novelty doesn’t end at the door, however. The cottage is one of roughly 90 seasonal homes in Asbury Grove, a religious community with Methodist roots. Another 60 homes in the community are for year-round residents, according to the community’s website.

“We have people of different denominations, Baptists and congregational and some Catholic families, but mostly Protestants,” Roger Perham, the community’s operations manager, said.

The 707-square-foot cottage featured here has two bedrooms and 1.5 bathrooms. Inside, the carpeted, raised living room has wood walls and exposed wooden beams. A gas stove sits on a brick platform.

The kitchen has new wood-look vinyl floors, red countertops, and wood cabinets. The full bathroom is also on the first level and features vinyl flooring and a shower/bathtub combo. The half bathroom upstairs comes with wood floors and houses the washer and dryer. The two bedrooms are carpeted with sloping ceilings.

The seller is asking for $77,000 and cash-only offers, but moving in isn’t quite as simple as writing a check. There’s also a quarterly $743 homeowner’s association fee, and interested buyers also have to submit an application with a personal statement and a letter from their pastor. They must undergo a CORI background check. According to the Fair Housing Act, a religious institution or affiliated organization providing housing may favor or give a preference to persons of the same religion if it is offering the housing for non-commercial purposes and the religion does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, or national origin.

Applicants must demonstrate “a connection with Jesus through the church, and a belief in the Christian faith, and much of what the Bible has to offer,” Perham said. Though they do not need to be lifelong Christians, they must have a deep faith and a willingness to express that faith, Perham said.

Residents at the seasonal cottages in the Grove can enjoy the community from April 15 through Nov. 1. During the season, there are a number of different social gatherings and religious meetings residents can join in on, including church suppers, chili cook-offs, Monday night foot races, and Tuesday night Bible study, Perham said. The main event is camp meeting week every August, with nightly sermons offering a chance to “be renewed to worship and to have fellowship,” according to the Grove website. There’s also a pool, a library, and a coffee shop that’s open every Saturday morning, Perham said.

During the off-season, some seasonal residents relocate to a rental community in Gloucester, though many have year-round homes elsewhere in New England or Florida, Perham said. Perham has lived in the Grove for about 50 years and has been a year-round resident for 23. He’s stayed this long for the location and the community, he said. “I just very much enjoy the people I’ve met at Asbury Grove.”

See photos of the home here: