The house that inspired ‘Charlotte’s Web’ is up for sale

Looking for a new home? You’d probably rather not hear about spiders on the property. But for one house, that might just be its key selling point.

That’s because the former home of E.B. White—which includes the barn that inspired his novel, “Charlotte’s Web”—is now up for sale, according to Yankee Magazine. The 44-acre saltwater farm in North Brooklin, Maine has been listed at $3.7 million, and includes a farmhouse, a guesthouse and gardens.

https://twitter.com/yankeemagazine/status/892383179293806592

White bought the property in 1933 with his wife, Katharine, 20 years before he would write “Charlotte’s Web.” As the story goes, one day White saw a web in the barn on the property and noticed a spider spinning an egg sac. White never saw the spider again, so he took the egg sac and put it in a box, bringing it with him when he returned to New York later that fall to resume his job as a magazine contributor. The eggs hatched and the tiny spiderlings inspired the tale of Charlotte, a spider who befriends a pig named Wilbur and weaves words into her web to save him from slaughter.

After White’s death in 1985, the property was bought by Robert and Mary Gallant, who have owned it ever since. But the Gallants have since decided to sell the property, and a fan of White’s work could soon find themselves with a nice house and a piece of history to boot.

“They might be very interested in the fact that it was E.B. White’s residence for many years, and that’s where Charlotte lived, and Templeton, and all the history of all of his books,” real estate broker Martha Dischinger told the Bangor Daily News. “This house is in magnificent condition. It’s been lovingly taken care of over the years, since the late 1700s.”

So it sounds like despite the price tag, the owners will have no problem finding a buyer for the house. But just in case, I’m thinking they could find a creative way to let people know this is some house: