An Ocean City beach home 'like a holy place'

While the views from Chuck and Linda Ormsby’s oceanfront Ocean City house are mostly peaceful and always stunning, the couple have had their share of odd encounters.

The emergency landing of a single-prop plane, a seeming invasion of 50-foot high amphibious vehicles, and a gigantic blinking channel buoy washing ashore top the list.

But those things just add excitement for the couple, who bought the beach home in 2018, when their Berkshire Hathaway Realtor Kevin Decosta insisted they come see it immediately, before it was officially listed.

They had a smaller home nearby, but with three children and nine grandchildren, they needed the five bedrooms and 5½ bathrooms in the home’s 3,200 square feet. Every room has a beach view.

The home had been destroyed by Hurricane Sandy in 2012 and completely rebuilt by the previous owners in 2016. The Ormsbys occupy the bottom half of the duplex and share the back patio with their upstairs neighbors.

The couple live in Bucks County but spend as much time in Ocean City as possible, often accompanied by their kids and grandkids. Chuck can often be found playing nerf dodgeball with the kids in the first-floor bonus room or playing cards or games in the family room. It’s also where the family cuddles up on the couches for ballgames or movie nights.

The key selling point was the second-floor’s 30 feet of floor-to-ceiling sliding glass doors with views of the beach and ocean from the kitchen, dining room, and family room. The family room features a fireplace with an imported limestone mantel, hardwood floors, and custom crown molding and wainscoting. The home is decorated in blues and beiges, offering a peaceful, beachy vibe.

Upscale kitchen appliances include a Wolf stove, Sub-Zero refrigerator, and custom cabinets with mother-of-pearl handles. The kitchen is the gathering place for the family, and where they enjoy Linda’s home-cooked meals.

“With a family of 17, you spend a lot of time in the kitchen,” she said. “I wanted a house with a view of the ocean from the kitchen.”

The kitchen and bathrooms all feature extensive tile work. The family refers to the hall bathroom sink, lined with hundreds of small mother-of-pearl tiles, as “the Chiclets sink,” in reference to the candy-coated gum the tiles resemble.

The house is made for outdoor enjoyment. Two bedrooms have their own decks, where family members and guests can peacefully enjoy the salt air. The large back patio, adjacent to the beach, includes a fire pit, grill, and lots of seating.

“We’ve had karaoke parties and a steel drum party with a conga line of dancers,” recalled Chuck, an attorney at Semanoff Ormsby Greenberg & Torchia in Huntingdon Valley. “Neighbors were on their balconies dancing to the steel drum band.”

Aside from its comforts and views, the property has also provided no shortage of unusual stories.

Linda recalled gazing out the window with her daughter on an especially foggy morning, when a huge amphibious vehicle, maybe 50 feet high, emerged from the water and rolled onto the beach. Panicked, her daughter called 911. Then a second one appeared right next to it.

“I thought we were being invaded,” said Chuck. “It turns out they were vintage boats from WWII that were moving from New York to a museum in Virginia Beach.” A storm was brewing and the crafts didn’t have the technology to ride it out.

The family also witnessed a prop jet’s emergency landing when it ran out of gas, and for months, they endured a blinking light from a huge buoy that had washed up to shore. They had to await the tangle of bureaucracy before it was towed back out to sea.

But much of the time the Ormsbys relish the quiet. Devout Catholics, they enjoy hosting clergy, especially those they’ve met through their service missions. For almost 20 years they’ve run the nonprofit Building a Bridge to Uganda, the subject of the award-winning documentary Rescued From Darkness. To date they have built six schools in Uganda serving over 2,000 students.

“We are incredibly blessed and are so grateful to have people who sacrifice their lives for others, and stay here with us and recreate themselves, and then get back to their sacrificial lives,” said Linda. “It feels like a holy place.”

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