Home of the Week: Nate Niles

They purchased the property - waterfront property on the shores of the Severn in the West Annapolis community of Wardour - for $4,000. And that was a lot of money.

"Margaret and I looked at it and thought, 'How are we going to do that?' " Nate Niles said. "She sold her automobile and we scrimped."

That was 1950.

Though Nate's beloved wife, Margaret, died in 2001, he remains in the home.

Nate built the house along with two co-workers from the Naval Academy's math department, where he worked as a professor for 34 years.

"There were three of us who built houses, and we...