MARROWSTONE ISLAND — A property gift to the operators of the schooner Adventuress from the family of a firefighter who died in the line of duty will provide a venue for educational programs while paying tribute to the man’s legacy.
“This is an extraordinary gift that will allow us to sustain the mission of the Adventuress,” Sound Experience Executive Director Catherine Collins said of the bequest.
“It will give us a place to test and evaluate the latest green technologies before putting them in operation.”
Tacoma firefighter Albert Nejmeh, who collapsed and died of a heart attack in 2013 while on an aid call, built by hand a two-story, 2,000 square-foot house on an isolated five-acre parcel at the end of Gybe Ho Road.
Nejmeh had just completed the project at the time of his death.
Nejmeh had served as captain of the Adventuress in the 1990s and had maintained close ties to the organization, so passing the home on to the Port Townsend nonprofit that operates the schooner seemed to be a natural act, according to his family.
“Al led such a beautifully unconventional life and built a beautifully unconventional home that selling it in a conventional manner didn’t make sense to us,” Greg Nejmeh said of his older brother.
“We wanted someone to have the property who was going to appreciate it and carry on his life’s work.
“Selling it to someone who had no connection to Al’s vision or someone who would knock down the house and start over didn’t seem right.”
Shortly after his brother’s death, Greg Nejmeh took a trip to Italy and had a realization while in the Sistine Chapel in Vatican City: Michelangelo had created his masterpiece in that church, and his brother’s masterpiece lived in those Marrowstone Island woods.
It was at that point that Greg Nejmeh began referring to the property as “Sistine on the Sound.”
The house is Albert Nejmeh’s monument to sustainability, according to his close friend Teresa Soucie.
“This house emulates who he was,” said Soucie as she scraped moss off the deck Monday.
On Monday, about 30 members of the Adventuress family came out to the property as part of a day of service honoring Martin Luther King Jr.
The crew cleaned up the property, which had been neglected for about two years, by clearing brush, gardening, pressure washing buildings and burning loose wood.
The house features a large shop and a living area that is heated with wood and solar power, and includes a composting toilet and a functioning water system.
He had also built a hot tub in the backyard and a deck that resembles a performance stage situated against a large fallen tree.
The inside of the house is essentially two rooms: an area with a high ceiling that is designed for exercise and has climbing studs on the walls, which is adjacent to a shop and a smaller lofted living area.
Unique architectural touches include a large finished tree trunk as a support pillar with a branch attached that acts as a desk seat.
Vertical dividing boards sport musical notes, one spelling out Beethoven’s “Ode to Joy” and another a line from Woody Guthrie’s “This Land is Your Land.”
Prior to moving to the state in the 1990s, Nejmeh worked on the Clearwater, a Hudson River schooner that is credited with decreasing pollution in that waterway.
Nejmeh maintained close ties with the Clearwater and its public face, folk legend Pete Seeger, who had called the family with condolences after Nejmeh’s death, Collins said.
Collins said no decisions on the use of the space have been made, but calls it “a land Adventuress” where crew can go between sailings to relax and a place where sustainable technologies can be tested.
“The Adventuress has such a busy schedule that we don’t have the ability to experiment how things work,” she said,
“We can try out the systems here, to see how they work, and then move them on board after the testing.”
Such systems could include new battery formats as well as any technology that moves the ship toward its goal of zero emissions, Collins said.
“Al was a great example for all of us. He taught us how to live off the grid sustainably and simply,” Collins said.
“We want to keep that going here.”
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Jefferson County Editor Charlie Bermant can be reached at 360-385-2335 or cbermant@peninsuladailynews.com.
