From the exterior, it looks deceptively small. Inside, a unique layout makes 3,000 square feet seem deceptively cozy. Sadie Fowle’s West Main Street home is full of contradictions that make for a well-lived-in, and well-loved, home.

Built in the late 1920s by the MacKenzie family, Sam Fowle purchased the home for his young family 51 years ago. It was a surprise purchase, but five decades, a family raised, and frequent, and quintessentially Southern, gatherings on the front porch have proven that surprise to have been a good one.

“He said, ‘Oh, you’ll love it,’” Fowle laughed, recounting the conversation in which her husband surprised her with a house. “He was right — I’ve loved it every since.”

There’s little not to love at 722 W. Main Street: high ceilings and hardwood floors frame a non-traditional floor plan; nooks and crannies abound; small rooms like the sunroom/library and breakfast nook aren’t cramped or confining — they’re intimate, instead.

“It’s just comfortable and cozy. There’s never been a part that we didn’t use. There was no high parlor. It’s just a comfortable, livable house,” Fowle said.

Comfort lurks behind every corner, it would seem. From a foyer and doorway leading to a central staircase, the home appears to split in two. To the west, a dining room leads to a breakfast room, leads to a kitchen. To the east, a 30-foot-long living room branches off into a sunroom/library and down two steps to a den, its walls lined with pine paneling painted a cool white. In the rear of the house the two halves are reunited by an enclosed porch — one of the few changes Fowle has made to the home over the last half century. A working fireplace on the interior wall of living room backs a matching one in the more casual den — both of which got plenty of use during past winters.

But the home’s lack of pretense does not mean it’s lacking in other amenities. It may have no formal parlor but it has five-piece crown molding throughout the house, upstairs and down. A collection of antiques are sprinkled throughout — some pieces quite large and stately — but none overpower a given room. Instead, they seem to simply fit. And unlike many of Washington’s older homes, the tall ceilings were not limited to the first floor; a hall, three bedrooms and two baths all boast the same height, giving a sense of spaciousness.

“It’s not big, but it’s big enough to entertain and have lots of family or just be here by myself,” Fowle said. “It has the most nooks and crannies. I mean, it’s just got character, I think.”

That character extends to a backyard patio framed with plants in the height of summer’s bloom. Behind that, a former brick two-car garage has been renovated to house spillover guests with another bedroom and full bath.

And guests do abound. Fowle’s friends and neighbors are drawn to the comfort of her front porch, complete with swing and comfortable seating.

“It has a great front porch — everyone just loves the porch,” she laughed.

Or perhaps everyone simply loves the community to found on Fowle’s porch. A sense of community might not have brought the family to West Main Street, but it has certainly played a large part in why Fowle has stayed.

“This neighborhood has changed — and not changed — in the last 50 years,” Fowle said, adding that over the years, generations of families have come and gone, new ones arrive, yet all seem to blend into West Main Street community.

“Everybody just gets along. We help each other. It’s just a very good place to live,” Fowle said. “I’ve just never thought about living any place but on West Main Street.”

Fowle’s home may be up for sale, but she has no intention of going far. Once her home sells, she’ll move into her daughter Frannye’s Arts and Crafts bungalow directly across the street. The place where she’s spent the past 50 years is more than a house or a street name. It’s more than a neighborhood. It’s a West Main Street way of life.