Restoring Charleston: Bonus Material

The Whetsell Bridal Cabin

    In the summer of 2016, we rehabbed the Appleby House and the Bridal Cabin, filming both projects for television. Until this week, I had no idea of the link between these two properties on opposite sides of St. George, South Carolina.

The Appleby House

    After the Appleby House was condemned by building officials, the descendants donated it to the local historical society, and this group sold it to me. The Queen Anne was built at the turn of the century to replace the family home beside Appleby's Methodist Church, a home which was lost to fire in the late 1800's. This Appleby property was the mustering site for Company C of the 24th Regiment of SC Volunteers in the war between the states, when St. George was known as "George's Station." M.T., A.C., and Adam Appleby were members of Co. C and the church was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1978.

Annie Leila's

    The Whetsell land was vacant and overgrown when I spotted it during the winter of 2016. At over nine acres, it contained two houses, perfect since the TV producers had asked me to buy three pig's ears, and I already had a ratified contract for Appleby. I researched the property at the county's deeds office and began working to connect with the owner(s). As it turned out, the person who owned the tract had inherited it from someone who had also acquired it through probate. The owner lived in the Upstate; they had no affinity for the property and were happy to sell it to me. After I took ownership in the spring of 2016, I began to learn the history of the property and the family that had owned it for over a century. Mamie and John M. Whetsell Sr. built the Bridal Cabin for their son John Jr. and his fiancé Annie Leila Parler when they got married just before World War II. Then when the elder Whetsells passed on, Junior and Annie lived in the main house for the rest of their lives, using the small cottage as a guest house or rental. Their last house is my current project; Annie Leila's. 

J.M.Whetsell Sr. plat

    This week, I discovered a really old plat of a property that John Whetsell Sr. bought in 1903. The two hundred and fifty acre parcel was on the Edisto River. Along with the Edisto, there is a path through the property labeled Charleston Road. This property was owned by 24th Reg. Capt. A.C. Appleby, and Mr. Whetsell bought it after reaching an accord with A.S. Appleby.    

    Even though this document is handwritten, I can make it all out, save one word:  The above represents a tract of land containing two hundred and fifty acres and is part of what is known as the A.C. Appleby land laid out and measured by request of A.S. Appleby, lines S40.11 + S50E taken from a plat-made by W.C. Griffith dated Nov. 7, 1873 and has such marked ___ bearings and boundaries as are shown in above plat surveyed July 22, 1903. By Jno. L. Gavin Surveyor + C.E.

    Restoring Charleston started with the Appleby House and ended with the Whetsell's Bridal Cabin. Even though both projects were finished years back, it was still very cool to find this plat that connects these two prominent St. George Families.  

How the House in the Woods became Annie Leila's

     My projects have received names. With each one, the identifying moniker happened naturally. My first pig's ear had been devastated by a dryer fire that grew out of control. When folks would ask me about that project, they'd call it things like, "That house you did that was condemned after the fire." So it became "the Fire House." In 2004, I bought another home that building officials had declared uninhabitable. This rotting place was a victim of Hurricane Hugo that slammed into South Carolina in 1989, and it became my "Hurricane House." With each project came similar stories. Another example is the Country Victorian I bought in 2013 that was in American Rehab Charleston. It was, "The house you fixed up on TV," or the "TV House," until I did Restoring Charleston, and then it became the "American Rehab House." 

    In 2016, I needed three more houses for television. Along with the Appleby House, I bought a nine acre property on the other side of St. George with two houses: a bridal cabin that producers named the "Lowcountry Cottage" and the home which I called "the House in the Woods." Schedule and budget demands forced us to pull one home from our plans, so when we wrapped up our filming in August, I was left with my current project house shown in the pictures above. It was back off the main street in town and so engulfed by trees, bushes, and vines that many local residents didn't realize there was a home back in there. 

    The county library has a book that documents all the historic houses in area. In this book, the house is tagged as the "Whetsell House," but when neighbors mention the old home, they regularly call it "Annie Leila's House" or more simply "Annie Leila's," a reference to Annie Leila Whetsell, the previous owner who had lived in the house for most of their lives. 

    Annie Leila is a very pretty name. I've never known anyone named Leila and certainly no one named Annie Leila. I liked the name, The House in the Woods, but I like Annie Leila's much more. She called it home for decades and surrounded it with beautiful plants that I now enjoy. The neighborhood is still full of people that Annie Leila called friends and loved like family. So naming the property after her just feels right... and sounds a lot better than "Trent's." :)

Rehabs and Romance in the Movies

           There's something romantic about fixing up a dilapidated house, and Hollywood filmmakers have tapped into this theme for decades. Home renovating is a noteworthy part of many well-known movies, so in a way you could say we’ve been conditioned to harbor passion for a seemingly unloved property. WARNING: Many movie spoilers ahead.  

George and Mary about to
vandalize their future home in
It's a Wonderful Life

It’s a Wonderful Life is a classic example of home rehabilitations in movie plots. In one memorable scene, the two main characters, George and Mary, stand outside the Granville house. It’s abandoned with broken windows and an ugly front yard, yet the young woman describes it as “full of romance,” before saying she’d love to live in it one day. George scoffs at the idea before he makes a “hatful of wishes” and flings a rock at this old house to “break some glass.” Then, Mary makes her own wish, throws a rock, and also breaks a window. Later in the film, they get married, and on their wedding night, she surprises her groom at the house saying, “Welcome home, Mr. Bailey.” As they embrace, she gazes up at her new husband and says, “this is what I wished for.” They restore the home, raise their family there, and the Bailey home is filled with friends and loved ones in the final climactic scene.

Up, up, and away...

At the heart of the animation Up is a decrepit house where young Carl and snaggletooth Ellie meet as children. The pair is oblivious to the dangers of playing in the vacant home until the boy falls and breaks his arm. This accident leads to the kids becoming close friends who eventually fall in love and marry. Then the lovebirds buy the uninhabited house and team up to renovate it. The couple is unable to have children and they pour their spare time into their quaint home. After Ellie passes away, Carl continues to live in and tend to the house without her. Over time, the city grows up on all sides of Carl’s lot, yet he refuses to sell out to developers because the little cottage had meant so much to him and his late wife. In an act of defiant determination, he attaches helium balloons to the home and flies away. Up is a love story about Carl and Ellie, but it’s also about the love that they shared for this special house that they saved together.  

Under the Tuscan Sun

Under The Tuscan Sun, written by Frances Mayes, was a New York Time’s best-selling book before it was a movie. As the title indicates, it’s set in Italy and like most home renovations, it’s a true adventure. After her marriage ends, Frances travels to Tuscany where she marks the beginning of the next chapter of her life with the purchase of a run-down villa. In the film, the property is overgrown with plants and weeds, long overdue for a rehab. Beyond the challenges, it’s easy to see the potential amongst the many assets of the property; the solid structure with generations of history, the architectural details ready to be restored, and the landscape that's begging for attention. When I watched the film, I found myself thinking, “That is my kind of house project.” Under the Tuscan Sun concludes with a different type of love as Frances finds herself falling in love with her new surroundings and the group of people that she has grown to adore like family.

Noah and his project house
in The Notebook

The Notebook is really about love in the midst of Alzheimer's disease, but a home restoration is woven into the plot making it integral to the storyline. Noah buys an antebellum mansion that needs restored and his efforts are featured in the local newspaper. The article includes a photo that captures Allie’s attention and spurs their reunion. Sparks fly, Allie realizes that she loves Noah more than her fiancé, and she forgoes the more socially ideal marriage for a lifetime of love and happiness with ambitious rehabber Noah.

Doug and his crew of duplicates in Multiplicity

Some say, “a contractor’s home is never finished.” This quirky tendency in the character of a builder is at the core of Multiplicity. However, like all the other examples, love and romantic undertones are critical. The main character, Doug, is stretched thin professionally, overseeing multiple projects. His job and family commitments make spare time non-existent. After a chance meeting with a sympathetic scientist, he clones himself so Doug #2 can work while original Doug relaxes. Things get wacky when he creates a third Doug who eventually clones himself. Meanwhile, his wife Laura has unfilled wants and needs of her own, and the story reaches a boiling point because master builder Doug won’t finish their house. With the help of his small army of cloned Dougs, he kicks things into high gear on the family’s unfinished house. Laura is amazed and overjoyed when he surprises her with the home of her dreams and they live happily ever after.

Falling Inn Love

Falling Inn Love is a romantic comedy about a young American woman, Gabriela, who wins a writing contest and travels halfway around the world to claim her prize: a New Zealand Bed and Breakfast. However, it’s a clever scam, the on-line photo was out-of-date, and she finds herself the new owner of a jacked-up house. Gabbi meets Jake, a single bloke who’s also a restoration expert. He helps her with the rehab, it’s amazing, and like Frances Mayes in Tuscany, she falls in love with her new surroundings in a foreign land. The movie ends with Gabbi and her hunky fireman running the restored inn as a team.     

The demolition scene in Instant Family

Another example of a film with home rehabbing infused within the plot is Instant Family. Besides the fact that the Wagners renovate overlooked homes, I also really enjoyed this movie because it’s based on a true story about adoption. After successfully teaming up to restore several homes, the married couple decides to adopt… an overlooked child. However, the teenager they connect with has two siblings who also need homes, and they end up adopting all three kiddos. Home renovating is the thread that loosely runs through from beginning to end.

The Money Pit house under construction

Finally, the granddaddy of all home renovation movies is The Money Pit. The beautiful palatial estate appeared to be move-in-ready, but this appearance was a deception and their home owning euphoria rapidly spirals into a zany nightmare. It’s a wild ride and hilarious to watch.  Eventually, financial pressures created by the extensive project lead to the couple’s break-up. Yet, similar to Gabriela and Jake of Falling Inn Love, the finished home that they had rehabbed as a team unites them in the end.  

Romance and rehabs on the big screen. They go together like bricks and mortar, a washer and a dryer, or my personal favorite, coffee and donuts.