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." :)