THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, February 3, 1996 TAG: 9602010215
SECTION: REAL ESTATE WEEKLY PAGE: 04 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Cover Story
SOURCE: By Mary Ellen Miles
Special to the Real Estate Weekly
LENGTH: Long : 140 lines
In 1988, Bay Side Manor, a plantation house listed in the historical registry in Pasquotank County, N.C. (just outside Elizabeth City), was bought by Las Vegas entertainer Wayne Newton through R.G. Moore, his friend and a local real estate developer.
Newton bought the house without seeing it and never resided there, but had a $72,000 brick and wrought-iron fence erected across 580 feet of the front yard. The house sat empty for seven years before two enthusiastic souls, Jeanet, a real estate broker in Elizabeth City, and Jerry Aylsworth, a trucker, took it over last Summer.
The antebellum house, used as a hospital during the Civil War, was part of the John Hollowell estate, which totaled 755 acres. The original Hollowell house was built about 1820, across the street from what is now Bay Side. Bay Side was built in 1856 for one of Hollowell's cousins.
In 1865, the original Hollowell house was moved across the street and attached to the northwest of Bay Side, to be used as a kitchen and servants' house. In the early 1900s, Bay Side's addition was moved next door, and converted into a home for the farm overseer.
At that time, another house, which had been used for slave quarters, was attached to Bay Side in its place. Members of the Hollowell family resided in Bay Side until its auction in 1988.
``Bay Side epitomizes the height of the county's antebellum prosperity,'' reads an old real estate ad. The three-story Greek Revival house is approximately 5,000 square feet and sits on 11 acres of land, seven of which are wooded. Three goats graze lazily on the side of the yard, helping to keep the underbrush from getting dense.
The Aylsworths weren't planning on buying a house. They wanted some land on which they would build a house a few years in the future. They were living in Nevada at the time, but saw the ``Newton House'' during a visit to North Carolina. Then the price on the house dropped to from $395,000 to $200,000 and they immediately put a bid on it.
``The timing was just perfect,'' Jeanet says. ``People were lined up behind us, even willing to pay cash.
``Sometimes we kind of lose our minds temporarily,'' she says, referring to the speed at which she and her husband have made decisions to move. ``We're very spontaneous, even though we don't mean to be, and then we're in shock.''
The openness of the grounds, the immense front veranda with its two-story columns, and the second story porch all entice one's imagination to conjure up an image of fashionable ladies and gents conversing and sipping lemonade, away from a summer sun's fierce rays.
The front porch is the second replacement; the columns were constructed about 1910. The first story front windows are nine feet tall, the side and second-story ones are five feet.
Bay Side's ``Greek Revival entrance is the rural county's finest example of the raised tablet motif,'' Thomas Butchko, a local historian, writes in his book ``On The Shores of the Pasquotank.'' The motif is repeated inside the entrance and above the parlor doors.
And the interior finish, writes Butchko, ``is a textbook example of the finest of the style. Its spaciousness, strength and stylish but austere detailing create a residence of imposing stature, one that is among the finest Greek Revival plantation houses in the Albemarle area.''
The four downstairs rooms circle around the wide front hall, which the couple have filled with antiques. The floor plan was devised during the 18th century for wealthy homeowners, allowing increased privacy and room differentiation, Butchko writes. The ceilings are 10 feet high, but feel higher because of the openness of the arrangement.
The second story has three rooms (which used to be four) and the third floor has two rooms. Original doors and doorknobs remain, along with all the original light fixtures, except for one that was stolen before the Aylsworths moved in. The intricate wooden moldings remain solid and intact, beautiful historical reminders.
The Aylsworths knew they were in for many challenges when they bought the property. ``The place was so overgrown, we couldn't even see the road from the house'' says Jeanet. One of their first tasks was pouring a circular driveway and walkway, which will be widened and landscaped later.
``The original floors, which had never been stained, were in horrible shape. The walls were full of growths, and paint chips had fallen everywhere. The first four months we lived here, we worked seven days a week, from dawn to dusk,'' she says.
``And I played general contractor. I coordinated, whipped and beat everybody - I don't think it's something I'd do again. While the work pace isn't currently as frantic, the myriad renovations continue, most of them planned for this year.
The shutters are off the house, being stripped of decades of paint. The exterior of the house needs painting, but it will have to wait until after the new roof is put up this spring. Many interior walls are primed and waiting for wallpaper, in antique floral patterns. However, the staircase, thought to be a post Civil War replacement, was in great shape.
Jeanet plans for the sturdy, Gothic-like three-story banister to be stripped down to the natural wood by Jerry. Then she wants it painted black and white. All the rooms have fireplaces, which were well preserved and are quite handsome. The parlors' (now a den and living room respectively) fireplaces have marble mantles and arched openings.
Jeanet plans to have the insides sealed off, and then add gas logs to the ones in the den, living room and master bath. The house had one small bathroom on the second floor, which has new fixtures, but may need new flooring, and the Aylsworths had two additional bathrooms built. When the third floor is finished, it will consist of a guest room and Jeanet's office. ``It's really just a big ol' house,'' she says.
Restoration and renovation come with obstacles and surprises. The Aylsworths have had several plumbing near-disasters and a few problems in the last couple months that they couldn't even attribute to their residential ghost, said Aylsworth. The house had gone without heat for so long when it was turned on this winter, if affected the old wood. Wooden floor boards shrank and other wood cracked, including the master bath fireplace.
Jeanet had the attached slave quarters gutted and turned it into an apartment for her father. She has installed central heat and air-conditioning and plans to use part of the screened porch to expand his kitchen. One wall in the bedroom is an original exterior house wall.
She and her husband also plan to extend the back porch into a screened porch off the kitchen. The newly finished kitchen is modern with lots of cabinets, counter space, a ceiling fan and a center island. The original house had no kitchen, since cooking was done in a separate building during that time.
The second story has a good-sized, well-lit landing and a short hall leading out to the porch, which was constructed to slope downward for water run off. The Aylsworths redesigned the rooms on this floor to fit their needs. The room that was originally next to the master bedroom was made into a large master bathroom, with connecting laundry room and walk in closet.
Behind the house, greenery is abundant and magnificent during spring and summer, Jeanet says. Splendid, ancient magnolia, dogwood, chestnut and cherry trees abound. After examining the property, a forestry worker remarked on the variety of trees, including ash, that are flourishing.
The wooded acreage is prime exploring territory for the couple's young dog and several cats. It's also a choice spot for backyard entertaining or just beautiful solitude. ILLUSTRATION: [Cover, Color photo]
HOUSE WITH A HISTORY
GARY C. KNAPP
Photo by GARY C. KNAPP
Jeanet Aylsworth, who moved east from Nevada, has a house once owned
by Nevada resident Wayne Newton.
by CNB