A historic Beaufort mansion will become a luxury hotel. Here's how you can get a look
Christopher Knox and his wife were on a carriage ride last fall listening to ghost stories when the guide stopped at the large concrete home on the water in one of downtown Beaufort's most scenic spots.
The house was unsellable and slowly crumbling on the inside because of the materials used in construction, Knox recalled the guide saying.
From his seat on the tour, Knox was amused but didn't speak up to correct the tour guide. A home inspection had recently found no such structural deficiency, and Knox and business partner Michael Jacejko were set to close on the sale.
The long-vacant building at 607 Bay St. is about to get a new life.
"Structurally, it's in great shape," Knox said. "But it has issues."
The new owners are in the early stages of renovating their new property for use as a 10-room inn with a large lot behind the house suitable for event space and parking and named simply "607 Bay."
As opposed to a traditional bed and breakfast with food served on site, the owners plan a luxury hotel experience that will include a kitchen but not prepared food. The inn will be within walking distance of downtown restaurants, Knox noted, and allow visitors to walk or bike over to Lady's Island and rent a kayak or sit on the porches and watch sailboats pass under the Richard V. Woods Memorial Bridge.
Doors will be open to the public on June 1 at 5 p.m. for a look at the building before the renovation. Docent-led tours will tell the history of the William Joseph Thomas House fronting the Beaufort River in the Point neighborhood. The house was built of concrete blocks in 1909 after a fire tore through the previous house.
Knox found an old newspaper from 1908 describing the construction and how sand taken from local beaches was used to create the exterior color.
The home hasn't been inhabited in years and will have new plumbing, electrical and mechanical systems. Without air conditioning, the house is cooled by the breeze coming off the water through open doors and up through the attic.
Some of the exterior concrete is cracking from moisture. A dated kitchen and bathrooms will be removed and reconfigured.
Historical features such as the original coal-burning fireplaces will be preserved but the interior will be configured for 10 guests rooms with high-end finishes.
"Any time we've got one I'd consider dormant like that come back from the dead, it's a good thing for the city," said Mike Sutton, whose Sutton Construction is working on the renovation.
Knox expects the work to take about six months and 607 Bay to open to guests in early 2019, depending on what other surprises might await.
Clearing out the house turned up banking documents in the basement from 1919. A 1945 tax return was tucked into the radiator in the attic.
A pile of coal used to heat the house during the early 1900s remains on the dirt floor of the basement and a wooden toy gun is tucked in the basement rafters.
"There's still an exploration process of what we're going to find," Knox said
This story was originally published May 24, 2018 at 1:38 PM with the headline "A historic Beaufort mansion will become a luxury hotel. Here's how you can get a look."