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9.17.2012

The Beach House



Charlotte and Dorothy went hunting for a place to live at the Beach. They could have lived on the campgrounds but Charlotte wanted a little space to retreat to and craved a view of the ocean. The camp was on the other side of highway 101.

The house in Silverton was in Charlotte's name only.  This house would be as well.  Banks did not give mortgages to pairs of single ladies. The job was Charlotte's, so the note would be hers too.  Dorothy's work was mostly volunteer church work that supported Charlotte's work.

They sold the barn house on Eureka and took the tiny profit as a downpayment for something at the coast.  This was definitely pre-gentrification - vacation homes were primative by today's standards. Year-round residents usually built their own homes and did not often sell them.  Charlotte, no surprise, was looking for a fixer-upper.  They looked at run-down fishing shacks and a few homes beyond their reach. When Charlotte finally found what she was looking for, even Dot was skeptical.  On the beach side, just across from the Camp  was a dilapidated motel.
Dorothy later described it as uninhabitable, unlikely, and undesirable.  Charlotte stood with her and described it as she saw it could be.  They would add a log addition to the front with lots of windows - this would be their living area. They would gut the old section for bedrooms etc.  They outbuildings could become guest retreats.  Dorothy pointed out that unlike Silverton they did not have a dedicated and invested construction crew.  Charlotte said that the Lord would provide.  Well, the Lord and Charlotte's persuasive personality.

The home that they would live in for the next ten years was built by a rotating crew of "women, retired missionaries and college boys."  Today it is called The Lighthouse and the cluster of buildings is the Harbor Villa Retreat Center and belongs to the Twin Rocks Camp. Then it was just Charlotte and Dorothy's paradise.


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Comments:
I love this blog, Peggy. Thank you for doing it.

 
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