Residential Renaissance

The Breakers. Dow nton Abbey. Monticello. Ta liesin.

Fancy family estates — real and literar y — set the tone with fancy names. W hat could be more dramatic than the opening line in Daphne du Maur ier’s Rebecca:

“L ast night I dreamt I went to Manderley again.”

L ocally, Weymouth — named for an English village — qualifies; and r ight next door, Inchalene, Celtic for “cottage at the edge of the woods,” adds its ow n mellifluous name to the list. T he residence, desig ned by A lf red Yeomans, built in 1923 for James and Jack son Boyd ’s widowed mother, Eleanor Her r Boyd, and now respectf ully renovated, retains g randeur aplent y. Dur ing the Boyds’ heyday, Granny ar r ived f rom Pennsylvania in a pr ivate railroad car preceded by ser vants, supplies and silver. Once ensconced she kept tabs on her sons and g randchildren while hosting garden par ties.

Eleanor Boyd died in 1929, son James in 1944. Inchalene declined until purchased in 20 05 by a histor ic homes renovator and his sister, f rom Palm Beach. T heir plan, similar to the Boyds’, was to create a family compound with their elderly mother nearby. But mother died and an unfor t unate constr uction-related incident abor ted Inchalene’s rebir th.

T he g r a nde da me of C onne c t ic ut Avenue wa s dow n . . . but not out.

In the spr ing of 2011, Inchalene once again bustled with activit y, as work men readied it for a desig ners’ showcase benefiting Weymouth Center for the Ar ts and Humanities.

T he result: a double dose of classic opulence. Many f ur nishings f rom the showcase were still in place when the house was staged and listed for sale.

Er ic and Nelsa Spackey had been look ing for a year. “I passed by one Sunday at 6 a.m., hopped the fence and listened to the birds,” Er ic recalls. “T he house had a good feel, a welcoming flow, positive energ y.”

“Í fell in love with it,” Nelsa adds.

So impressed were they that in 2019 they bought the house and contents — lock, stock and Murano glass chandelier hang ing over a hammered- copper dining table. W hat wasn’t included they tracked dow n at auctions, online and elsewhere. “We wanted (f ur nishings) related to when the house was built,” Er ic says.

Tur nkey sales of this mag nit ude seldom happen. Neither does an entrepreneur like Er ic Spackey, who g rew up in Michigan, trained in finance, set up a cellular net work, manufact ured unifor ms for the militar y, and is now involved in developing a James Bond-wor thy electronic communications device — among other pursuits.

“Sor t of like For rest Gump,” Er ic says, as he k neads sourdough on the k itchen island. Besides bak ing bread, he cook s, cares for the horses, tends a garden, orchard and chicken coop. He plays the g uitar and collects ar t, enough to transfor m the mansion into a ga ller y begg ing a docent. T he first image inside the f ront door is a mother and child w ith cher r ies by Gilber t St uar t, whose other work s include the iconic por trait of George Washing ton.

Eric relates best to Fauvism, popularized by Henri Matisse. Upstairs hangs a dreamy likeness of Claude Monet’s daughter and granddaughter, by Monet’s son-in-law Theodore Butler.

T he Spackeys’ have four daug hters a nd t hre e g r a nddaug hters; l iv ing a mong t hem made h im appre c iate t he sof t fem in in it y of t hese pa int ings, a nd t he house. But not a l l h is ar t is “pret t y.” Er ic d isplays Depression- er a W PA depic t ions of f ac tor y workers in st ark , a ng u lar for ms.

T he Spackeys’ other residence is a waterf ront villa in Puer to R ico, site of Eric’s businesses. Af ter hurricane Maria hit the island in 2017, they looked for a safer home base. Eric considered Asheville, then discovered Moore Count y while work ing with a government of ficial f rom Pinehurst.

“I wanted more than a house,” Er ic says. “I wanted a work ing far m with horses — and

this was close to the militar y.” Per fect! “I use the haylof t as a meeting place and the tack room as a bar.”

A s for G r a nny B oyd ’s wh ite st uc c o Engl ish Tudor c ot t age w it h mu l l ione d w indows: “T he house it self is a work of ar t ,” Er ic says. To prev iew t he inter ior he inst a l le d a 12 -fo ot marble fount a in ador ne d w it h l ions on t he circ u lar dr ive.

Inchalene’s footpr int and layout remain vir t ually intact, except for a solar ium added at one end and a second-floor master suite cobbled f rom several smaller bedrooms and a porch. T he long it udinal layout, however, is both interesting and t ypical of estates unconstrained by lot size. A “shotg un” hallway bisects the main floor, allowing straightline vision f rom the solar ium at one end to a small of fice at the other. Of f it branch the k itchen, dining room, den, entrance hall, powder room and a cur ious bedroom with door leading outside. Of ten called a pastor’s room built to accommodate itinerant clerg y, these f ront-facing bed/ bath/sitting chambers also appear in homes with elders who could not climb stairs. Or, it might have doubled as an of fice where the chatelaine received tradesmen without allowing them into the house proper. To that use, the sparsely f ur nished room includes a desk and a floor lamp f rom the reading room of a New York Cit y librar y.

T he k itchen, displaying ar t on a wall rail and counter tops, introduces a color appear ing elsewhere: the pale g reen of extra-virg in olive oil. Step dow n into the family dining area where hangs Er ic’s talisman: a 10 -foot-long, 450 -pound Byzantine mosaic believed to be 2,0 0 0 years old that just happened to fit the wall over the table. Beyond that, the glass solar ium sur rounded by flower ing shr ubs spark les like a diamond.

In contrast, the den is dark, clubby, book ish, with oversized pieces upholstered in leather, a pr imordial man cave where gents gathered to solve world problems over cigars and bootleg brandy.

T hat long hall opens out into the br ight living room, where white sofas hint contemporar y in contrast to an or nate g ilded case piece in the dining room — imag ine it coming f rom a Versailles tag sale, where Er ic might have also found his musical clock, circa 1780s.

T he second floor master suite is a clutter of char ming objects in hues to match antique Delf t tiles sur rounding this and other fireplaces. Here and elsewhere, wall-mounted T Vs stream fine ar t when not in use. Dow n

the hall, a “pr incess” bedroom is scaled and decorated for g randdaughters, including a bathroom with a 3/4-sized t ub and sink. Next to it, a rough-and-t umble boys’ room has bunk beds and a wall painted to resemble a bar n door.

Fau x finishes appear on other walls, some resembling wood paneling; others text ured Venetian plaster mimick ing damask. Touch to believe.

Completing Incha lene’s idyllic por trait are t wo horses joined by Fr ida (as in the Mexican painter K a hlo), an af fectionate and intelligent Ger man shepherd rescue, and L una, a long-haired Hima layan k it t y big as a water melon.

Er ic insist s t hat ma int a in ing Incha lene’s acre age ma kes h im fe el c onne c te d. “T he ch ickens pro duc e ma nure for c omp ost for t he garden, a t ie back to nat ure. T here’s no b et ter t her apy t ha n get t ing on my t r ac tor. It ke eps me ba la nc e d.” He fi n ishes w it h a swe eping, “T h is wa s me a nt to b e.”

A l l t h ings c onsidere d, mayb e more L oren zo de’ Me d ici t ha n For rest Gump. PS

Home & Garden Tour

Inchalene is just one of the homes on the Souther n Pines Garden Club's Home & Garden Tour on Apr il 9 f rom 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Buy tickets online at souther npinesgardenclub.com.