Ship to Shore

A nautical-inspired home on Figure Eight Island, off the North Carolina coast, holds a special significance for both the builder and its owner.

- J. Michael Welton

A chance encounter with a rendering of a residence in the Caribbean luxury magazine Real Life inspired Winston-Salem, N.C., native Will Spencer to desigtn his new home using a maritime motif. In the process, he got more than he ever could have imagined.

He’d already bought his trapezoid-shaped lot on Figure Eight Island, off the North Carolina coast, one row back from the ocean and near an inlet connected to the Intracoastal Waterway.

Because the lot is on the northern tip of the barrier island, it was probably underwater at some point during its long oceanfront history. But today, it has proven itself to be high, dry and eminently buildable.

A second encounter – this time with master home builder Mark Batson and one of his newest residences – advanced Spencer’s narrative even further.

“He’d seen that same rendering three years ago in the airport when he was coming through the Caymans,” Spencer says. “Mine is similar – different in many ways, but essentially the same concept.”

That concept is something new to Figure Eight Island, if not to the entire North Carolina coast. It starts with a rooftop pool hovering three stories atop the home and finishes with a flurry of nautical touches.

“When I was growing up in Winston-Salem, Dick Reynolds, the son of R. J. Reynolds [founder of R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company], had a house that looked like a ship,” he says. “I was always fascinated with the Ship House and I wondered how cool that would be, to have a house like a ship.”

Very cool, as it turns out, thanks to Batson’s firm, Tongue & Groove Custom Home Builder, based in Wilmington, and architects Michael Kersting and Toby Keeton of Kersting Architecture, also in Wilmington.