Mt Olive Pickles

American Eclectic

Talking to Estelle Baker, whether its inside the showroom of her gift shop or across the fence gate of the Airlie Road home she shares with her husband, Johnnie Baker, and their golden retrievers, first thing shell tell you about her home is "theres nothing in my house that doesnt have a story."

Furnished with what she loves family antiques and decorated with heirlooms Estelle is quick to zero in on her passions the color red and the full range of its tonal blue spectrum. Red, plus white and blue, is found in nearly every room in the home, along with Uncle Sam and the American flag.

With the stars and bars proudly waving in the southerly sea breeze year-round from the Bakers front porch and a pair of pots planted with American cherry rose geraniums, no truer words are spoken than Estelles: "Its Fourth of July all the time."

"This was kind of like my dream house. I lived in it in my head for about five years. Johnnie came home one day and said, OK, its time to start thinking about building a house. I already knew what I wanted," Estelle says. "A house is a personal thing to us, and I dont think a lot of people feel that way about homes."

She attributes that connection to the Mount Olive home place in which she was born, in which her mother was born, where her mother spent her entire life, and where Estelle lived with her grandmother.

"We never moved and I just thought people had houses and lived in them forever," Estelle says.

With a family history of generations gathered beneath one roof, the Baker home is also a home away from home for the couples two adult children and their spouses, and the Bakers six grandchildren, ages 6 to 17.

Both eastern North Carolina natives, Estelle and Johnnie settled permanently in Wrightsville Beach in 1970 moving into a cottage on Greensboro Street where they reared their children, Allison and Jay. Johnnie commuted to Charlotte for the next 25 years where he owned and operated an environmental testing lab. When the chance to sell out and move the lab to the coast surfaced, the Bakers invested in the waterfront property on Airlie Road where they built a restaurant instead, opening the Bridge Tender in 1976. The lab went to Wilmington. The house that anchors the corner of Airlie and Stokely Avenue came along in 1995.

Built by Chris Stone and Robert Montgomery, Estelle says she began designing the house in her head at least five years before they broke ground.

Brookshire Brothers Deals: July 6th – July 12th

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