Raleigh's Folly

Chapter 2

Chapter 22018—late February

The next morning, Eric and Rusty had breakfast at the local diner, then drove over to The Folly, where they found Carlton already out and about, and talking to a guy whose truck signage indicated that he was a contractor. Carlton spotted them, held up a finger, and pointed at the Airstream. They took the hint, went to the trailer, and stepped inside.

“All the comforts,” Eric said as he surveyed the interior of the Airstream. A small desk had somehow been crammed into the living area at the front of the trailer.

“Yeah, if you don’t mind things being a bit cramped. This is a small space for such a tall guy.”

“That’s true. Do you think he’ll go for our proposals?”

“Here he comes, so we’ll know soon enough,” Rusty said.

Carlton opened the door, stepped into the Airstream, and settled down at his desk. He looked at his visitors. “So, what do you have for me, guys?”

“We have a couple of proposals,” Eric said, “each of them based on the time involved. Before we even think about digging things up and doing any planting, we need to have a clear idea of what’s there already. So, we propose bringing a crew over here and doing the necessary clearing. Existing shrubs can be trimmed at that time, while the undergrowth is merely cut back to ground level. When it comes to clean-up, we have two crews who aren’t doing very much right now, because the growing season hasn’t quite begun. If we can get started tomorrow, we can do it for one price. If we have to wait and do it a bit later, the crews will have other jobs scheduled, so there’s bound to be overtime involved, which will increase the cost. The actual planting and sprinkler systems are two separate jobs. And, although you didn’t ask for them, we have three different proposed designs for the final look and feel of the gardens around the house.”

Eric handed Carlton a sheet of paper listing the amounts for both immediate and future clean-up operations.

“I can live with these numbers,” Carlton said after a quick look. “Let me see your designs.”

Rusty placed the three sheets of graph paper on Carlton’s desk. “We did these in a bit of a rush last night. If you like one of them, we can put together a much more detailed design later. The design you choose will dictate the final cost.”

Carlton looked the three sketches over very carefully. “One of you is a pretty good draftsman,” he said.

“That would be me,” Rusty said. “And if you want an artist’s rendering of the final product, Eric’s got the talent to do it.”

“Sounds good,” Carlton said, “but before I make a decision, I need to give you a little more information. And, a quick walk-through of the grounds would be helpful.”

“Our time is your time,” Rusty said.

Carlton placed one of the design sheets on the desk and pointed at a spot about halfway between the house and the highway. “In a few days, there’ll be a manufactured home sitting on that spot. I’m going to occupy it until the work on the mansion has been completed. After that it will serve as housing for a caretaker s***h security man. We want to screen that house from both the highway and the driveway. I’m thinking a ten-foot high hedge will do it, so we’ll either need large plants to begin with, or really quick growing ones.”

“There are any number of quick growing shrubs that will do the job,” Eric said. “And they can be purchased in fairly large sizes—for a price. How will that house be accessed?”

“From the rear. We plan to have a very private driveway from the highway to the back of that house, and a hidden pathway suitable for an ATV or a golf cart leading from there to the big house.”

“I think we can give you several options on that,” Rusty said. “All the way from plants in five-gallon cans right up to plants that are several feet tall.”

“Sounds good,” Carlton said. “Meanwhile, let’s take a walk around the property. Do you need yellow pads?”

“There’s a couple of them in my truck,” Eric said.

“Then grab a pad and pen, and let’s go for a walk,” Carlton said.

Pads and pens in hand, Eric and Rusty followed Carlton down the driveway until they were facing The Folly. As Eric followed Carlton around the grounds, he focused on the man’s best feature—his ass. That caused the beginnings of a reaction in his body, but he managed to get his stirring desire under control before it got out of hand. Up close, the house looked even more impressive than it did from a distance. The house faced east toward the river, although the wooded area along the river blocked it from view. The ground floor consisted of massive brick walls that served to support the entire structure. An occasional arch revealed that the ground floor was bare clay. A wide set of brick stairs led up to a gallery that wrapped around the entire building. Eric noted there was a gallery circling the top floor, as well.

“The builder of this house was probably worried about spring flooding,” Carlton said, “which explains the open ground floor. The house is considerably uphill from the river, which is nearly half a mile east of us at this point. By studying old records we’ve learned that it would take what is known as a five-hundred-year flood to reach this far. Which means that we’re going to make good use of all that space. The original kitchens would have been in an outbuilding behind the house, but we’re going to use part of the ground floor to install a commercial kitchen near the rear of the house. Access to the dining room on the first floor will include both servant’s stairs and a dumbwaiter. That kitchen will mostly be used when we’re entertaining. There will be a nice little galley kitchen and dining area on the top floor near the master suite. We haven’t quite decided what to do with the rest of the ground floor, but it will most likely include a billiards room, among other things.”

“What about the upper floors?” Eric said.

“We’ll be stripping everything right down to the studs,” Carlton said. “That will allow us to rearrange the space to include bathrooms, walk-in closets, and other niceties that weren’t common in mid-nineteenth century houses. Not to mention conduit for electric wiring, and ductwork for the HVAC. And, we’re going to have actual plaster walls, instead of drywall.”

“All those galleries cry out for some trellises full of flowering vines,” Rusty said. “Are you interested in anything like that?”

“Give me some pictures of blooming vines with your proposals, and I’ll have a talk with my boss,” Carlton said. He led them around to the south side of the house. “And here, we have what is probably the most interesting feature of all. It seems that Raleigh’s Folly has a folly of its own. Actually, I don’t think they were called follies in the states that long ago, but they were popular in England for most of the nineteenth century. For your information, a folly is described, among other things, as a costly ornamental building with no practical purpose, and this structure certainly fills the bill.”

They were facing a large, fanciful, brick structure situated a couple of hundred feet to the left of and near the southwest corner of the main building. It was more or less screened from the house by a huge stand of wildly overgrown shrubbery. The folly appeared to be hexagonal in shape, had doors on both floors of the side they could see, and the roof tapered up to an ornate cupola at its tip. Like the house, it was built of red brick, but the corners were decorated with a pattern of large white square stones.

“That upstairs door is kind of odd, isn’t it?” Eric said. “I mean, it looks like you could open that door and step out onto nothing.”

“Yeah,” Carlton said. “I think, for safety reasons, I’m going to ask the carpenters to put some sort of railing there, if only to keep someone from having an accident. And the doors on both sides have been exposed to the elements for so long that they’re beyond repair. The contractor will be searching several salvage yards, looking for suitable replacements.”

“And if he can’t find them?” Eric said.

“We’ll try to find a modern door that doesn’t look too out of place,” Carlton said.

“That cupola looks like it might have been a dovecote at one time,” Eric said.

“You’re very observant,” Carlton said. “That’s exactly what it was. I showed you this building because all you need to do is clear the brick floor, and you’ll have a great place to store some of your equipment, if you like. That’ll save you from having to drag it back and forth every day. And before you say anything, let me add that any equipment you store on the property will be protected by our insurance policy.

“There’s some evidence that former owners might have had a daybed or two in the folly—with those oak trees shading it, it would have been a cool spot for a summer nap back before the days of air-conditioning.”

They followed Carlton through the door into the little folly and looked around the space. There was an identical door on the opposite wall.

“This is a nice big empty space,” Eric said. He pointed at a set of stairs. “What’s up there?”

“Follow me,” Carlton said.

The three men went up the stairs, stepped into a large empty room, and Eric was immediately hit by a wave of cold air.

“Damn,” Eric said. “It’s like stepping into a freezer up here.”

“Yeah,” Carlton said. “I noticed that the other day when I was prowling around the premises.”

Eric was looking up at one corner of the room. “There’s a trapdoor in the ceiling in that corner, and a ladder built into the wall.”

“That leads up to the former dovecote,” Carlton said.

“Looks like someone used this for afternoon naps,” Rusty said, pointing at a very old and extremely dusty narrow bed in one corner of the room.

“Yeah,” Eric said. “If there was a nice breeze, this spot would be comfortable in the hottest weather.

“You wouldn’t need a breeze if it’s always this cold up here,” Carlton said.

“That’s true,” Eric said.

“What are you guys talking about?” Rusty said. “I’m not cold.”

“You don’t feel cold in here, buddy?” Eric said. “I’m getting goose bumps.”

“So am I,” Carlton said. “Let’s go back downstairs.”

The three men went outside, where the air immediately felt warmer to Eric, and he said as much.

“Yeah,” Carlton said, “I feel warmer now, as well, and that was beyond weird. Shall we continue the tour?”

“Lead on,” Rusty said.

They continued their walk around the property, and when they were directly behind the main house, Carlton pointed to a crumbling brick structure. “That used to be the stables, but we’re going to turn it in to a multi-car garage with a workshop attached at one end. There will also be a covered walkway from the garage to the rear entrance of the house. Some plantings around the garage should be part of your plans.”

“What about having a gazebo somewhere on the grounds?” Eric said.

“That would be a nice touch,” Carlton said. “Include it in your plans. Perhaps on the north side of the building, opposite the folly.”

“Any plans for a swimming pool?” Eric said.

“I’m glad you reminded me of that,” Carlton said. “There will be an enclosed pool, complete with showers and changing rooms just to the right of the former stables. And there’ll be a covered walkway from the house to the pool. I’ll mark the proposed location of it on your sketch. I think we’ve seen enough. Let’s head back to the Airstream.”