A Courageous Restoration! 1976 - 1993 Bill and Frances Ruth and Katie and Megan House listed on National Register of Historic Places 7-8-1985

Bill Ruth checks out the Back Porch, Late 1970's

Back Porch, October 2000 Hard to believe it's the same place?

!n 1976 Bill Ruth and his wife Frances bought the Hughes-Cunningham House with ambitious plans to restore it.  Frances had served as the Architectural Historian for the Berkeley County Historical Society's project to document all the homes over 200 years old in Berkeley County.  So she knew what belonged and what didn't in a historic house. For many years the barely-habitable house had been used as tenant housing for someone who would look after the livestock.  There was no heat except the fireplaces; much of the house was not used at all. Starting in the Log section, the Ruths removed the plank walls and the wide-plank floors, numbering each plank so it could be place back in its original place.  They leveled the floors, added some rigid insulation, electrical, plumbing, and heating provisions, and then covered the ceilings and outside walls with new sheet-rock. The original floors and hand-planed wall planks were then replaced, as well as original hardware and trim details.  The renovation was very thorough and made few changes to the original house.

Bill Ruth and daughters Katie (left) and Megan pose in the old Cunningham kitchen fireplace early in the renovation.

One interesting change was made to accomodate Katie and Megan.  The upstairs of the log house had no passage to the upstairs of the stone addition.  Here's a picture of Katie as preparations are made to cut through the log wall to make a tiny doorway. A picture of Wendy Benton in the completed doorway is on the next page. All the stonework was repaired and repointed and a new metal roof installed.  The Ruths applied for the house to be listed on the National Register of Historic Places.  On July 8, 1985 their request was approved.