All About The House

House in afternoon sun

If you just need the facts, please skip to the bullets at the end.  If you want to know the whole story, please read on!

In 1895 Robert Downs Wright, Jr. bought a house on College Street from the Havird family.  This occasion was noted in the Newberry Observer.  That's when the story of Barklin House begins.

Sometime after that date, probably between 1902 and 1905, the structure was either greatly remodeled or rebuilt to its current form.  The builder who did this work was Colin Campbell (Cam) Davis.  Cam Davis was a noted builder who had come to Newberry at the behest of the Wright family and other textile investors for the construction of the textile mills that once were the economic engine of Newberry county.   Upon completion of the mills, Davis established a lumberyard and a home-building business in town.  He constructed many grand homes for the prominent local citizens, among whom was R. D. Wright, Jr. 

Barklin House is of the Queen Anne style, with a circular three-story turret and asymmetrical exterior form.  The exterior walls are surfaced with pebble-dashed stucco, a technique found in just a few areas of the South, in particular in Asheville, NC, areas of Atlanta, GA and several SC towns.  Originally roofed with wood-shake shingles, it now has modern architectural shingles that maintain that look.  There is a wide wrap-around porch extending across the front and part-way down both sides of the house.

For the history buff, it's worth noting that in 1980 the National Register of Historic Places recorded the College Street Historical District on its National Register, with Barklin House (called the Wright-Clary house on the Registry) as a listed property.

The house sits on slightly less than a half-acre city lot, fronting College Street.  The front yard is suitably deep and boasts two extremely large dogwoods, one pink, one white, and a massive willow oak.  The rear yard is a casual garden of various shrubs, vintage perennials, collectible small trees, an herb garden, raised planting beds and a large shade-giving pecan tree.

The driveway leads to a 22" by 28" wooden garage, built in 1998 to emulate the historic style of the main house.   The garage is finished inside, has a separate workshop/tool room, is heated and air-conditioned and is currently home to the owner's art studio.  French doors on the side open on to a 10' wide deck running the length of the building and overlooking the rear garden.

The interior of the house consists of two full floors of finished rooms with a stairway leading to an unfinished attic, currently used for storage of seasonal furnishings.  Rooms devoted to inn-keeping are the central hallway and the Parlor and Dining Room on the first floor and the guest rooms on the second floor.  Upstairs there are two bedrooms with private shower baths, a suite consisting of a bedroom, connecting sitting room and a full bath, and a large common area sitting hall.  These rooms can be viewed in detail on the website, www.barklinhouse.com.  

Not appearing on the website are the owner's private quarters.  This space consists of a suite of rooms on the first floor comprised of a library/den/office, a master bedroom and an attached full bath.  At the rear of the house is a pleasant sun-room that connects to the kitchen, dining room and laundry/pantry.  The owner's private entrance opens onto this sun-room.  Part of the reason we have been successful inn-keepers for so long is the amount of private space we have, enabling us to entertain friends and host grandchildren without interrupting the operations of the B&B.

The sale of the inn as a turnkey operation means that named furnishings for the guest spaces will be included in the sale.  Furnishings for the personal space generally will not be included.  Following are bullet points that are pertinent to the property:

   Inn For Sale     Terms of the Sale     Life in Newberry