Life and Religion

PHOTO/CALVIN FERGUSON

Wadsworth Estate owner Shirley Fulton inside the refurbished Carriage House, which can be used as a wedding chapel.

The Wadsworth House is now in the wedding business.

Two years ago, retired Superior Court judge Shirley Fulton decided to renovate the Carriage House in back of the Wadsworth Estate Conference and Events Center she bought in 2001. The Carriage House, once used in part as a garage and living quarters, was restored into a wedding chapel and meeting space.

“We used to do a few weddings in the (Wadsworth Estate) but as I looked around there was one wedding chapel at the time and it was owned by the city and it was booked two years out,” Fulton said. “I decided to help them out.”

The chapel, at 400 South Summit Ave., opened Jan. 16. It can seat 125 people and can also host receptions. Couples can utilize the Wadsworth Estate for other uses.

“Upstairs, one side is used for the bride and the other one is for the groom,” Fulton said. “There are five bedrooms upstairs.”

In addition to weddings, the estate can also serve as a location for baby showers, seminars, political events, family reunions and birthday parties.
The estate also hosts Jazz Night at 9 p.m. Fridays. The cost is $10.

Depending on availability, the Wadsworth Estate can be booked for longevity or brevity.

“It just depends,” Fulton said. “If something is available we’ll take them the day of. But weddings typically at least six months in advance.”

When Fulton moved into the Wesley Heights community in 1989, the mostly-black neighborhood was declining. Homes were unkempt and, she says, some socially unacceptable activities were occurring. At night Fulton would hear gunshots and see men walking in the neighborhood.

She said people were once afraid to walk down the street.

“As the older blacks died out or moved away because of their age, their children weren’t interested in coming back to the community,” Fulton said. “The neighborhood fell into landlords who didn’t care about their properties.”

Fulton was looking to move out of her South Charlotte home and closer to the interstate. Her career required her to travel to several counties and she didn’t want to sit in a lot of traffic.

She liked the atmosphere of Wesley Heights, located in West Charlotte behind Interstate 77. Fulton loved the trees and the streetscape and she eventually bought a duplex she remodeled into a single family home.

She became active in the community, helping to clean it up and became president of the Wesley Heights Community Development Corporation.
At night she would take walks past the Wadsworth Estate and sometimes sit in rocking chairs on its porch to look at the city’s skyline.

“The place then was a drab green color,” Fulton said. “Me and the other neighbors would walk through, sit on the extended porch, eat pecans and be on our merry way.”

Fulton took a liking to the Wadsworth Estate, built in 1911 and the oldest home in the neighborhood. She sent a letter to former owner Charles McClure expressing interest in buying the home. She didn’t hear anything until his death.

“Ten years after he died my letter was found in his estate,” Fulton said. ‘A realtor gave me the first opportunity to buy.”

Initially Fulton thought about moving into the estate, but she had already invested too much in her home. She also entertained the thought of turning it into a bed and breakfast, but decided against it.

Fulton says the most interesting use of the Wadsworth House was by a man who celebrated his life and death at the venue.

“I had a repast here for a man who once had his 60th birthday here,” Fulton said. “When he died, he did not want a funeral, but because he had so much fun here his wife decided to bring him back.”

For more information, call (704) 332-3050.
On the Net:
Wadsworth House
www.wadsworthhouse.net

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