Podcast: Historic Virginia lighthouse reimagined — from beacon to bold family retreat

Here is a conversation about a 19th-century lighthouse off the coast of Virginia became one man’s ultimate family getaway.

Read the full article: Virginia lighthouse lists for $450,000, but you’ll need a boat and a bold spirit - Homes.com

Key highlights

Dave McNally bought Smith Point Lighthouse for $170,000 in 2006 and renovated it into a four-level family vacation home 2.5 miles offshore in Virginia.
The property requires boat access only, has no homeowner's insurance or property taxes, and the Coast Guard retains rights to the lamp fixture.
McNally is selling for $450,000 after nearly 20 years of family memories as he enters his mid-70s and his children start their own families.

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Transcript

00:00 I'm going to call this the BYOB house, bring your own boat house. OK?

00:04 I like that name.

00:28 Every home has a heartbeat, a history and a story to tell. Some homes weren't built to be homes at all. Others become homes only when someone dares to imagine what they could be, and sometimes a home begins with a bold decision, a blueprint and a boat ride. Today's episode takes us off the coast of Virginia, where a 19th-century lighthouse became one man's unlikely family retreat. I'm Parker Leipzig with the Homes.com news team, and one of your guides on this house tour.

00:56 I'm your host, Valerie Kellogg, an editor at Homes.com. Today, we welcome Homes.com real estate insights writer Kennedy Edgerton. He has a deep passion for empowering readers with life-changing information and has experience in several content areas, including real estate, personal finance, business and music. Welcome, Kennedy.

01:17 Thanks, Valerie. I'm excited to be here today.

01:20 OK, Kennedy, let's dive into this one. What is the story with this house?

01:24 The lighthouse was built in 1802 originally. Over the years it's been rebuilt, torn down, destroyed several times, and the latest version was built in 1897.

01:35 OK

01:36 The current owner, Dave McNally, he bought the lighthouse in 2006 from a GSA auction here in Virginia. He paid about, what, $170,000 for it. After he bought it, he immediately started on the renovations, getting the property ready. He's a construction company owner, a lumberyard owner, former teacher. He was pretty much a serial entrepreneur before that.

02:04 He's a real family man, right, aside from his interest in lighthouses? We all love lighthouses. There was a little bit of a backstory to it. What happened?

02:12 One day, his son, who was 19 years old at the time, spending time with his dad, they issued a challenge between the two of them. "Go find me six lighthouses on the internet."

02:23 It wasn't like, "Let's go play football in the backyard?"

02:27 "Find me lighthouses," yeah, so his son found six listings in six different states. He settled on the Smith Point property because it's separated from the water. It's about 2.5 miles off the shore. The lighthouse has four levels. The first level has the kitchen, the second level is the bedrooms, and the third has the watch room and the lantern room, and then there's a cellar down there too.

02:54 You can't leave the house, like you would leave the front door and step into your driveway or onto the street?

03:02 No.

03:02You'd just fall right into the water?

03:04 You have to access it by boat.

03:05 OK.

03:06 That's partially the reason why he didn't tour it before he purchased it. It's a hassle to get there. You have to get the Coast Guard on board, and you have to go through a long process. To get to the lighthouse, you have to park at the Smith Point Marina.

03:20 You take a little boat?

03:21 You have to take ...

03:21 A big boat or a little boat?

03:23 You take a skiff boat, a smaller one. That's the main way.

03:27 You arrive to this place by boat, and then what happens.

03:31 There are two boat davits ...

03:33 OK.

03:33 ... that are attached to the exterior of the property. You park the boat, then you climb up the ladder into the actual lower level.

03:41 Oh, OK. For somebody afraid of heights, that might be a little bit of an issue?

03:44 I think it would be, but hopefully the excitement of being in a lighthouse will help you get over that.

03:50 A true optimist. OK. OK.

03:53 How much is he selling it for now?

03:55 450,000. Yeah.

03:58 Gotcha.

03:59 What was the condition of the lighthouse when he bought it?

04:02 When he bought it, it was in fair condition, but it needed restoration before it was livable. One of the first things he did was address the cracked walls, repair rusty railing and things like that, just getting rid of all of that erosion and things like that, just to make it safe. Then after that, bringing in furniture, adding the basic living amenities and whatnot. That's pretty much how he approached it.

04:33 Let's talk about the furniture. Did he move in a piano or a pool table? How do you get furniture into a lighthouse?

04:41 When he moved in, he told me that he grabbed a rope, because you have to climb into the lighthouse via a ladder. It'd be hard to carry those boxes up the ladder, obviously. He actually hoisted all of the furniture into the lighthouse with that rope, and almost lost a few of the pieces of furniture in the water below. Yeah, all the furniture is hoisted in the property, assembled it in there, and it's still there to this day. Whoever buys it will be inheriting furniture with a story, yeah.

05:11 What were some of the challenges in restoring the structure?

05:15 Well, the first challenge was finding a crew that would take the task on. That was one challenge that stood out. He recruited folks from his hometown, three to twelve people. Like I said, he owned a construction company before. A lot of the crew members who worked in the lighthouse were people that he knew, like former associates, friends and whatnot.

05:35 They must really love this guy. That's a long way to go.

05:38 He paid for their lodging, their travel, food, pretty much covered everything, so they took care of him in return, so it worked out.

05:46 OK, so we have the guy buys a lighthouse, he moves his furniture into the lighthouse. Now, what did he do with the lighthouse after that? Did he move in?

05:56 He didn't move in full-time. He used it as a vacation home, so special occasions, Fourth of July.

06:05 He went there with his family?

06:06 With his family, yeah, with his wife. His wife's name is Terri. With his children, all of whom were in their twenties and late teens at the time.

06:15 What was it like? What's it like bringing your kids and your spouse to go live in a lighthouse for a little while? What did they do when they were there?

06:24 For example, the Fourth of July, he and his kids would sit in the lantern room, which is the open space where the lamp fixture is, on the 4th of July at night, and they would sit and listen to wildlife.

06:39 Well, did they see fireworks too?

06:41 Fireworks, of course. Of course. Yeah, so that's one of the key experiences. Aside from that, they would hop on a boat. They would travel around the community surrounding the lighthouse. They made friends, would connect with people. That's what the adventure looked like over the years for him in the lighthouse.

07:01 OK. After the break, we're going to talk about why he's selling it.

07:05 Expert voices, local impact. Our journalists bring you sharp analysis and compelling stories from every corner of the U.S. housing market. See what our newsroom is uncovering at Homes.com/news.

07:17 OK, Kennedy, I'm going to call this the BYOB house, bring your own boat house. Okay?

07:22 I like that name.

07:25 What do potential buyers need to know before even thinking of calling a real estate agent if they're interested in purchasing the lighthouse? What kind of person do you think would thrive in a place like this?

07:38 Purchasing a lighthouse and maintaining one requires a knowledge of how to safely conduct yourself around water, how to take care of ...

07:52 It's not good for klutzy people?

07:54 Not at all. In fact, McNally told me a story about him almost falling into the ocean a few times throughout the years.

08:01 OK. Yeah, that's scary.

08:03 Yeah. Also understand that there's no homeowner's insurance. You can't get homeowner's insurance for a lighthouse.

08:09 OK, so what does that mean now?

08:11 If it breaks, you pay for it, essentially. If someone gets hurt, you're obviously responsible for that. On the flip side, there's no property taxes or anything like that.

08:23 A trade-off? OK.

08:24 Yep, yep. Even beyond that, it comes with a lot of responsibility too, because the Coast Guard actively maintains and retains ownership over the lamp fixture itself. Active lighthouses are still used for navigation by the Coast Guard, so the Coast Guard retains the right to board a lighthouse and repair the fixture, replace it, pretty much at will. Whenever you receive notice, you have to open the property, be there to facilitate any work or anything like that. That's an added responsibility that you have to think about.

08:58 Why is Dave McNally wanting to sell this now?

09:02 He essentially mentioned that it's just time to move on for him. He's 74. He's getting up there now, and his children are starting to have kids themselves.

09:15 Oh. I guess this is kind of a hard place to baby-proof.

09:17 Yeah, definitely.

09:19 OK.

09:19 Definitely.

09:19 All right.

09:20 Yeah. He's just ready to move on and pass the torch, if you will, to someone else that has more time, more energy, to give the lighthouse the care that it deserves.

09:31 Ok, so I have a question. Parker, you, too. Would you live in a lighthouse? What do you think, Parker?

09:39 I mean, I personally don't think I would want to do that. Even just going out to get your groceries is a whole ordeal. To use a pulley system for that would be a lot. I think it would definitely be a fun little vacation or trip to experience that. It's definitely a once-in-a-lifetime thing.

10:00 I think an overnight would be very cool, but I'm a terrible swimmer. I learned how to swim when I was 21, and that was only because I wanted to. It took me about 10 weeks to learn how to dive. Yeah, I'm out, but I can understand the appeal.

10:14 Yeah, that might be a disqualifier.

10:17 What about you?

10:19 I think I would be open to it in retirement, later on in life. You've seen “The Office”?

10:26 Yeah.

10:27 OK. There's a character on there. His name is Stan. In one episode, he said something along the lines of, "When I get older, I'm going to buy a lighthouse in the middle of the ocean, move there where no one knows my name and no one can reach me." You know what? I think when you reach retirement, that's not a bad ideal to have. That's a long way of saying, yes, I'll own a lighthouse at some point.

10:55 I guess there's going to be more to this story at some point. Well, Kennedy, thank you so much for sharing this story. It's really cool that this guy pursued his dream.

11:03 Oh, thank you for having me. This was a fun one.

11:05 Parker, why don't you take it away?

11:07 Thank you to our listeners for joining us on this journey through history, imagination, and the power of home. Tune in next time to Every Home Has a Story. Start your search today for more homes for sale at Homes.com. I'm Parker Leipzig with the Homes.com news team. I'll see you next time.