IN 1859, AS CIVIL WAR DRUMS BEGAN TO BEAT STEADILY LOUDER, Beaufort, South Carolina, resident Dr. Joseph Johnson made an unlikely decision: He was going to build the largest, most magnificent house in town. And despite a Union blockade of the ship carrying his European balustrades, ironwork, and marble fireplace mantels, he did just that. Add the backstory of a bell-jingling jester turned resident ghost, and you begin to understand why Elizabeth Locke and her husband, John Staelin, are endlessly fascinated by their getaway home, a breath taking 11,000-square-foot place-with 23 rooms and 79 windows-that locals long ago dubbed "the Castle" for its crenellated parapet and the surrounding salt marsh, which resembles a moat at high tide.
Antique cane sofa and chandelier; walls in Concord Ivory, Benjamin Moore.
Most of the year, the couple live on their 100-acre farm in Virginia horse country, and Locke says they were not in the market for a second home when this baronial manse caught her husband's eye as he leafed through the Wall Street Journal. "John turned a page and said to me, 'Look at this crazy house for sale! Let's go take a look, just for fun.'"
Antique taxidermy.
Antique American table; walls in Straw, Farrow & Ball.
Locke has a passion for the antique and the extraordinary-her handmade jewelry, found at Neiman Marcus and other luxury outposts, features richly colored Venetian intaglios and glittering gold coins inspired by classical Rome. She recalls walking up the grand front steps of the Castle, in Beaufort's ante bellum Point neighborhood, and being "blown away."
"My heart skipped a beat," says Locke, who fell in love with the elegant lines of the architecture. "The previous owners had restored it with complete respect for the original house."
Jewelry designer Elizabeth Locke.
Stemware, William Yeoward Crystal; flatware, Laguiole; tablecloth, Restoration Hardware.
Locke could not be deterred from buying the place, even after being told that it was haunted. Local lore has it that a jester named Gauche accompanied explorer Jean Ribault to the area in 1562. Apparently things did not end well for Gauche, whose restless spirit stalks the Castle. Witnesses claim to have heard the bells of his fool's cap as the mist rose over the marsh (he is also reported to swear-in French). "Nothing would make me happier than to see him!" exclaims Locke. "Who wouldn't want to meet the ghost of a 16th-century jester who waited until the 19th century to find just the right house to haunt?"
A traditional jib window leads to the porch.
The Castle was completely empty when Locke first saw it. She resolved to decorate only as absolutely necessary. "No rugs, no big curtains, very spare," she says. In a bit of kismet, the previous owner had painted the walls in the same Italian terra-cotta colors that Locke uses for her jewelry, so she left them as is. Even some of the American Gothic furniture she brought down from Virginia was already upholstered in those exact earthy tones.
IN A BIT OF KISMET, THE PREVIOUS OWNER HAD PAINTED THE WALLS IN THE SAME ITALIAN TERRA-COTTA COLORS THAT ELIZABETH LOCKE USES FOR HER JEWELRY, SO SHE LEFT THEM AS IS.
A 19th-century Waterford chandelier adds sparkle in the dining room; 19th-century chairs with cushions in a Jim Thompson cotton; walls in Dorset Cream, Farrow & Ball.
Other things about their life in Beaufort are very different from what they're used to on their sprawling farm. "We have neighbors here-a whole new circle of friends!" says Locke, clearly delighted. Every summer, she and Staelin cram their car with dahlias from their Virginia garden and drive nine hours south to host an annual "dahlia party" on the Castle's porch. The intricate jib windows that double as doors from living room to porch are flung open. And as evening approaches, the house glows gray to tan to pink as the sun sinks behind a canopy of live oaks that are as majestic as-and hundreds of years older than-the house itself.
The double staircase shows off the spectacular geometry of the light-filled house. Antique American chairs with cushions in a Jim Thompson silk. 19th-century French chest.
WAR AND PEACE
Dr. Joseph Johnson designed his house in 1859, and the family moved in during the summer of 1861, just months before Beaufort fell to the Union Army in the Battle of Port Royal. Anticipating occupation by Yankee forces, Dr. Johnson buried the family silver beneath the floor of an outbuilding, steps ahead of Union soldiers who confiscated the house for use as a hospital. Because the outbuilding was chosen as the morgue, the family valuables were not discovered, enabling Dr. Johnson to tap the hidden trove to buy back his home, one of the few Beaufort residents able to do so. His descendants continued to live here until 1981.
The porch ceiling is painted in a soft blue-green hue that's traditionally believed to ward off ghosts.
The 1861 house in Beaufort, South Carolina, was designed as a copy of an English manor.
