Small Spaces, Big Dreams

Jim Mauney spent his childhood summers on Lake Wylie and always hoped he’d have a chance to live on the water one day.

When Mauney was a kid in the 1950s, no-frills cabins dotted the shoreline and a 40-horsepower boat motor was the norm. Back when jet skis sounded like something out of “The Jetsons,” he and his brother, Scott, made makeshift skis out of old wooden doors.

Mauney’s family owned a summer cabin near the Seven Oaks Bridge that his father and uncle built with old timbers from Victory Baptist Church in Gastonia. The young brothers entertained themselves exploring coves in an aluminum rowboat, frog gigging, hanging out at the Seven Oaks Marina and watching churches conduct baptisms in the shallow water.

“No one lived at the lake full-time back then, but dad always said that one day, it would be full of big houses and neighborhoods,” he says. “We always thought it was too far from town, that it would never happen.”

As Mauney became an adult, he began to see his father’s vision for the future of Lake Wylie come true.

“My dad had about $14,000 in the house near Seven Oaks, and when he died, we sold it for around $65,000,” he says. “Those buyers later sold it for around $125,000. The last time it sold – the same old house built in the late ‘50s – it went in the neighborhood of $600,000.”

Mauney and his wife, Jan, raised three children in Gastonia and later spent 22 years in Spartanburg with his job in the textile industry. But they always dreamed of cruising Lake Wylie during their retirement.

“When we wanted to buy a piece of land and told the Realtor what we had in mind to spend, she laughed and asked us how long we had been gone,” he chuckles. “She quickly informed us there was nothing on the water for less than $150,000.”

Then the Mauneys learned about the Gaston County Wildlife Club, a community of small fishing cabins on the South Point Peninsula that, in many cases, have been expanded into permanent homes.

Originally a fishing lodge for area anglers, the club formed in 1949 near the Duke Energy Allen Plant in Belmont. In the 1970s, Duke Power relocated the club to the tip of the peninsula about two miles away.

The gated community includes 38 narrow lots, nine of which have small homes literally jutting out over the water. Each cabin sits just 10 feet away from its neighbor on either side. Later homes were required to have a setback from the water, as well as more space separating neighbors.

The Mauneys bought their one-bedroom, one-bath cabin in 2004 and used it as a weekend place while visiting family and caring for aging parents. They painted the dark ‘70s-era paneling and dressed it up with a lake house theme.

“We thought it would be a great place to retire,” says Jim. “There’s no yard and you don’t have to worry about a huge amount of maintenance. It’s right on the lake in a gated private community and it’s convenient to town.”

But downsizing from 3,700 to 900 square feet posed a problem with a house full of furniture, family heirlooms, children’s keepsakes and a collection of holiday decorations to rival Garden Ridge.

On top of the space restrictions, the Mauneys sold their Spartanburg house immediately and had to move out within a month of putting it on the market.

With the one-bedroom lake cabin already furnished, the Mauneys put all of their furniture in storage until they could decide what to pass down to their children and what to sell. Then they began making plans to turn their tiny weekend getaway into a permanent home.

Because the Wildlife Club lots are skinny and deep, the Mauneys had space to build back from the water toward the street. They drew plans to expand by 1,500 square feet and recruited Jim’s brother and residential builder Scott Mauney to create the addition.

“Originally we wanted the old house to become part of the new house,” explains Jan. “But under Duke Power rules for waterfront homes, you can repair it, but not replace it without abiding by the current 50-foot setback. So these two houses are actually not joined by anything but a breezeway. The old house became our guest house and the addition is where we live.”

The Mauneys have called a lot of places home, including an historic house in

Spartanburg’s Converse Heights, a spacious home on Lake Bowen and a condo in Blowing Rock.

“This really is one of my favorite places of anywhere we’ve lived,” says Jan. “It’s very peaceful and calming. We can sit here and relax on the porch with a glass of wine and watch the sun set. And we made the new house handicap-accessible with wide doors and high toilets, so hopefully we can live here for a long time to come.”

“We love the quietness and the serenity,” adds Jim. “We get up in the morning, see the mist on the lake and have a cup of coffee while looking out at the water. If we want to go for a boat ride, we just hop right in. Everyone looks out for each other, and we’re all on a first-name basis.”

The Mauneys’ story-and-a-half addition includes a master suite with garden tub and standalone shower, a great room with a dining area, a screened porch and a downstairs den and bath, all built above and behind the original cabin.

Vaulted ceilings, Australian cypress flooring, hickory cabinets, granite cabinets, stainless steel appliances, oil-rubbed bronze fixtures and a double-sided fireplace give the addition all the amenities of today’s upscale homes.

Antiques and family heirlooms fill the original cabin – a grandmother’s Hoosier cabinet where she made biscuits and stored cookies, a hope chest, a pedal-pumped sewing machine and a vintage Coca-Cola cooler.

“When our grandchildren visit, they have their own bedroom and their own kitchen in this guesthouse,” Jan says of the original cabin. “They’ve also used it for birthday parties. It’s okay if the floor gets wet and they can pile all their friends in for a slumber party. It’s like a big pool house overlooking the lake.”

Although medical doctors, builders and a judge call the Wildlife Club home, the neighborhood is far from stuffy. The Mauneys say it’s a refreshing change from upper-crust neighborhoods they’ve lived in where neighbors were shocked to learn the couple did their own yard work.

“It’s very tranquil and quiet like a lot of places on the lake, but the neat thing out here is it’s not about who you are, where you came from, who your daddy is or how much money you have,” says Jim. “It’s more of an attitude of if you like the lake, fine, come on in. It’s a much more casual lifestyle.”