'The floors were missing:' Century-old Austin McCormick House comes back to life

Built in 1915, the home belonged to well-known cotton broker and politician Austin McCormick. He was a prominent and renowned Sanford resident, serving as a member of the State Democratic Executive Committee and a Scottish Rite Mason.

But even that status wasn't enough to protect his historic home from potential ruin.

Many things can destroy a historic home: Forces of nature, pressure from developers. In this case, the home had been purchased by house-flippers who promised to renovate it, but then left it in a half-destroyed state, according to Cori McKee-Whipple, one of the women who stepped in to save it.

To lose the Austin McCormick House would be to lose part of Sanford's story. Names like Makepeace and McCormick are part of the fabric of the city.

"When we first started renovating the Austin McCormick House, there were places where the floors were missing," said McKee-Whipple.

Photos from before and during the renovations show the rough shape the historic home was left in.

Before-and-after photos show the Austin McCormick House coming back to life. As much as possible, McKee-Whipple says they try to save iconic pieces of the places they renovate – such as original flooring, walls, windows.

This means the unique windows and floors of the home's basement still reflect the 1920s, when McCormick's children put on neighborhood plays, and charged all their neighbors to come see.

Multiple rooms have a fireplace – truly dating the home back to an era before central heating. The shaded, wrap-around porch with thick pillars comes from an era before air conditioning, when the best way to get cool during a hot North Carolina summer was to sit in the shade with a cool drink and catch a breeze.

McKee-Whipple even framed a piece of the home's vintage wall paper – a small touch that helps make sure those old memories never fade.

McCormick's daughter shared an essay of memories from growing up in the home, quipping, "I never thought I'd live long enough to write a few notes about lifestyles from 1912 to 1932."

"In those days we had three big meals a day. We came home from school at noon for dinner – had an hour – and Daddy came home, too. All of us sat at the dining room table, and we were not allowed to rush," she wrote.

Many people don't remember a day when the entire family came home from school and work to sit down together at noon – or a time when people rode down the streets of Sanford in horse-drawn wagons.

"On the back porch was an ice box. The ice man came once a day driving a red wagon drawn by a horse," she wrote.

She recalls eating country-style steak with gravy, ham, chicken, oysters and pork. Her mother made whipped cream from scratch – and added wine.

She remembers cooking dinner for guests like Walter Lambeth, their representative in Congress, and Jim Farley, their Postmaster General. Their family was well-connected and well-respected in the community.

Tragically, McCormick passed away suddenly in a car accident in 1941.

"The automobile in which he was riding left a 49-foot embankment near High Falls and plunged two-thirds of the way across Deep River," wrote the Sanford Herald.

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"That's the most important part of this story," said McKee-Whipple. "It's that this house has stood for 100 years, and now it will stand for 100 more."