Back to Fall 2006 / Winter 2007 Issue
A Tropical Oasis on the Crystal Coast
A Mashallberg family erects a lighthouse to help bring the Bahamas home
by David Hall
A sharp, steady breeze rolls off Core Sound as water laps over the marsh on a perfect Sunday afternoon.
A few miles to the southeast, the Cape Lookout lighthouse stands tall in the distance, its perpetually spinning light making itself apparent every 15 seconds. Bryan and Lynell Verch stroll across their three acres of waterfront property with Pebbles, a 7-month-old Cocker Spaniel for whom the Verches can never walk fast enough. Pebbles, though, seems to be the only creature in a hurry on this Marshallberg tract of land christened “Bahama East” by its human inhabitants. The big, black-and-white lighthouse may be just a couple of miles away, but it’s no longer the closest.
Bryan Verch, the founding owner of the Top Deck clothing store in Beaufort, is a longtime collector of classic Corvettes. For years, he’s restored the iconic American cars in his downstairs garage. When he decided to build a new garage, he put his own unique spin on it. The Verches are nearing completion of a 30-foot-tall yellow lighthouse that will double as a home for Bryan’s five classic vehicles. The lighthouse — complete with a spiral staircase and a fully walkable observation deck around the outside — is the property’s crown jewel.
Think of the lighthouse as the ultimate nod to Verch’s former profession. Before he moved to North Carolina and got into the clothing business in 1985, Verch owned a store selling lighting fixtures and accessories in Albany, N.Y. There, he had always wanted to build a small lighthouse to display his items in the shop, so when it came time to build a new garage he saw his opportunity. “They wouldn’t let me move the lighthouse from over on Core Banks,” Verch jokes, “so I said, ‘Well, I’ll just build my own.’ ”
The lighthouse is a splendid bright yellow — his favorite color — with a brilliant teal door and white trim. It sits about 40 yards from the home on the water the couple designed themselves eight years ago. In the spacious future garage, which will feature lifts that will allow Verch to stack his Corvettes like bunk beds, five round windows look out onto the water like the portholes on a cruise ship.
Surrounded by palm trees, the lighthouse is part of a 70-by-40-foot structure that completes the nautical theme of the Verches’ home and consummates the Carribean lifestyle they lead when they’re not working. The lifestyle began innocently enough, triggered by a vacation to the Bahamas in 1995. Afterward, to complement the high-end summer vacation wear they sell at Top Deck, the Verches started playing steel drum music on the stereo in the store where Lynell, 57, works part-time and Bryan, 59, works six days a week. Before they knew it, the theme had carried over to their home life.
In the house’s open great room, which faces Core Sound to the east, decorative oars and brightly colored surfboard art hang above the large picture windows, which offer a panoramic view of the water. The Cape Lookout lighthouse is visible from every room in the house; at night, its light sweeps intermittently through the structure like the flashlight of a cop looking for a burglar. White wicker chairs with a subtle seashell shape surround the dining room table just off the great room. On the wall, a wooden picture frame cut like a small sailboat shows photos of the Verches’ four laughing grandchildren. Cooking dinner, Lynell takes in the view, never taking its beauty for granted.
“It’s fun because you can enjoy the water without stepping outside,” says Lynell, a Marshallberg native who met her husband after he moved to North Carolina and opened the store. They’ve been married 12 years, and both have two grown children from previous marriages. But Bryan has one other love in his life: his Corvettes. A willing victim of what he describes as “Corvette fever,” Bryan has collected the cars since he got his first in 1967. Since then, he’s bought, restored and sold a couple, but he likes to keep a few on hand for recreational use. Besides driving one of the Corvettes to work every day, the Verches are officers in the New Bern-based Twin Rivers Corvette Club, and they travel to Corvette shows in Pennsylvania and Florida every year.
Among Bryan’s collection are a 1962 convertible, a ’65 convertible, a ’65 coupe, a ’79 coupe and an ’02 coupe. The ’65 cars, which hit the market the year he graduated from high school, are his favorite. “It brings back memories,” Bryan says. “It brings back nostalgia. You’re just a kid again, you know?” Adds Lynell, “It reminds you of how things have changed in our life.”
The change, lately, has been gradual. When they got married, the Verches still had children living at home. Since then, they’ve moved on to the empty-nesters phase of life, which has allowed them to enjoy life with Pebbles and expand on the Carribean theme at Bahama East. The property’s nickname is announced on the side of a light purple row boat at the end of the long driveway that leads to the house. On top of the boat is a small collection of seashells and an old crabpot, which sits below a flapping American flag.
In the near distance, the stately new lighthouse rises above the property. Inside, the wind howls off the water as sand is disturbed below. From the observation deck, the vista is breathtaking. Birds coast by at eye level and the “other” lighthouse is visible above the Verches’ home, which sits between the new lighthouse and the sound.
“Over on the beach, you’re right next to somebody else’s window,” Bryan says of the property’s seemingly remote location. “It’s a nice view there and everything, but we’ve got the water fowl out here in the morning and the fish jumping in the water. It’s just relaxing.” The lighthouse has been under construction since early 2006. Its development, conceived by Bryan Verch and executed by Varner Brothers Construction of Morehead City, has been a unique undertaking. Steve Nunn, a Kinston native and senior project manager for Varner Brothers, has had the challenge of erecting a structure unlike anything he’s done in his 24-year career.
The challenging part, Nunn says, has been ensuring that the one-of-a-kind tower, with its custom-designed staircase and trimmings, maintains both its structural and aesthetic integrity. The lighthouse, with pilings that pierce up to 12 feet of earth, is built to withstand winds of up to 130 miles per hour.
“It’s very unusual,” Nunn says. “We do a lot of houses with widow walks or captain’s walks, but the lighthouse replica is unusual. It’s a heavy-duty design. It’s the best of the best as far as structural foundation.”
The result adds to the private ambience of the Verches’ permanent vacation, the site of which seems more remote than it actually is. Lynell, whose charming Down East accent slips out when she says words like “house” or “sound,” is quick to point out that it’s a short drive to the nearest store — just 3 miles — and just 25 minutes to Top Deck. Still, the winding, scenic trip to the property, past a turnoff called The Woods Road and around a sharp curve to the right, makes finding the home somewhat of an adventure for the uninitiated. And maybe it’s by design.
“People say, ‘Where do you go when you take your time off?’ ” Bryan says with a smile, glancing at his beaming, youthful wife. “Well,” comes his answer, “we really hate to leave here.”
A few miles to the southeast, the Cape Lookout lighthouse stands tall in the distance, its perpetually spinning light making itself apparent every 15 seconds. Bryan and Lynell Verch stroll across their three acres of waterfront property with Pebbles, a 7-month-old Cocker Spaniel for whom the Verches can never walk fast enough. Pebbles, though, seems to be the only creature in a hurry on this Marshallberg tract of land christened “Bahama East” by its human inhabitants. The big, black-and-white lighthouse may be just a couple of miles away, but it’s no longer the closest.
Bryan Verch, the founding owner of the Top Deck clothing store in Beaufort, is a longtime collector of classic Corvettes. For years, he’s restored the iconic American cars in his downstairs garage. When he decided to build a new garage, he put his own unique spin on it. The Verches are nearing completion of a 30-foot-tall yellow lighthouse that will double as a home for Bryan’s five classic vehicles. The lighthouse — complete with a spiral staircase and a fully walkable observation deck around the outside — is the property’s crown jewel.
Think of the lighthouse as the ultimate nod to Verch’s former profession. Before he moved to North Carolina and got into the clothing business in 1985, Verch owned a store selling lighting fixtures and accessories in Albany, N.Y. There, he had always wanted to build a small lighthouse to display his items in the shop, so when it came time to build a new garage he saw his opportunity. “They wouldn’t let me move the lighthouse from over on Core Banks,” Verch jokes, “so I said, ‘Well, I’ll just build my own.’ ”
The lighthouse is a splendid bright yellow — his favorite color — with a brilliant teal door and white trim. It sits about 40 yards from the home on the water the couple designed themselves eight years ago. In the spacious future garage, which will feature lifts that will allow Verch to stack his Corvettes like bunk beds, five round windows look out onto the water like the portholes on a cruise ship.
Surrounded by palm trees, the lighthouse is part of a 70-by-40-foot structure that completes the nautical theme of the Verches’ home and consummates the Carribean lifestyle they lead when they’re not working. The lifestyle began innocently enough, triggered by a vacation to the Bahamas in 1995. Afterward, to complement the high-end summer vacation wear they sell at Top Deck, the Verches started playing steel drum music on the stereo in the store where Lynell, 57, works part-time and Bryan, 59, works six days a week. Before they knew it, the theme had carried over to their home life.
In the house’s open great room, which faces Core Sound to the east, decorative oars and brightly colored surfboard art hang above the large picture windows, which offer a panoramic view of the water. The Cape Lookout lighthouse is visible from every room in the house; at night, its light sweeps intermittently through the structure like the flashlight of a cop looking for a burglar. White wicker chairs with a subtle seashell shape surround the dining room table just off the great room. On the wall, a wooden picture frame cut like a small sailboat shows photos of the Verches’ four laughing grandchildren. Cooking dinner, Lynell takes in the view, never taking its beauty for granted.
“It’s fun because you can enjoy the water without stepping outside,” says Lynell, a Marshallberg native who met her husband after he moved to North Carolina and opened the store. They’ve been married 12 years, and both have two grown children from previous marriages. But Bryan has one other love in his life: his Corvettes. A willing victim of what he describes as “Corvette fever,” Bryan has collected the cars since he got his first in 1967. Since then, he’s bought, restored and sold a couple, but he likes to keep a few on hand for recreational use. Besides driving one of the Corvettes to work every day, the Verches are officers in the New Bern-based Twin Rivers Corvette Club, and they travel to Corvette shows in Pennsylvania and Florida every year.
Among Bryan’s collection are a 1962 convertible, a ’65 convertible, a ’65 coupe, a ’79 coupe and an ’02 coupe. The ’65 cars, which hit the market the year he graduated from high school, are his favorite. “It brings back memories,” Bryan says. “It brings back nostalgia. You’re just a kid again, you know?” Adds Lynell, “It reminds you of how things have changed in our life.”
The change, lately, has been gradual. When they got married, the Verches still had children living at home. Since then, they’ve moved on to the empty-nesters phase of life, which has allowed them to enjoy life with Pebbles and expand on the Carribean theme at Bahama East. The property’s nickname is announced on the side of a light purple row boat at the end of the long driveway that leads to the house. On top of the boat is a small collection of seashells and an old crabpot, which sits below a flapping American flag.
In the near distance, the stately new lighthouse rises above the property. Inside, the wind howls off the water as sand is disturbed below. From the observation deck, the vista is breathtaking. Birds coast by at eye level and the “other” lighthouse is visible above the Verches’ home, which sits between the new lighthouse and the sound.
“Over on the beach, you’re right next to somebody else’s window,” Bryan says of the property’s seemingly remote location. “It’s a nice view there and everything, but we’ve got the water fowl out here in the morning and the fish jumping in the water. It’s just relaxing.” The lighthouse has been under construction since early 2006. Its development, conceived by Bryan Verch and executed by Varner Brothers Construction of Morehead City, has been a unique undertaking. Steve Nunn, a Kinston native and senior project manager for Varner Brothers, has had the challenge of erecting a structure unlike anything he’s done in his 24-year career.
The challenging part, Nunn says, has been ensuring that the one-of-a-kind tower, with its custom-designed staircase and trimmings, maintains both its structural and aesthetic integrity. The lighthouse, with pilings that pierce up to 12 feet of earth, is built to withstand winds of up to 130 miles per hour.
“It’s very unusual,” Nunn says. “We do a lot of houses with widow walks or captain’s walks, but the lighthouse replica is unusual. It’s a heavy-duty design. It’s the best of the best as far as structural foundation.”
The result adds to the private ambience of the Verches’ permanent vacation, the site of which seems more remote than it actually is. Lynell, whose charming Down East accent slips out when she says words like “house” or “sound,” is quick to point out that it’s a short drive to the nearest store — just 3 miles — and just 25 minutes to Top Deck. Still, the winding, scenic trip to the property, past a turnoff called The Woods Road and around a sharp curve to the right, makes finding the home somewhat of an adventure for the uninitiated. And maybe it’s by design.
“People say, ‘Where do you go when you take your time off?’ ” Bryan says with a smile, glancing at his beaming, youthful wife. “Well,” comes his answer, “we really hate to leave here.”