Southport Magazine

111 S. Atlantic Ave., Southport. Photo by Bethany Turner

Bill Rustin and his family have been visiting Southport waters since 1958, directed to the area after fishing for tarpon in the Florida Keys. “We went to a tackle shop in Wilmington, and they said, ‘Yeah, they’re in the mouth of the Cape Fear and at Frying Pan Shoals,'” Bill, who grew up in Gastonia, NC, recalls.

Vacationing on Long Beach and Holden Beach each year since, Bill remembers fishing long eight-hour days with friends back in the ’60s. In 1963, he brought his new bride, Mary Louise, to Southport.

“I’m from Vermont originally; I grew up in Burlington on Lake Champlain. So, I’ve always wanted or needed water of some kind,” Mary Louise tells. “Being in Gastonia, when we were first married, I was missing something and I didn’t know what it was. When we started coming down to the beach, I realized it was the water. I had to have some water that I could see. I paint, and so this new water and sky, for me, has always been a very exciting inspiration. In Vermont, you look around the next turn in the road. You don’t look at vistas of sea and sky.”

A painting by an unknown artist was left as a gift by a neighbor on the Rustins’ back porch. It acts as an ode to the house beside the front entry. Photo by Bethany Turner

Though she didn’t grow up around salt water, Mary Louise became hooked on the area. “I went out with them in Leo Dowling’s boat back behind Bald Head Island,” she shares. “That beautiful property, oh my goodness—there were only the three guard houses.”

Through the years of their infatuation with coastal Carolina, the Rustins have lived in Tallahasee, FL, and Raleigh, NC. In 2005, Mary Louise suggested they look for a vacation home here to escape the bustle of Wake County.

“We had a villa over in Oak Island Villages,” Bill notes. “Verilyn McKee, our realtor with Southport Realty, knew that Mary Louise and I would love to get into downtown Southport for just a nostalgic situation, and so that Mary Louise could tie into the art world more.”

Verilyn urged the couple to take a look at 111 S. Atlantic Avenue, despite the cottage’s outward appearance that it may be small. When the Rustins thought it wouldn’t work, Verilyn just knew they should take a tour. A decade later, the couple still spends two to three weekends in the butter-yellow abode.

The living room features family artifacts—from Bill’s fishing citations and family portraits to Mary Louise’s original art. Photo by Bethany Turner

“[The changes in Southport], I think that’s why we like this house and this area where we are, because it’s been the same for a long time,” Bill says of the downtown nook. “It was built as a cottage in the beginning, but it’s much larger than one would expect a cottage to be, because of the additions.”

What’s more, elements of the 2,200 square-foot home beckon the Rustins’ childhood memories. Constructed in 1940, it hosts many of the same features Bill and Mary Louise grew up with in Gastonia and Vermont.

The cutout for the old telephone in the dining room wall is the same cutout  that appeared in Bill’s Gastonia house—which was built in the ’30s—as well as Mary Louise’s old home. Glass knobs on the doors harken back to Mary Louise’s Burlington house, as well as the old ironing-board cabinet (now a spice rack in the kitchen!). Even the chairs at the breakfast table are the same she ate in as a child; as they bought the Southport home furnished, she was delighted to see all of the similarities.

“I cherish these door knobs. I’ve seen them in antique stores,” the artist muses. “The floors in the oldest part of the house are original, and we just think it’s great. The telephone insert, somebody else would say, ‘Oh, just take that out.’ But it adds character.”

Mary Louise is big on letting her home tell the family story. Along the high wainscot in the living room, she has placed paintings, photos and fishing citations atop the moulding. “I’ve not seen it done before, except for one magazine, but it was after we’d already had our photos up. It’s a wonderful way to display items,” she says.

By the front door, an ode to the home itself is placed. “This address sign was here when we moved in,” Bill says of the metal piece [top photo]. “One day we came in the back door, and this painting of the house was sitting inside the screen porch. Someone painted it, and a lady bought it then left it here, because she thought it was more interesting to us. We found out who that was, she lives right around the corner.

The front sunroom is where Bill and Mary Louise spend most of their time. Photo courtesy of Southport Realty

The painting is missing one element of the home’s façade: the small blue wave cutout that appears above the door. That was bought at Lantana’s Gallery and Fine Gifts (113 Howe St.), handmade by shop owner Hilary Meehan.

The Rustins have enjoyed many years at 111 S. Atlantic Ave., from Mary Louise painting in the studio they added to relaxing on the screened-in back porch which, when it rains on the tin roof, offers the most soothing “ping, ping” sounds. The front flagstone patio they installed is great for sipping wine and chatting with neighbors, and the couple spends most of its time in the front sunroom.

“We absolutely love this room. If we’re inside, this is often where we are, because we can sit and see everything that happens on the water, all the ships that go up and down the river,” Mary Louise describes. “Bill watches the fishing boats so he knows who’s on the water.”

Their gray tabby, Leele, loves to lounge in the room as well. Photo by Bethany Turner

Yet, as time passed, the duo decided to place their vacation home on the market in order to exchange the responsibility for a rental. “It took us a long time to decide to sell, though we knew we would at some stage,” Bill amends.

The four-bedroom, three-bath home is listed with Southport Realty for $568,000. Resting behind its bucolic white picket fence and English garden, the not-so-little yellow house will be sure to charm its next owner, fisherman, painter, or not. For more information, call Verilyn McKee at (910) 457-7676 or e-mail verilyn@southport-realty.com.

The desk was a gift from their children, a hand-carved relic. Photo by Bethany Turner

The master suite (bedroom featured above) includes a whirlpool tub. Photo by Bethany Turner

Additions throughout the years added a hall bathroom. Photo by Bethany Turner

Kitchen, photo courtesy of Southport Realty.

Dining, photo courtesy of Southport Realty

Mary Louise loves to cook, and when Bill can’t get on the water, they often visit Haag’s or Clem’s for fresh seafood for Bill to grill, while his wife whips up the sides. Photo by Bethany Turner

Mary Louise’s whimsical landscape paintings are on display in her studio, an addition the couple crafted. Photo by Bethany Turner