HAMLET — The multi-purpose log cabin owned by the Sandhills Alternative Academy that burned last June has taken on a new look as it prepares to reopen next month.
The cabin, which sits on Corning Pond and was used for meetings, a cafeteria, movie theater and a site for private events including weddings, burned down after lightning struck a pine tree which was connected to the building by an electrical wire. The fire caused about $400,000 worth of damage, but insurance covered it, according to Walt Easterling, owner of the Academy (a.k.a. the Big Pine Retreat).
The fire destroyed some of the building’s notable features like the wagon wheel chandelier, but left its enormous stone fireplace with relatively superficial damage. Staff began cleaning up around February of this year, and after months of renovations the new building has taken shape. More barn than log cabin, the now-red building has a high-ceiling, an open floor plan with the main feature being the fireplace, with double doors lead out to the pier.
Easterling said the building will reopen at some point in July.
“It’s been a process,” he said. “We wrestled with it just being a patio with a fireplace but decided on a building, using the original floor, and we got rid of the upstairs … We never used the upstairs.”
The fire started in the afternoon of June 24, 2018, Easterling recalled, with the Richmond County Sheriff’s Office arriving first. He said he got a phone call saying that law enforcement needed a key to the Academy’s gate immediately. Hamlet Fire Chief Calvin White told the Daily Journal at the time that the building was “fully involved” by the time they arrived on the scene and that firefighters could see the smoke over the trees as they left town to respond to the 9-1-1 call.
“(I) was shook up,” Easterling said.
The new building will include elements from the old one, including the charred wagon wheel which will become a wall fixture. The mantle on the fireplace was destroyed, and Southern Builders replaced it with one they had in storage from an old textile plant, complete with “battle scars” from years of use in a rough environment, according to Easterling.
The Sandhills Alternative Academy, which has its office at 503 Rockingham Rd., is a day treatment facility for children ages 6 to 18. They accept children and teens who are referred through the judicial or school system for a range of treatments including out-patient therapy, trauma-focused cognitive behavioral therapy, and life skills.
Easterling and his wife, Pam, purchased the property from Claude Smith in 2009 to start the Academy.
The property was owned by New York-native L.A. Corning who in January 1920 turned it into an ice cream factory for his company, Buttercup Ice Cream, according to Historic Hamlet. Other owners included the family of Richmond County attorney Tommy Nichols, who lived there in the 1970s.
Nichols said a tree limb fell on their home and started another fire which “burned everything I owned.” Nichols recalled riding his dirt bike through the scenic property in his youth.
“It was a paradise if you liked riding dirt bikes,” he said.
The property also became known for hosting high-profile parties as it changed hands throughout the years, according to Easterling.
