BUXTON, N.C. — Normally you might think a house can't just grow legs and walk away from the oceanfront in Buxton, but that's exactly what happened within the past 10 days for Lat and Debby Williams. A mover took their longtime family beach house, where the two have called home full time since 2017, and relocated it safely away from the ocean.
"You read all the comments on Facebook, and everybody goes, why are they bothering, the house is toast, it's gone. We're like, no, we're going to make this happen. And we were able to pull it off," said Lat.
For about seven weeks, the Williams have watched as 15 houses nearby collapsed into the ocean in Buxton — every day holding their breath, not knowing if theirs was next. News 3 spoke with Lat on Oct. 30, when contractors were working to reinforce the structure, while the Williams were still more than a week away from relocating the house.
"We were at a really, really precarious point when I talked to you the last time. There were waves crashing under it, we had pilings hanging loose. We weren't sure what the future was going to be on the house. We figured we had potentially a 50/50 chance of saving it, but we had a lot of people jumping in and throwing pilings under it and really helping us to try to hang in there until we could get a window to get the mover in here and do it," said Lat.
The Williams were determined to save the family home that has been in their lives for more than 40 years.
"We've had the house in the family since 1981. We've got four generations of the family now that come down here and love this house. If there was any way at all we could save it. We wanted to save it," said Lat.
That's exactly what they did.
"It worked like clockwork, brought it down in here and slid it in on the lot, and there it is," said Lat.
Despite a few challenges from Mother Nature, the house was moved to a lot about half a mile from its original location.
"Those swells breached that berm, and the mover said, I'm not putting my wheels under there. If we have water underneath it, we'll have to wait and see what happens when the tide goes out. At that point, my contractor and I were like, oh, man, is this thing going to happen at all? And fortunately, as the tide started going out, we did have some water under the house, but the cribbing held. They had steel plates that all that stuff was resting on, and it got dry enough and firm enough that the mover said, alright, we'll do it," said Lat.
The Williams paid $55,000 to move the house, along with paying for the lot it's on now. There are also repair and replacement costs. But all of it worth it for the family.
"it's just one of those things that you go, it hurts, but it's worth it," said Lat.
Though the Williams were able to save their home, they aren't forgetting the numerous families who weren't as lucky.
"We celebrate that we were able to save this house, but we've got 10 friends that have lost houses, and they had the same kind of memories and feelings about their houses that we do about this one. So you put it in perspective, we're just extremely fortunate to have been able to pull this off," said Lat.
Lat continues to hope that conversations will continue about coastal solutions, like repairing all three jetties on the Buxton oceanfront. One is expected to be repaired next year along with a beach nourishment project.
"I'm a big supporter of eliminating the ban on hardened structures on the coast of North Carolina. If you remove that ban, it does not open the floodgate. It doesn't mean that there's going to be a jetty every 30 yards. It means it's one more option for us to use where it makes sense, and this location is one that makes sense," said Lat.
But for now, he is just thankful that they were able to save this irreplaceable part of their lives.
"It's just a place that we all love. Nobody wanted to see it go in the ocean," said Lat.
The Williams haven't been able to live in the home while it was on the oceanfront since August, and many close friends have stepped up to house them since then in Buxton. As the contractors work on repairs and everything needed for the home to be up and running again, the Williams are hoping to start this next chapter of their lives in mid-January.
