Both the Crenshaw Guest House and the Heritage House offer Auburn-Opelika locals and visitors a chance to go to sleep and wake up in a piece of history.
The Heritage House is a boutique bed and breakfast/event center is located in downtown Opelika minutes from its historic downtown. As the owners and operators of the Heritage House, Leif Espelaund and his wife Dani Nelson are the people you are going to see around the property.
The Heritage House building was built by W.E. and Annie Cole Davis in 1913. The five-bedroom house was originally constructed as a single-family home where it remained in the Davis family until the early 1970s. It was then sold to Ruth Crook and her sister Virginia Magee in 1971. At the time, the sisters ran an antique business in downtown Opelika and decided to convert the home into both their personal home and new shop location.
“They were the first people to run it as sort of a commercial property and they called it Heritage House Antiques, so that’s was where the name came from," Espelaund said.
The property was run as an antique business for 17 years and upon the sister’s retirement, it was ultimately in disrepair. The building was scheduled for demolition until it was purchased and saved by local community leader Barbra Patton from the “proverbial wrecking ball” Espelaund said. Her son Richard Patton then fully remodeled the property and ran it as a bed and breakfast and gift shop for nearly a decade.
Since then, the building has changed owners and occupations a few more times before being purchased by Espelaund and Nelson.
“It’s a really kind of iconic building here," Espelaund said. "It was built in a neoclassical style. So that’s really the same Kind of style that the White House is. So, when we drove into town and turned the corner and saw it sitting there it really does stand out. It has a really magnificent sort of look to it with these giant columns in the front and it’s a really large brick building… Then inside it has got a lot of attention to detail… As the saying goes, ‘they just don’t make it like they used to’ and you can see the kind of craftsmanship that was put into it.”
Back in Seattle, Washington in late 2019, Espelaund and his wife decided that they were looking to make a change in their career. They began their search for a property in order to start an inn and event center that was perfect for their skill sets in marketing and event managing. In the three years leading up to this career switch, Espelaund explained that it was also their experience renting a section of their Seattle home via Airbnb that lead them to the industry.
“We thought, 'What if we could do this same thing but on a slightly larger scale and in something that is sort of a destination and something that could draw people in?'” Espelaund said. “And if we could do that in a way that could be a full-time job for us. That was the impetus.”
Although their life was in Seattle, Dani was born and raised in Alabama and ultimately the City of Opelika brought them to the end of their search.
“Opelika is certainly a much smaller community than where we came from, but it’s still a really vibrant community,” Espelaund said. “This building is located just walking distance from all the cool happenings right in the heart of the city.”
In January of 2020 when they purchased the Opelika property and moved across the country. The official opening was in June of 2020.
“It was a really exciting time for us. Unfortunately, it was not a great time in the world," Espelaund said. "But there was nothing we could do about that. We got here just in time for the pandemic [COVID-19].”
The couple purchased the guesthouse only months before a global pandemic would ensue.
“We certainly didn’t know about the pandemic when we bought the place,” Espelaund said. “Actually, the first time we heard about Coronavirus was when we drove across the country with a box truck with all of our stuff in it.”
The couple continued to follow their dreams of opening a guesthouse despite the obstacles brought about by the pandemic.
“Obviously starting a hospitality business that is dependent on travel in the middle of a once in a century global health pandemic is not ideal,” Espelaund said. “But this community has been super supportive… we have had a ton of guests who have come just from the local community.”
Espelaund and his wife look forward to things returning to some sort of normalcy and continuing to serve their guests through it all.
Another local historic gem is the Crenshaw Guest House. The house was built in the 1890s’ by the Director and professor of mathematics at Auburn Polytechnic Institute Bowling Hall Crenshaw. Crenshaw frequently spent time with Cliff Hare, a member of the first football team at Auburn University in 1892 and whose name is highly recognized on Jordan Hare stadium.
“Dean Cliff Hare and Bowling Hall Crenshaw were colleagues at Auburn and they would oftentimes come to this house and meet for tea,” innkeeper’s assistant Kayla Golson, said.
During the Crenshaw’s time, the home was occupied by his wife, Willie Ella Glenn, and their two daughters, Mary Glenn and Sarah Hall. while the upstairs floor was rented out as housing for University students. Crenshaw owned the home until he passed away in 1935. The next family to own the house was William and Martha Hardie in 1942. They owned the home for 40 years where they ran a nursery and continuing to rent the 2nd floor apartments to University students.
“I have had guests come and stay and tell me that they met while one of them was living in that upstairs apartment,” Current owner and innkeeper Jennifer Nunnelley said. “And it’s fun because that room is one that, when I bought the property, I converted it back into a guest room and so they were able to stay in the room that they once lived in when they were students at Auburn.”
Next, Dean Cliff Hare’s granddaughters "Peppi” and Frances Speight Sugg Verma purchased the house and gave it the necessary restorations in order to open it as a business. They officially opened it as the Crenshaw Guesthouse on May 20, 1985. George and Lynn Postel purchased the guesthouse in 2008 and continued running it while their four children attended and graduated from Auburn University. Auburn graduate Stephen and his wife Sarah Jenkins bought the guesthouse in 2013 to provide a home away from home to those visiting Auburn.
Jennifer Nunnelley has been the fourth owner and innkeeper of the Crenshaw Guest House for two years now. Jennifer and Fred have been in the multifamily real estate business both in Birmingham and Auburn. As Fred is an Auburn Alumni and the couple has a passion for historic buildings, when a historic guesthouse became available in Auburn, they were immediately drawn to it.
“We have an affinity for historic properties and loved that this house was also on the national registry for historic places,” Jennifer said. “It is part of the history of Auburn.”
Through managing the guesthouse, the Nunnelleys’ found that upholding the property’s historic nature was synchronous with upholding the Auburn community. Each room of the house is named after prominent names in Auburn's history. Guests can enjoy a stay in the Thach or Samford room as well as the Pat Dye Cottage.
"Trying a new business venture is also fun and appealing to us," Jennifer said. "So that’s what’s been fun about it. Well, the historic part of it, we felt like we knew what to do with historic buildings and how to maintain them. We do think that is important in any community and maintaining that sense of community is preserving that history.”
Being in the heart of Auburn, many of the guests of the Crenshaw Guest House are frequently returning, which forged great friendships Jennifer never expected to have.
“We feel like a part of their extended family after a few visits because we really get to know them and their kids who are in school there,” Jennifer said. “They’ll come when they come and move their freshman in or maybe they’ll discover the guesthouse when they’re in Auburn moving their freshman in. Then it’s their Auburn home for their subsequent visits… then on graduation it’s kind of bittersweet, happy to see their student moving on but sad that we won’t get to see them anymore.”
Since its establishment as a guesthouse, its previous owners have each put a personal touch on the property. Nunnelley’s personal touch can be seen through the small luxuries available to the guests.
“I am trying to focus on the smaller details like really high-quality toiletry items, soaps, shampoos and bath salts, little details like bathrobes in every room and we have Dyson hair dryers in every room,” Jennifer said. “Little touches that make it feel at home but maybe a little nicer than you might have at home… I want you to feel pampered when you leave my place.”
Even down to the product line of the toiletry items, Jennifer has sought to make them reflect the historic nature of the home.
Having purchased the guesthouse only two years ago, the Nunnelleys’ have spent half of their time as owners and operators of the guesthouse in a global pandemic.
“Well, obviously everything stopped for a while, then it has been slowly coming back,” Jennifer said. “Football season was sad. It was hard and it was sad… We just didn’t have a lot of guests throughout COVID. It was sad. But we're excited now because we’re seeing a big increase in bookings and it’s just nice to see life back in the property.”
These two historical Auburn-Opelika homes have been renewed and restored while preserving the stories told and written within their walls.
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