Couple Saves Home for the Love of History

By DENISE ALLEN MEMBRENO

              Lissy Merenda played “the dumb blond” to get a look inside of an antebellum mansion overlooking Fincastle. That “wrong” turn changed the direction of her life and that of her husband Dan. They fell in love with Santillane that day and now four years later they have a beautiful home and a growing business.

              Lissy and Dan had been looking for an old house in the country. Friends living in Botetourt County invited the couple to come out and look at their home. On that trip, the Merendas spotted the dilapidated Santillane.

              “I had never noticed it up here before because when the trees are out it is pretty well hidden,” remembered Lissy Merenda. “So we drove up the driveway, and Dan said, ‘You can’t just go driving up someone’s driveway.’ I said, ‘Oh yeah, you can. You just do the dumb blond thing. I’m lost. I took a wrong turn.’ ”

              A large sign told the Merendas the historic home was for sale. A look in the windows showed them it needed a lot of repairs. They called the real estate agent who just happened to live down the road.

              “We were stunned. We could see it was a diamond in the rough,” said Lissy. “We pondered it for a while, and then came back. We brought our kids, and they thought we were crazy because they could see it was going to be a lot of work.”

              “It was right on the edge of disaster, I think,” added Dan. “The roof had started taking on water and some of the ceilings had started getting water stained. Eventually part of the ceiling in the upstairs bedroom fell right after we moved in so it was timely in that we were able to get a new roof on and stop the water damage.”

Historic Homeplace

            Santillane is nestled in the Blue Ridge Mountains, just off of U.S. 220 north. Col.  George Hancock, a member of the United States Congress from 1793-1797, built the original home around 1795.

              On Jan. 5, 1808, Hancock's daughter, Judith, married Gen. William Clark. The popular belief is that they were married at Santillane. Clark is the same Clark who led Thomas Jefferson's famous Lewis and Clark Expedition from 1803 to 1806.

              Clark had visited Fincastle several times before his westward excursion. According to local lore, his first contact with Judith or “Julia” as she liked to be called,  came when she was 10 to 12 years old.

              The local belief is that Clark rescued Julia and her cousin Harriet Kennerly from a balky horse. However they met she made quite an impression because Clark is said to have named the Judith River in Montana after the young girl.

              Julia was said to be the most beautiful girl in Virginia. When she and Clark married she was not quite 17. He was 38.

              Lissy says the original house burned and was rebuilt as it stands today probably on the original foundation. The reconstruction happened sometime around 1820-1830.

The Renovation

              “We had restored other houses, two in Old Southwest Roanoke,” said Dan when asked if he had any reservations when they bought Santillane. “I had done one in College Park, Maryland, and another in southern Maryland on the Chesapeake.”

              Those restorations, though, were not on this scale. Before buying the roughly 180- year-old house, the Merendas called in a structural engineer and had the electrical, plumbing and well inspected.

              Everything checked out. “We had an engineer draw up some plans and a contractor come and lay out a five-year renovation plan for us, and Lissy changed it from five years to two years,” Dan added with a laugh.

              Lissy says 18 months after moving in they had their first event at the historic mansion. It was a tall order because Lissy was still working for the Roanoke City School system as the public relations officer. Dan was the executive director for Roanoke Adolescent Health Partnership. They would work their day jobs and then come home and throw themselves into Santillane.

Dan has two grown daughters from a previous marriage ,and Lissy has three children. Only her son Chris, then in high school was still at home. Chris’ strength came in handy when the home’s original floors were being refinished and the large antiques needed to be moved from room to room as workers brought the wood floors back to their original luster.

Dan says they started the work from the top down. A new roof stopped leaks. The columns and outside trim were painted. The chimneys needed to be pitched so they would vent properly; the interiors walls were restored.

The walls got a new coat of paint. They left the antique wallpaper up in the living room. All the molding is made of horsehair plaster so the Merendas had to search for a craftsperson that specialized in plaster restoration.

The Merendas opened up the kitchen by taking down the wall between the kitchen and a breakfast nook. “The smokehouse brick, the fireplace brick and some of the kitchen brick were made by the slaves using Botetourt County’s red clay,” explained Lissy. “It was not dried in a kiln; it was sun dried. It was so crumbly, and there was a lot of dust.”

               “For me, knocking out the wall in the kitchen was a low point of the restoration project,” admitted Lissy. “Dust was everywhere. I felt out of control.”  

While this work was going on doors would fall off their hinges. “And these doors are not light,” said Lissy. “Our mantra became ‘Can you hold this while I go get the screw gun?’ ”

Throughout the renovations of the antebellum Greek Revival house the Merendas have not been alone. “Folklore has it that she is the Grey Lady. She was a slave and looked after the children,” said Lissy of the ghost of Santillane.

              Lissy says the bedroom on the first floor that was once used by the servant who supposedly became the Grey Lady is always cold. The ghost also frequently “messes with” an antique pewter chandelier in the kitchen.

“It was January. We’re standing in the kitchen and there was a little table by the fireplace,” remembered Lissy of another incident. “There was a glass of wine at the end of the table, and my son, my daughter and a friend saw this glass of wine fly off the end of the table.”

              “I’ve always been on the practical side and tried to explain things away like when the doors were falling off when we first moved in or things falling off tables,” added Dan. “There are some things there are no explanations for like hearing someone cough in the basement and you know no one else is in the house.”

              The home is 95 percent renovated. Dan says if you treat the house well, the ghost if there is one, should be happy because they are doing good things.

The Future

              When visitors walk up the front stairs to Santillane, they are greeted by grand columns. The front door into a massive two-story foyer that runs the width of the home, 43 feet. A graceful arch frames the staircase; a crystal chandelier lights the way. Standing under the 12-foot ceilings, guests can look through the same panes of glass as the Hancocks did nearly 200 years ago.

              Santillane now sits on 24 acres. It is listed on the National Registry of Historic Places and the Virginia Landmarks Registry. The Merendas have spent more than a $1 million to purchase and renovate one of the most historically significant structures in Botetourt County. Now it not only stands as a thing of beauty but a growing business, a venue for special events and a bed and breakfast.

              “The bed and breakfast will probably grow now that I am retired from the school system,” said Lissy. “We just did some marketing with Winery Adventures. People are coming down from D.C. along the wine trial. We’ve got so many wineries in the area, those people will find us.”

“The way the idea unfolded was a number of people started approaching us to use the house for events and so we started hosting some of them to get to know people and the more that we did the more the requests were coming in,” remembered Dan. After Lissy’s brother got married at the house, they decided to start the business as a way to fund maintainence on  the house.

              Dan still works a day job, as vice president planning and consultation for the Council of Community Services in Roanoke. He works on issues such as homelessness, HIV and senior housing.

              “One balances the other. It’s nice to come work the backhoe or tractor and burn off some steam then go back and tackle some issues,” said Dan..

              Santillane is still a work in progress. The Merendas are adding to the gardens, putting in walkways and a fountain.

              Last year, Lissy started “Soup, Salad and a Seminar.” The event includes lunch and a speaker. The products of Lissy’s newfound gardening skills are on the menu. The event is a sense of satisfaction she never anticipated.

              The Merendas will celebrate their eighth wedding anniversary in June. When they started this project they agreed it would be their project.

“We’re a good team,” observed Lissy. “We both don’t mind working hard.”

“We love history,” said Dan. “We like doing houses and gardens so it’s a way stay together around projects. It keeps the relationship alive.”

              This project has been an example of synergy. The Santillane gardens supply some of the business’ food. The Merendas patronize local contractors and artisans and the community, in turn, has embraced their work at Santillane. The Botetourt County Office of Tourism on its website offers a two-day getaway that features Santillane as the lodging for visitors.

              “The historic value you almost can’t put a pricetag on it,” said Lissy. “You want to do it in a way that keeps the integrity of the property.”

 “We both understand that we are caretakers of this house for a period of time,” said Dan. “We have it now but it isn’t ours. It will be here a long time after Lissy and I. We want to leave it in better shape than we found it, and we hope people in the future do the same.”

              For more information on Santillane, contact rmorningglory@msn.com or 540-473-3898 or visit www.santillane.com.