By Alison McFerrin

The Selma Times-Journal

The fight to restore historic buildings in Selma is far from over, but one local house will soon start getting the royal treatment.

Weaver Castle on Lauderdale Street has been vacant and falling into disrepair, but the Stelpflugs from Lancaster, Wisc.said they hope to return it to its glory days.

“We want to get it back to the way it looked 100 years ago,” Gary Stelpflug said. Stelpflug and his wife, Chris, closed on the house mid-May. “It’s a beautiful house and it’s got great history behind it.”

The home was built between 1865 and 1868 by William M. Weaver, although never fully completed.

Until the Stelpflugs’ purchase, a local group was also interested in renovating and restoring Weaver Castle.

“We’re very pleased that it sold,” Apaula Rae Roth said. “It’s going to be sad, a little sad, that our organization is not going to be the one to do it.”

Weaver Castle Museum Inc. planned to purchase the property and use it as a bed and breakfast that could also accommodate weddings or other gatherings. Now, with Weaver Castle taken care of, Roth said her group is ready to move on with their next project.

“We’re already in the process of changing our name,” Roth said, adding their future name, if approved, will be Historic Estate Landmarks and Properties Help, Inc.

The Stelpflugs have a lot of work to do before the home is livable.

“We can’t wait to get it to where it’s sealed up good, to where it’s not going backwards,” Stelpflug said.

Their initial projects will include fixing the roof and windows and restoring the north brick wall.

“It’s in real bad shape on the inside,” Stelpflug said.

Roth said she would love to talk to the Stelpflugs and help, if she can.

“We have a lot of documents and pictures and history on the family, the Weaver family,” Roth said. “It would depend on the kind of help they need from us. If it was financially, and we were already starting another project, I don’t know that we could help to restore two buildings.”

Roth said she has already spoken with organizations that have given grant money, most recently $2,000 from the Black Belt Community Foundation, and they are fine with the changes that WCMI will undergo.

The group has a board meeting Thursday, at which point Roth said the members would decide what house should be their next project. Norm Trotter, president of the Olde Towne Association, said he is “tickled to death” that the Stelpflugs bought the home.

“They’ve got a job ahead of them,” Trotter said. “But they appear to be up to the challenge.”

Stelpflug said they’re excited about Selma and the nice people who live here; he said they plan to make Weaver Castle their winter home.

And even with the work involved, Stelpflug said it’s worth it.

“We like old houses,” Stelpflug said. “We just feel the old houses are better than new houses.”