The Porchfest home profile project was produced by University of Georgia students in Lori Johnston’s journalism seminar on home and garden writing and Katie Marages’ vernacular architecture course. The students interviewed homeowners, researched the residences and neighborhoods, and captured photo and video of the homes. The residences featured will host bands during Historic Athens Porchfest on Oct. 20.

Charming, beautiful, cozy and historic are the four words that Ashley Carney uses to describe the blue-toned Victorian home she lives in with her children and husband, Briggs.

Touches like original coal-burning fireplaces, hand-painted tile and crooked crown molding from time progression keep the home connected to its history in the heart of Boulevard, Athens’ 19th century streetcar suburb. 

The home was built in 1915. It previously served as three different apartments — one unit upstairs and two units downstairs — but aside from tearing down the walls to open up the interior, Ashley said no part of the layout now has changed from its original form.

Two of the features that define the home are its tall ceilings and windows, which Ashley said create an illusion of a larger square footage despite the home sitting at 3,092 square feet. Large windows let swaths of natural light in throughout the dining area and renovated kitchen, generating an open and airy space that mimics the setting of the remarkable wraparound porch. 

The porch, however, is undoubtedly the key feature and the lasting first impression of the home, which the community will get to enjoy at Historic Athens Porchfest on Sunday, Oct. 20. The porch is something even the homeowners can’t get enough of.

“This porch, I think, is the defining factor of the house. It kind of sets the tone for everything,” Ashley said. “We just live out here and we have friends over, we’re always out here.”

The interior floors and siding are both original heart pine, as are the doors, which are either original or have been specially made to match the pine. The plaster walls, heavy trim, wainscoting and chair rail are also all preserved from the 1915 edition of the home.

Several coal burning fireplaces are featured throughout the house. Ashley said they’ve removed a fair amount of them, but estimated that there are still eight mantels remaining in the home.

The fireplace in their living room features green-speckled tile, a touch that the Carneys say was hand-painted and has also been preserved.

Ashley said it’s important that anything they add to their home stays true to the character of the house and is comfortable for them to live in.

“We want to capture and be true to and bring out the historic element of the house,” Ashley said. “We kind of want everything to feel like it’s always been here, and in 10 years, it’ll still feel like it’s always been here.”

While the bones of the home reflect its history, the artwork inside presents a more personal look at the Carneys’ style. About half of the artwork in their home was painted and given to the Carneys by their friends, and the other half includes work from local artist Andy Cherewick and a “hodgepodge” with various origins accumulated over a 20-year period. 

As for furniture and decor, Briggs’ family provided some antiques, and the rest of their collection is supplemented with additions from Athens Interiors Market and other local stores. The couple used antiques from Briggs’ family to decorate a lot of their space to keep everything true to the history. For example, their pantry is a cabinet donated from his family. 

Ashley said they are excited to begin work on one of the former apartment units in the home that they haven’t done much with yet. They have plans to turn it into a library and music room that will feature a bookshelf as well as the family’s piano — Ashley’s favorite item in the home. 

“Me and my kids play it and it just brings me a lot of joy,” Ashley said. “It’s another reason I’m so excited about that room, I really want to highlight the piano.”

The city placed a conservation easement on the lot two doors down from the home, so no building is permitted on it. For the Carneys, this creates a blissful view of trees coupled with their large backyard — one of the biggest in the neighborhood on their 0.46-acre property. 

Ashley said their kids “live” in the backyard, as well as in a small loft situated above the home office, which houses game consoles, soft lighting and cozy furniture at a scale that’s perfect for children to feel at home in. 

The Carneys are now gearing up to host local band Klezmer Local 42 on their expansive porch as part of Porchfest. Ashley, the former Historic Athens treasurer, said their porch is regularly requested for the Jewish band’s Porchfest performances to bring high energy and big crowds to the street. 

Attendees and musicians will enjoy the atmosphere of the porch and garden during Porchfest, and then they will trickle out. But when the festival is over, the Carneys will continue to enjoy their Victorian home with its historic quirks, functional revisions and quaint location for years to come.

Ella Kroll is a senior majoring in journalism at the University of Georgia.

A Peek Into the History — and Haunted Tales

The Carneys’ Victorian home was built in 1915; back then, Boulevard was where Athens ran part of their inaugural street railway system. Some of the houses, including theirs, have slabs out in front of the homes where people could mount their horses, and posts where they could tie off their horses.

The front yard has some greenery, but the Carneys say it’s hard to keep plants for a number of reasons. The big oaks take up a lot of the water and create a lot of shade that makes it hard to grow plants. 

“We have to choose things that are not high maintenance, shade tolerant, drought tolerant, although we do finally have it irrigated, and I don’t know what else,” Ashley said.

However, on the left side of the front yard, the Carneys said they can’t plant anything. That is Reggie’s, their golden retriever, path along the fence when greeting those who walk by or visit. 

While the Carneys are trying to stay true to the character of the house, the house itself has some characters that have spooked Briggs and Ashley and their tenants over the years.

“So we bought the house from a guy who had a lot of ghost stories,” Ashley said.

One tale was that he and his wife always would find pennies with the tails side showing, which can mean bad luck, in the house. When the Carneys rented to a UGA doctoral student, she told them she kept finding pennies with the tails side showing.

“And then she said it freaked her out so much that she started, she put out heads up pennies, and she came home, and they would be tails up,” Ashley said.

They still adore their home, despite the spooky scenarios. 

“I hope to die in this house. I love this house,” she said. “And this is the only house our kids have known, you know, kids, I don’t think they quite realize how a lot of people don’t have a house like this, you know, on this street, how unique it is.”

Ashlyn Carroll is a journalism major at the University of Georgia.