Michelle Holley

“About 15 years ago, my adopted mom named Ann Wainscott, who was an artist and she was Jewish, told me about old Dayton Street. Her family when they came over as immigrants from France, lived on Wade Street. And she remembered as a little girl, with her cousin's coming down Dayton Street and seeing these old mansions that were somewhat abandoned. And she said, they were so beautiful. They had these marble fireplaces and all this stuff. And I had never seen Dayton Street. So she said, One day, she had a little Miata. And she was about 92. At the time, very young. She had a turban, put a turban on it, she said, ‘Come on, let's go on down. Go on down to Dayton Street’. I did, we found it. And I fell in love with my house, 824 Dayton Street. It is a limestone facade with Juliet balconies, and car port and all arched windows. And it reminded me of Venice, which I love very much. And from that day on, we would come and visit my house, even though it wasn't for sale. And I'd say I'm gonna live there one day.

So we went through the house and it was a mess. There were seven kitchens. It was terrible. There was bedbugs. There was we saw a big ol’ rat the first time we went through, all the paint was coming off the walls. And I said, ‘Oh, I love it. I love everything about this house. I love it.’

And we had the house we had Dayton Street, and she stayed here till she died at 106. I'm sorry. But you know, I thought I was gonna say the house. But the house and the children saved us, and the church saved us, and when she died, we had a funeral the little church next door. And the Q-Kids danced. She thought she was a black Baptist. It was a beautiful send off, and now I'm here, I'm still here.”