The Craig Sheldon Story

Once Upon a Time, in a land called Fairhope, there lived an extraordinary man by the name of Craig Sheldon. It was back in the time of World War II when  Mr. Sheldon had a splendid idea for a garage, workshop, and laundry room…

Before you can really begin the story of Fairhope’s Story Book Castles, you need to first meet the man behind the castle. In 1940, Craig Sheldon married Annie “Butch” Sheldon, and they moved to Fairhope to raise their family at the close of World War II. Three children, Craig Sheldon Jr, Suzan Megrez, and Pagan were born to the couple in Fairhope. And so, the tale of Fairhope’s Story Book Castles begins with Craig Sheldon and his growing family. His house is a testament to what the imagination can do within a strict budget.

The Sheldons started this structure in 1946. It was to be a garage, workshop, and laundry room. They had planned to build a Mexican-style house on the west end of the lot. But they grew tired of the small apartment they were renting at Whittier Hall on Magnolia Avenue in Fairhope, so the family moved into the shell, which had no partition walls. The garage became a bedroom and hence has the only wood exterior wall in the house. Its rippled stained-glass panels were removed in the summer to allow the cool breezes in (there were still cool breezes in those days because the lot was more heavily shaded and the gully was less overgrown). The “shop” became the living and dining room, while the “laundry” became the kitchen.

The house was built of Clay City tile. Mr. Sheldon covered the tile with Mobile Bay stone, first using the stone Mrs. Sheldon had hand-carried up the bluff to line her flowerbeds. He embellished the stone with old tools, Civil War shrapnel, cookware, bottles and more.

The rolled roof design resulted from his World War II experiences in the South Pacific. Being in the construction business, he’d bring home whatever shingles were left over from various jobs. The random assortment of colors available produced the resulting patchwork-quilt design.

The tower was built in the 1950s with the help of his young son, Craig, Jr. (then called Mac). Mr. Sheldon had always dreamed of building a round room, and in this tower he constructed three of them. The first two allowed Mac and his sister, Suzan Megrez, to have their own rooms. The top room, on the third floor, was Mr. Sheldon’s office, where he wrote his plays and his newspaper column, “Knee Deep in Fly Creek.” The conical roof was added a little later, but only after many nights of sleeping under the stars. Eventually it became Mac’s room. Years later both daughters threw their wedding bouquets from the window of this room.

Today, daughter Suzan Megrez Rudolf inhabits the Sheldon Castle with her husband. After decades of living in major US cities for John’s career in publishing and software and Megrez’s as a professional dancer, they choose to return to Fairhope. Megrez is a well-loved Fairhope Librarian who maintains the Sheldon Castle plantings and John, now retired, enjoys working in wood.