Save Our Shotguns Apalachicola is a non-profit 501(c)(3) working to preserve the historic structures of Apalachicola for the purpose of affordable housing. We are an all-volunteer organization dedicated to our mission to preserve historic structures, to create low and moderate income housing, and to provide training and jobs for local residents.
The American dream of home ownership is now a reality for Florida Fish and Wildlife employee Kelly Williams. The 30 year-old biologist won the lottery for the opportunity to buy a brand new two-bedroom house in Apalachicola. The reproduction shotgun at 151 Willie Speed Boulevard was built by Save Our Shotguns Apalachicola Inc, a non-profit 501(c)(3) dedicated to creating affordable energy-efficient housing and preserving the city’s historic structures. The house, appraised at $178,000, was sold at cost for $125,000. To qualify, applicants had to earn less than $50,000, have lived or worked in Apalachicola for at least a year, not currently own a house, and pre-qualify for a mortgage. Kelly’s name was picked out of a basket by Apalachicola resident Allen Jones, who helped finance the project, along with a myriad of donations from friends and supporters.
The SOS house, at 151 Willie Speed Boulevard (13th Street), whose dimensions were taken from a historic shotgun reconstructed the corner of Avenue M and 7th Street, features two bedrooms, a front porch, and iconic characteristics such as rooms one behind the other, long front windows, gingerbread trim and decorative columns.
Historic Shotgun House Gets New Roof
A sound roof is the best protection for a historic house, and this iconic red shotgun at 110 6th Street just got one. The work, completed by Bobby James Roofing, Hutchinson Design and Construction and SOS Member Creighton Brown, was contracted and paid for by Save Our Shotguns Apalachicola.
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Save Our Shotguns Apalachicola Inc. (SOS) is a 501(c)3 all-volunteer, non-profit organization dedicated to historic preservation and reproduction. Our mission is to create affordable energy-efficient housing for current low-to moderate-income residents of Franklin County and to provide apprenticeship opportunities for local residents.
Many of the shotgun houses on the Hill are beyond salvation, and most of those that could be saved are not available for acquisition due to not being on the market, title problems or being too expensive to result in affordable housing. For example, at this time, there are four available shotguns standing in a row on 8th Street on the Hill, however they are non-compliant with the plat in that - due to a lack of a few feet - they are not divisible into four compliant lots without code changes. Without such changes, these four houses cannot be sold individually. The necessary change is an historic overlay which would apply only to a few situations on the Hill and only in cases where two or more pre-1950 houses stand on one 60’x100’ lot or on a slightly less-than-60’x100’ lot. This change will not increase density.
Shotgun houses were Apalachicola’s original affordable housing and the cultural backbone of the Hill. Our intent is to renew or reproduce these structures. The 8th Street four-house restoration could serve as a test case. If successful, it could be the key to enabling more restoration on the Hill.
SOS is concerned with the attrition rate of historic homes on the Hill, and our reproduction project is intended to help stem the tide of this loss. For example, in the 8th Street neighborhood, three historic homes were recently demolished, gone forever.
Without an intervention by the City Commission in the form of a simple overlay, the four 8th Street shotguns could meet a similar fate.
SOS continues to seek tax-deductible gifts of land or antique houses within the historic district,
money or lines of credit to further the mission.
