A North Carolina couple renovated a crumbling 118-year-old manor with an attached chapel in 11 weeks. Finishing touches were being made on the day of their wedding — see how they did it.

The entrance to the chapel.

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• Joe and Becky Davis spent 11 weeks turning a crumbling manor and chapel into their dream wedding venue.
• The North Carolina property used to be Joe's childhood home but had been left vacant when his parents moved to Florida.
• The couple plans to lease it as a wedding venue for others to use, with bookings starting in 2024.

What happens when your dream wedding venue is a crumbling chapel next to your childhood home? Joe and Becky Davis did the unthinkable and renovated it in 11 weeks — in time for their wedding.

Becky and Joe Davis on their wedding day, standing outside the entrance to the chapel.

Maddy Harwell Photography

Joe grew up in the house with the adjoining chapel at 1110 N Market Street in Washington, North Carolina.

"My parents bought it in the '80s, so I spent my whole childhood there until I was a teenager, and then went off to school," Joe told Insider. After graduating college, he started a high school basketball scouting company before going into real estate management.

This ultimately led him to take over his childhood home from his parents in 2018, which had been empty ever since his parents relocated to Florida in 2013.

Joe's parents bought the place in 1988 for around $80,000, Becky told Insider. Insider could not independently verify the 35-year-old record. 

"It was never in the best condition in the world, but by the time I got it, it was in pretty bad shape," Joe said. "The front porch was falling down and there was literally rot everywhere."

While Joe worked on and off on the property, it wasn't until he proposed to Becky in January 2022 that he started ramping up the restoration efforts.

The manor and the adjoining chapel.

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Joe always had the intention of turning the property into an event space, and this new development in his personal life gave him the idea to use it as a wedding venue.

"I thought it'd be the perfect place for us to get married," Joe said.

The only problem was that the house and the chapel were in bad shape — but Joe was insistent that the wedding take place in April that same year.

"Joe actually proposed to me the day before his birthday," Becky said. "And my birthday is on April 14 — he wanted to have this wedding as part of my birthday present, so we had to get married before my birthday. It was really sweet."

Joe says that they managed to complete at least a year's worth of renovation in under 11 weeks.

A before photo of the crumbling manor.

Becky and Joe Davis/Mizpah Manor and Chapel

Joe proposed to Becky on January 23, 2022, and they tied the knot on April 9, 2022, Becky said.

But the renovation was difficult: Since the property had been vacant for five years, everything was falling apart, Joe said.

A layer of dust and grime had settled on the walls and floor, and even the original wooden boards on the porch were rotting. Due to the building's age, a lot of the walls were cracked as well, he said.

"We renovated the bathroom, added a new HVAC system, and even put in new plumbing and electrical wiring," Joe added. "It's hard because we're bringing an old home into the 21st century. And there are many different little things we needed to consider, like replacing columns and spindles on the porch."

The couple had between 12 to 15 workmen on site every day, trying to get everything ready for the big day.

A before image of the crumbling manor.

Becky and Joe Davis/Mizpah Manor and Chapel

The couple helped out wherever they could, and it was Joe's job to be the general contractor overseeing the entire project and making sure timelines were met.

"No one ever wants to tear down an old house, but it probably would've made a lot more financial sense to tear it down and build something new than to restore it," Joe said.

Becky, who now works with Joe in property management, had her hands full planning the wedding.

Although the scale of the project was daunting, it wasn't the couple's first time overseeing a major renovation.

Even the house they live in now — which is a 30-minute drive away in Greenville, North Carolina — was a renovation project that they were involved in, Joe said.

"I'm a glutton for punishment, so I kind of did it again. I don't usually learn from the first time or the second time," he added.

The hardest part of the entire project was finding workers and keeping everyone motivated enough to finish the project on time, Joe said.

The interiors of the manor during the renovation.

Becky and Joe Davis/Mizpah Manor and Chapel

"As far as the house management goes, the beginning of 2021 was just so hard because all the workers could pretty much charge whatever they wanted," Joe said. "It was a miracle to be able to have that many people help get the house ready."

Apart from fixing up the manor, the chapel was also in need of serious restoration.

Joe's father had converted the chapel into an office space during his time, and turned the upstairs space into an apartment that he rented out, Joe said.

"He made a whole lot more work for me because I had to tear all that stuff he built down before I could return the chapel back to what it used to be," he added.

Despite the cost, Joe was determined to breathe new life into his childhood home because it held sentimental value for him and his family.

The exterior of the renovated manor.

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Joe's appreciation for the property grew after he got into real estate.

"I thought it was a good opportunity even though I don't know if it'll ever be worth as much as I've invested in it," Joe said. "Growing up there motivated me to really want to fix it back up."

Joe estimates that he spent about under a million on the whole project, considering the scale of the renovation, the tight timeline, and the amount of manpower he had.

The renovated property, which the couple named Mizpah Manor and Chapel, dates back to the early 1900s, Becky said.

The exterior of the chapel.

Lighthouse Visuals

The manor was originally constructed in 1906 by a local judge, but became a residence for the sisters of the St. Agnes Covenant Immaculate Heart Community sometime in the '30s, after a transfer of hands, she said.

"What we heard is the nuns would have their mass in the house where the kitchen actually is now," Joe said.

Years later in 1929, the chapel was built with a donation from a devout follower as a dying wish, Joe said: "A lady from New York City, instead of having a big elaborate funeral, she gave that money to the nuns to start a missions chapel."

The couple ended up finishing the renovations on the morning of their wedding.

Becky and Joe Davis on their wedding day, standing outside the entrance to the chapel.

Maddy Harwell Photography

"We had our full staff till about noon that day, and then I went upstairs, got ready, walked across from the house to the chapel, and got married," Joe said. 

It was a mad rush to get everything completed and it was a nerve-wracking experience because they weren't even able to get power to the property until the day before their nuptials, Joe said.

"We didn't think we were going to get power, so I was trying to convince Becky that it'll be okay and that it'll be just like a wedding in the old days," Joe said.

Thankfully, everything went off without a hitch, he added.

The couple exchanged their vows in the chapel and held a reception on the front lawn after. There were about 100 guests in attendance.

The day of their wedding was also the first time in years that Joe's entire family had gathered together in the same place.

The empty chapel.

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"Since it's such a large family, it's kind of hard to get everybody in one place and time, so it was really nice to have everybody there," Becky said.

The completed chapel comes with space to seat 100 guests, per a website dedicated to the property.

Although the major renovations are completed, the manor still needs some additional work and furnishing.

One of the common rooms in the manor. It is empty save for a fireplace and a grand piano.

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The couple is planning to rent out their Greenville home to students in the fall, so they can move into the manor to finish up the rest of the space, Joe said.

"We're planning to live there just because we think it'll be better to be in the space since it's a blank canvas right now. We're trying to get all the furniture together," Joe said.

Design-wise, the couple hope to be able to stay true to the historical character of the home while giving it a modern spin.

"I want it to have its own flare as well, and it is going to be our home for a while, so we'll need to find that balance of decorating for a wedding venue but also for a home and for a place where people come and feel comfortable," Becky said.

The two of them are planning to lease the space out as a wedding venue starting in 2024.

The unfinished kitchen.

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"We just started showing the house and the chapel to potential brides a couple of months ago, so our priority is really to get everything furnished before we start booking," Joe said.

The wedding package offered by the venue includes an on-site venue coordinator, access to the bridal and groom suites in the manor, as well as on-site parking for guests, per the website dedicated to the venue.

This will be the couple's first time running a wedding venue, but they're hopeful that other couples will enjoy the space as much as they did.

The manor comes with five bedrooms, five full bathrooms, and three half-baths.

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"We don't have any background in the wedding industry, but I don't think that we've seen any other property that has a chapel and an old Victorian mansion on it, so we're hoping that'll be a draw for others," Joe said.

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