Kernersville, North Carolina - Korner's Folly

Korner's Folly was the home of Jule Korner, an interior decorator and painter and the guy who painted the Bull Durham ads on barns throughout the South. Built between 1878-1880, it was continuously revised and renovated until Jule's death in 1924 (when he still felt the place was unfinished.) The house looks kind of normal on the outside, but inside are twenty-two rooms on three stories and seven distinct levels. There are odd little hallways, children's rooms where an adult can barely stand up, fifteen fireplaces (all different,) trap doors, odd murals, a pretty advanced series of air passages designed to carry heat throughout the house, a fireproof smoking room, and on the top floor a functioning theater.

Some of the hallways and staircases are so tight that, uh, let's see, what's the best way to say this, that visitors who are more than a little overweight won't be able to navigate them. In each room there's a card telling you the story of the room and which room to go to next. Without the cards it would be extremely easy to get lost and wander around trying to find a way out. Definitely worth a visit by fans of eccentric homes and wacky architecture. [Dean Jeffrey, 10/03/2001]