After retiring from 50 years of work at a lumber mill, Charlie Yelton taught himself how to build houses out of glass bottles.
It took 4 years and 12,000 bottles, but by 1975 he had built three houses in Forest City, North Carolina.
Photo credit: Debra Jane Seltzer
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Cool post, Hillary! It’s always exciting to find houses that are TINY and built from recycled materials.
Thanks Alex. Wish I had more interior photos — I assume he lived in it?
I don’t know if he lived in it, but I found this page with more info…
http://www.agilitynut.com/h/yelton.html
No he didn’t live in it. He just built it to have something to do. Charlie Yelton was my Grandfather. When I was a kid we would pick bottles up from the side of the road and collect as many as we could.
What a cool Grandfather you had. How special to have been a part of it!
i was reading in my book of “weird carolina” and found this house. i would love to visit it and take photos. is that possible? if so please offer directions. thank you so much.
These houses are also in a book called “Carolina Curiosities”. My Grandmother owns it.
Charlie Yelton is my Great-Grandfather!. When I was little my parents took me to see these houses.
How cool Emily! Small world…
I was lucky enough to visit the bottle houses in 1990 and meet Mr.
Yelton. He and the houses were wonderful. It should be noted that when
building a bottle structure, be careful which way you point the open parts of
the bottles — because the wind will be loud otherwise. I think I am quoting
Charlie Yelton on that.