Published: July 06, 2006 12:30 am      

Landmark home in Carter County burns

Cause of early-morning fire unknown

Plesant Valley — A house that had become a Carter County landmark was destroyed by fire early Wednesday morning.

The hacienda-style structure that came to be known as the Spanish Manor was gutted by the blaze, which was reported about 1:40 a.m.

The cause of the fire was under investigation Wednesday afternoon. Arson investigators with the Kentucky State Police were still at the scene. A tanker truck from the Grahn Volunteer Fire Department also remained in the driveway to douse any flare-ups.

The lower walls of the 5,000 square-foot building were still standing, but the top floor was completely destroyed. The interior of the building was mostly reduced to still-smoldering rubble.

Grahn Fire Chief Lonnie Sturgill said firefighters who live near the Spanish Manor told him that flames were already shooting through the roof of the building when they were driving by en route to the fire department.

The house had a tile roof, which kept the heat and flames mostly trapped within the walls, Sturgill said.

“It was a like an oven inside,” he said. “All we could do was as exterior attack.”

The home’s owners and occupants, Billy and Bonnie Carroll, were out of town, Sturgill said. No injuries were reported.

Firefighters had trouble reaching the burning house because there was a vehicle parked in the driveway, he said.

Sturgill said investigators didn’t believe the fire was related to the thunderstorms that moved through the region Tuesday and produced high wind, torrential rain and lightning.

The Spanish Manor which, according to Sturgill, was once featured in Better Homes & Gardens magazine, was eye-grabbing because it looked like no other home in Carter County — or anywhere else in northeastern Kentucky, for that matter.

The structure, which was situated on a grassy hillside overlooking U.S. 60 at Pleasant Valley, was built in the late 1970s. It was originally the home of Olive Hill insurance agent Steve Shelton and his wife, Janie. Both are now deceased.

For a time, the Carrolls operated a bed and breakfast in the house, but it had been their private residence for the past several years, Sturgill said.

An Internet search turned up a Web site indicating that the Carrolls, who also own a small motel just down the hill from the Spanish Manor, also used the house as a wedding chapel.

Sturgill, who once ran a small grocery store at Counts Crossroads, about a mile west of the Spanish Manor, said he made frequent deliveries to the house when the Sheltons lived there.

He said it was his understanding that the structure cost $300,000 to build.

The house also was located near the site of one of Carter County’s more infamous murders. Eighty-three-year-old widow Opal King, Steve Shelton’s mother lived a short distance from her son and was shot to death in her home in January 1989 by a group who had gone there to rob her. Five were charged in the slaying; one committed suicide in jail.

KENNETH HART can be reached at khart@dailyindependent.com or (606) 326-2654.