Hand-In-Hand
HISTORY
Couple works to save reminders from a different time,
finding new life in old homes beneath layers of decades
Story by JUDY GARRISON
Photography by
SEEING SOUTHERN
PHOTOGRAPHY
FALL 2021 | LAKE OCONEE LIVING 53
He reached out his hand, and she took it. “Let’s go,” he
said, and they walked from the 1920 farmhouse to one
of the multiple sheds out back. “This is what we do
every, single time.”
The hand-in-hand adventure for Joel and Sherry Pellegrino
began over 30 years ago when Joel ordered a burger from Sherry.
According to Sherry, immediately, she knew he was the one.
Today, this particular adventure requires a quarter-inch piece
of molding for the kitchen’s leaded glass window, a find created by artist Samantha Don Mueller of Eureka
Springs, Arkansas. Each knows the perfect accent is only a few steps away; they simply must uncover it.
Saving Time Salvage & Restoration—in tandem with Saving You Time Designs—sounds rather rustic, nonsexy.
Both enterprises, decades in the making, are the brain child of this dynamic twosome whose adoration
for beauty and history has helped create the bedrock for more than simply a business.
In the Beginning
“Our love of architecture and details has always been there,” states Sherry, “but the need and desire to save
the old homes came when we purchased the wedding venue that had old structures on the property.” Named
Cottages on Mergendollar (located in Morgan County and under new ownership), the compilation included a
general store, three homes, a wheel house, a total of 12 structures. As they began restoring the aging buildings
and uncovering the initial workmanship, they saw firsthand how much time, effort, talent and skill went
into building these homes.
“We found ourselves seeking out 120-year-old heart pine 2 x 4’s to replace the ‘bad’ wood,” explains Sherry.
“We wanted everything we fixed or replaced on these homes to be period correct and saw that materials were