--- title: David Cheatham | Author description: Explore the works of Alabama author David Cheatham, including A House in the Country and stories inspired by the historic Molett House. image: https://www.dcheatham.com/hubfs/David%20Headshot%20Cahawba.png --- [Skip to content](https://www.dcheatham.com#main-content) [![David Cheatham ](https://www.dcheatham.com/hs-fs/hubfs/David%20Cheatham%20Wordmark-1.png?width=300&height=45&name=David%20Cheatham%20Wordmark-1.png)](https://www.dcheatham.com/?hsLang=en) - [Contact](mailto:dcheatham@beloitconsulting.com) Open main navigation Close main navigation - [Contact](mailto:dcheatham@beloitconsulting.com) # Leave the hurry behind. Find room to breathe.  Have you ever dreamed of a quieter life in the country? Step inside Alabama’s oldest family home, where one couple set out to make that dream a reality. *A House in the Country* invites you to share the beauty, complications, and unexpected rewards of the life they found.  [Explore A House in the Country](https://www.dcheatham.com#book) [Contact David](mailto:dcheatham@beloitconsulting.com) # In Search of a Quieter Life  For years, my life in Atlanta revolved around meetings, deadlines, and flights to catch. My wife, Eleanor, and I wanted time to notice what we had been hurrying past. We went looking for our own little Arcadia, a quiet place in the country where we could catch our breath. We found its promise in the Molett House, her family’s crumbling 1819 Alabama home, three miles from the nearest paved road. The owls were already in residence. Then the financial crisis battered our savings, and we found ourselves buying tools instead of hiring tradesmen. Saving the house would take ten years. The house also held a history we had to face. It had stood at the center of a plantation sustained by the labor of enslaved people. Caring for this beautiful place meant acknowledging the suffering bound up in its past and taking responsibility for telling that history honestly. *A House in the Country* grew from those years of work, misadventures, and unexpected moments of discovery. We had gone looking for peace in the Alabama countryside. Finding it meant changing more than our address. ![The historic Molett House in Alabama](https://www.dcheatham.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Molett%20House.jpeg?width=2000&height=1500&name=Molett%20House.jpeg "The historic Molett House in Alabama") ## The Molett House, built in 1819. Photographed July 4, 2026.  ### A Ten-Year Restoration Journey  ![HABS 1934 Photo](https://www.dcheatham.com/hs-fs/hubfs/01-habs-historic-house-web.jpg?width=498&height=357&name=01-habs-historic-house-web.jpg "HABS 1934 Photo")   Before I ever saw the house in person, this 1934 photograph was how I pictured it. *Historic American Buildings Survey. W. N. Manning, photographer, March 23, 1934.* ![02-first-sighting-web](https://www.dcheatham.com/hs-fs/hubfs/02-first-sighting-web.jpg?width=250&height=350&name=02-first-sighting-web.jpg "02-first-sighting-web")   The house as we found it in 2008. Time had taken its toll.  ![Moving the Molett House](https://www.dcheatham.com/hs-fs/hubfs/03-house-moving-through-trees-web.jpg?width=493&height=350&name=03-house-moving-through-trees-web.jpg "Moving the Molett House")   The house was ours on one condition: move it within 30 days. Pictured here on its second move (don’t ask!), it’s traveling by truck through the trees to another spot on the family land.  ![The Molett House under construction](https://www.dcheatham.com/hs-fs/hubfs/04-charlie-working-web.jpg?width=347&height=350&name=04-charlie-working-web.jpg "The Molett House under construction")   Restoration was a family affair, with Eleanor’s nephew Charlie at work on the porch. New porches and chimneys were bringing the house back to life. ![Eleanor and David in Bedroom](https://www.dcheatham.com/hs-fs/hubfs/05-david-and-eleanor-bedroom-web.jpg?width=261&height=350&name=05-david-and-eleanor-bedroom-web.jpg "Eleanor and David in Bedroom")   Eleanor and I tackled what we could throughout the house, with more enthusiasm than expertise on my part. Here we’re in our future master bedroom, where the original heart pine woodwork and mantel had survived, but the fireplace itself was missing.  ![In Front of House at Wedding](https://www.dcheatham.com/hs-fs/hubfs/22.%20In%20Front%20of%20House%20at%20Wedding.jpg?width=233&height=350&name=22.%20In%20Front%20of%20House%20at%20Wedding.jpg "In Front of House at Wedding")   Our daughter Catherine represents the eighth generation of the Molett family connected to the house. Here she and her husband, Jake, celebrate its first wedding in 200 years.  # Contact David For questions about *A House in the Country*, or simply to get in touch, I’d be glad to hear from you. Please email me at: [dcheatham@beloitconsulting.com](mailto:dcheatham@beloitconsulting.com)     ---