Mr. Nik gave away his house.

I first walked through the historic home on the Bon Secour River in the ancient year of 1992, Way Back When Nik Coles lived there. I was invited by Dess Sangster and Davida Hastie, both members of the Baldwin County Historical Development Commission. We were there at Nik’s invitation to survey the house and assess the future of the waterfront mansion.

It was full of furniture, was creaky, smelly and chock full of cardboard boxes filled with antiques he hoped to sell in one of his antique shops. The yard was filled with concrete statues of Greek figures, and the grass was overgrown and filled with weeds. It still, however, was the most enticing house I had ever seen, and I was honored to be a guest there. He conducted a walk-through downstairs and the front part of the upstairs, explaining that his personal apartment was in the rear of the upstairs and his dogs had the run of the upstairs back porch. He then served us tea and crumpets on the 14-foot-long cypress table in the dining room, where he told the story of the table and its black scar (see the story Haunted Baldwin County.)

Nik Coles purchased the historic home of the Swift family in 1976. He considered the east-facing side the front of the house and often sat on the upstairs porch enjoying the sunrise over the Bon Secour River.

Photo provided courtesy of Harriet Outlaw.

He then offered a proposal that was hard to believe. He wanted to bequeath the house to the Historic Development Commission. Dess and Davida were excited and yet hesitant without knowing all the details. They weren’t even sure the Commission would accept it. But they did! The Swift-Coles Historic Home is open for public tours today and is also a perfect venue for weddings and other events.

Nik’s story is one to be told over and over. Orphaned by Greek parents, he was raised by his godfather and was in the Auburn ROTC when World War II broke out. He served in in the Navy in Algiers, making tons of friends along the way. One of his friends offered to help him with college in Italy, so he stayed there, earned his degree and fell in love with antiques and art. After the war, he lived in Washington, D.C. where he was a diplomat, escorting Bess Truman and Shirley Temple Black to numerous galas. He also performed with the ballet company there!

Nik owned and operated the Friendship House Restaurant in Gulf Shores.

Photo provided courtesy of Harriet Outlaw

After vacationing in Gulf Shores, he decided to move to a house on Fort Morgan Road. He opened the Friendship House restaurant across the street from his sister’s store, which is where Tacky Jack’s is today on Canal Road. He had an antique shop next door to the restaurant named Schoolhouse Antiques. At the time he ran the restaurant, it was just to the left after crossing the cantilever bridge over the Intracoastal Waterway.

He soon became close friends with Charley and "Meme" Wakeford who ran Meme’s restaurant in Bon Secour. Meme, Amelia Swift, told him all about growing up in the Swift family home that was visible from her home and restaurant. To say he became obsessed with the house is an understatement. He told me he used to go sit in his car and just look at the house, dreaming of owning it one day — and his dream came true.

Photo provided courtesy of Harriet Outlaw

He bought the house in 1976 and soon filled it with his antiques and guests. He often entertained Meme in the dining room where he heard more of her stories about the Swift family. He learned that the dining room was once the kitchen where Charley and Meme cooked seafood meals for military personnel stationed nearby at Barin Field.

Nik continued operating the Friendship House until well after the new bridge (1971-1973) diverted traffic away from his front door. His antique business thrived, however, and the house became a storage facility for his antiques he sold in booths in several antique malls.

Nik worked in the gardens and managed the upkeep of the house himself.

Photo courtesy of Harriet Outlaw

Nik’s improvements to the house included the installation of a second story bathroom in the guest room with a rare copper bathtub. He updated a kitchen at the end of the downstairs back porch, but the wooden sink on the porch was still the place to prepare seafood.

His family in Greece was located, and during one of his many trips there, he brought back two amphorae, large clay vessels covered with shells from years under the Aegean Sea. He once told me that he smuggled them out of Greece by putting them in coffins registered to contain two relatives he invented. They are the only items in the house that are forbidden to be sold. I guess so they wouldn’t be confiscated by Greek authorities. Though, now they may read this and claim them anyway. The story is told to guests touring the house today, so maybe it is common knowledge by now.

Nik Coles entertained many prestigious guests in his home, seen here preparing for a party.

Photo provided courtesy of Harriet Outlaw

His story about staying in the house during Hurricane Ivan is frightening. He said he had to float out to dry land by holding onto an ice chest. Soon after making repairs, he was in an automobile wreck, from which he never recovered. He died in 2007 and is buried in the cemetery of St. Peter’s by the Bay. There is a bench there engraved with “Swift-Coles Home.” He wanted to be remembered as the owner who donated his beloved home so that generations to come could feel the charm and sense of belonging he found there.

I hope you visi the beautiful Swift-Coles Historic Home in Bon Secour and see for yourself the legacy left by Nik Coles. See info about the home by simply searching on the internet.

Nik is buried in St. Peter’s by the Bay cemetery in Bon Secour.

Photo provided courtesy of Harriet Outlaw.