The Residency

Residence is in 2nd floor of Smith-Yelverton

The Residency at Fountain

for artists, writers, photographers, musicians, philosophers 

Residence includes 2nd floor of Smith-Yelverton, built in 1918 at 6756 E. Wilson St., Fountain, North Carolina

Features
3,500 square ft. space
16-24′ high ceiling
16 6’x3′ windows, with 8 facing west
heart pine hardwood floors throughout
       Within this space is a small apartment with fully furnished kitchen, bath, living room, bedroom with queen bed, and high speed wi-fi. Linens & fresh-roasted Lanoca Coffee furnished. 

The open living room space outside your apartment includes writing tables, a couple of day beds, couches, a pool table & darts, assorted collections–and lots of light. 

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Outer wall of your apartment. Photo by Louise Oligny.

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“A Wonderful Interlude” in Fountain

“Une merveilleuse parenthèse à Fountain pour ma résidence d’écriture.”
[A wonderful interlude at Fountain for my writing residency.]
—Louise Oligny, resident for 4 nights in June 2025

Interior view of apartment. Photo by Louise Oligny.

The Smith-Yelverton Typewriter Museum on the bottom floor of this building also includes a large selection of books that are rarely available for public viewing or purchase, including poetry, plays, creative nonfiction & essays, books about poets, novelists, dramatists and Hollywood, and big Shakespeare and Robert Graves collections. Under most circumstances, residents may consider this space their personal library.

Out back, on Freeman Vines Alley, you can enjoy work or relaxing under a covered shelter. A bicycle for local riding is available.

Residencies are available during select dates in fall, winter, and spring. The small apartment is heated and air conditioned. The remaining larger part of the second floor is not climate controlled but generally remains temperate through fall, early winter, and spring.

2025 available dates
Oct 1 – Nov 15
2026 tba

COST
3 day minimum stay $400 us
$50 each additional day

for couples, $525 for 3 days / $75 for each additional day

7% NC sales tax  will be added to your total. amount due.

APPLICATION
To apply or for further information, please email alex@rafountain.com

With a letter of application, please include a resume  and a description of the project you’ll work on while in residence here. Briefly explain your project, its scope and intent, incorporating into this explanation a timeline for how it’s going so far and how you’d like it to progress during your residency.

Please indicate your preferred dates for residency.

Applicants will be notified within a few days if their application is successful, and if so, a 10% deposit will be required to hold their requested dates.

PARKING, TRANSPORTATION
No public transportation is available.
On-site parking is free.
RDU International Airport, between Raleigh & Durham, is about an hour & fifteen minutes west of us. Round trip service, $100.

If your project would benefit from a public space–for a pop-up concert, say, or a readers theater production–it’s easy & inexpensive to arrange use of the R.A. Fountain General Store performance hall next door.

Our first resident, Louise Oligny, who lives in Paris, is internationally known as a photographer and was in Fountain  for 4 nights in June 2025 to work on her third crime novel. Her books, so far, include two crime novels, Colére chronique and ADN Feminin; and Repare L’intime, which she co-authored, about the authors’ work with a home for abused women in Paris.

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Fountain’s city centre, looking east. RAFoto.

ABOUT FOUNTAIN
Fountain is a quiet town of eleven streets and about 400 people. You’ll get some traffic sounds, because you’ve got a great view of our single stop-light crossroads, where US 258 & NC 222 intersect–you can watch a lot of truck and tractor traffic from a unique perspective.

Trevathan Pond, an easy walk from here, is a gorgeous natural area with a trail that winds through the edge of a marsh and around its namesake pond. 

A Dollar General convenience store 2 blocks away and a US Post Office a few doors up on our one-block main street are the only two daily-open businesses. Carol’s Home Cooking, beside the Dollar General, is open for excellent lunches Wednesday-Saturday and for Sunday buffets. When MusicMaker is recording, things liven up, especially on Freeman Vines Alley–which runs by your back door–but we don’t know very far in advance when that’s going to happen. Easier to figure are dates when you can also catch a concert at our venue, R.A. Fountain, next door.

The Residency is operated by the proprietors of R.A. Fountain, General Store, established in 2004 as a for-profit business that also includes an occasional store, music venue and e.store. 

The 8 west-facing windows of the Residence & around the corner, at the front of the building, its 4 south-facing ones, along with the 4 that belong to R.A. Fountain next door. Back window looks out from the apartment kitchen. RAFoto.