PITTSBORO — Five years ago, Beth Davis bought a 1970 Serro Scotty travel trailer off Craigslist to take on camping trips.
Now, throughout the stay-at-home orders put in place because of COVID-19, she’s transformed her camper — affectionately known as “Patty” — to allow for “staycations” in her own front yard.
In the early months of quarantine, Davis decided to tackle a leak in the camper and found quarantine gave her the excuse — and time — she needed to really fix it up.
“I said, ‘You know what? I’m gonna make this a little hangout since we’re not going anywhere,’” Davis said. “I renovated the inside during quarantine and then I was like, well, I’m gonna set it up here so we can hang out and have a place to be happy.”
When she first bought the camper, its outside was white with a red pinstripe. Her boyfriend, Chris Maxwell, painted the bright teal that coordinates with the thrifted, dollar-store and vintage pieces Davis redecorated the interior with.
She named the camper after a friend’s mom, who died from cancer right around the time she purchased the Serro Scotty, someone she remembers as “just fun and crazy and wild.”
“I was like, ‘Yes, this is Patty,’” she said.
One of her favorite places to take the camper is with her family to the Shakori Hills Grassroots Festival, a biannual music and dance festival held in Pittsboro. Her sons — Evan, who will start high school this year, and Nathan, a rising senior — enjoy these trips and said their mom’s “new quarantine spot” is starting to rub off on them too.
Davis, who commonly refers to her camper as “Patty” and with female pronouns, enjoyed it before the coronavirus. She’s long loved decorating it with new finds and decking it out with lights for Christmas. But since her quarantine-inspired decorating, she’s spent more with friends there listening to music and drinking wine — just hanging out.
She added patio furniture, a grill and a colorful floral awning, found on a vintage Facebook page. Davis considered turning it into an Airbnb rental, but decided it was “too cozy” to make that work, though she enjoys occasionally spending the night there. She considers the time and effort spent redecorating well worth it.
“I wanted to build a ‘she-shed’ for a long time but then I was thinking, when am I gonna ever get that done?” she said.
Laughing as she watched her son, Nathan, attempt to string up the awning lights he accidentally knocked down, she pointed out the yellow yard flag with a teal and white camper and the words, “The Davis Family.”
“Happy Campers Welcome,” the flag also says in bright teal script.
“That’s her story,” she said.
Reporter Hannah McClellan can be reached at hannah@chathamnr.com.
