In mid-1969, the Wells family was taking a vacation in a VW kombi through the Canary Islands. When they were touring the island of La Gomera, one of the smaller and least developed of the archipelago, they arrived in the town of Agulo (pop. 1,000). They were charmed by the many old, white-washed buildings from the 1800s, in poor condition. Melissa asked a lady if any of these houses were for sale. “The entire town has houses for sale!” the lady answered waving her hands, “All the men have gone to work on the oil fields in Venezuela.”
Alfred and Melissa bought three adjacent houses that had an excellent view of another island, Tenerife. One of the houses had an oven that baked the bread for the town. Alfred had the top of the oven removed, had it painted blue and transformed it into La Gomera’s first swimming pool – before any hotel had one.
When Melissa retired in 2001, the couple moved to Agulo thinking they would spend about a year and then move back to the US. They were so enchanted by the easy life in Agulo that they stayed there. In 2011, a Spanish program called Destino España did a report on this retired American couple that was fully integrated into Agulo’s life.
Alfred lived there until he died in 2014 and Melissa lived a full twenty years there, leaving for the US in 2021.
She sold the house to a lovely couple from Europe who use it as a second home.