Dylan Olive
Southern Editor
The COVID-19 pandemic halted the ability for people to gather and connect in person, but one woman had the idea to begin telling stories of the community she grew to love.
“The People Who Live There” was an idea started by Paige Wagner in 2021 that turned into a feature-length documentary and physical book, both of which aim to tell the stories of various people and their historical homes in Lakeland.
Wagner, hailing from Melbourne, Fla., was first introduced to Lakeland as a kid, when she spent her summers participating in the Mocs summer volleyball camps at Florida Southern. It wasn’t until 12 years ago that she and her boyfriend — now husband — Charles Wagner moved to Lakeland and started working at Southeastern University.
In 2013, Wagner and her husband purchased their first historic home, and they both fell in love with it while remodeling. Even with the difficulties that might come with older homes, like the plaster wall falling in on the bathroom, they loved the process of it all — playing a role in a 100-year-old home for a certain amount of time made it special.
“We just loved being part of the home’s story,” Wagner said. “I didn’t grow up with these tight neighborhoods and 1920s homes, so I was just enamored with it. I can’t live in North/South Lakeland, I have to live with these lakes and the Spanish moss and all these old houses.”
This is how Wagner got her start in real estate nearly 10 years ago at the age of 23: because of her love for historic homes. Selling what she loves and believes in allowed her to market the homes with a focus in advocating for young people who think it’s impossible to purchase a home right now. Five years ago, Wagner started her own brokerage and has eight realtors working with her, and she remodels two to three historic homes on the side each year.
For four years, Wagner would host a ticketed tour where she showcased seven to eight historic homes that she sold that year to showcase the architecture and people living in the homes and to bring the community together. Local vendors like Concord Coffee and Cob & Pen would be at each house. But due to the 2020 pandemic, Wagner had to cancel the tour.
So, “The People Who Live There” started, and she hired cinematographers from The Collection Media in January 2021 to bring her vision to life. After nine months, the 55-minute documentary premiered at The Polk Theatre in October with more than 1,000 people in attendance and an additional 300+ viewers at a second viewing. The film has been accepted into multiple film festivals in Florida and is now available to stream on Amazon Prime.
“People who embody their home: that was the key,” Wagner said. “Some people have beautiful houses, but some people are within the fabric of their homes and just are their houses.”
Last September, Wagner thought “I don’t think this is done.” She wanted something tangible that people could pick up and display, and she thought a book could be a unique closing gift for her clients. The fact that Lakeland hadn’t had a compiled history book by Lakelanders at the time went into consideration as well.
Wagner sought out Jenna O’Brien to design the book, while Wagner served as the overarching voice of the narrative; a few local writers were hired to help write some of the stories. The book has the same people and homes featured, but there are more featured in the book. The documentary includes seven families and homes, while the book features an additional two homes, with more details.
“We really wanted to portray the true people who live here in Lakeland,” Wagner said. “We wanted young couples buying their first home in Dixieland, an older couple that had been in their home for 55 years and was the only home they ever owned, we wanted people who raised six kids in these historic homes and how they evolved with it.”
The book includes various architectural styles with big houses, small houses, mid-century houses, bungalows, different neighborhoods and different historic districts. Dr. Ludd Spivey, FSC’s president from 1925-1957 and who brought Frank Lloyd Wright to the campus, is featured and so is his house, as well as Wright himself.
The book was released on July 1, another nine months since the beginning of the journey — Wagner jokes they birthed two children because the book and movie took nine months to finish. The official book release party will be held at Pressed on Friday, Oct. 6. Branching “The People Who Live There” to different places is something Wagner has considered as it’s an adaptable name, and she said that “a book collection of cities in Polk County would be really cool.”
“Lakeland is such a special place, and Lakeland just gets behind its city so beautifully and authentically,” Wagner said. “I love that now, for our city, we have a physical representation of that.”
