Our History

It all started way back in early 2005 when founders Esther and Douglas Cromwell started the beginning stages of opening their first private family care home and building what would later become Avendelle Assisted Living. Our Saratoga location was officially opened in December of 2005, and we admitted our first resident in January of 2006.

It didn’t take long after that opening of Saratoga for the home to become full and a waiting list started to form before Esther and Douglas decided to open a second home.  In February of 2007 The Waterford Landing home officially opened.

With the success of The Waterford Landing home, it too quickly filled up, so our third location Avendelle at Wyckford was opened in 2008.

Originally serving senior Medicaid clients, Esther and Douglas quickly established an excellent reputation in the family care home industry and continually raised the bar by which other family care homes were judged. Fast forward to 2012. Talks of Medicaid cutting a major portion of clients’ room-and-board rates prompted Esther and Douglas to shift their focus from Medicaid clients to private-pay clients with dementia, Alzheimer’s, and other medical conditions with which the person can no longer care for themselves. Not knowing if their venture into the private-pay field would be successful, they decided to convert one home at a time. The Wyckford location was completely remodeled, and a sprinkler system was installed (a first for any family care home in Wake County), thus allowing us to accept non-ambulatory clients, which allows a client to age in place (an option previously only available in larger facilities). This home was reopened in July of 2012 and was met with instant success. The Waterford Landing home was reopened in October of 2012, and it too was an instant success. Not wanting to forget their roots, Esther and Douglas decided to leave the Saratoga home operating as a Medicaid home.

In May of 2013, Esther graduated from North Carolina State University with her Masters in Social Work. This combination of Esther and Douglas’s education and experience gives our company a unique perspective into to the assisted-living needs of our clients and family members. Also in 2013, Esther and Douglas decided to partner with Terry Hubbard in opening a fourth home. The Weaver Crossing home was established in April of 2013 and was opened with its first client in June of 2013. Having successfully opened four family care homes, the decision was made to begin offering franchise opportunities. Our franchise model has resulted in a number of incredible senior-care homes, and we’ve been able to have the first family care home in Wake County to be constructed from the ground up as a family care home.