Discover Harmony
It’s a feat many homeowners have tried to achieve—to create a traditional home that’s at once inspired by history and modern in its craftsmanship and amenities. It’s a challenging project to take on, but deciding to build a timber home definitely makes the task easier.
Just ask Bill and Joellyn Gibbons. Their timber home, which is situated on almost an acre of land in Blowing Rock, North Carolina, was constructed on the site where a hotel was built in the 1880s, but later torn down in 1942. The Gibbons eventually bought the property and built a summerhouse, which was destroyed in an electrical fire in 2003.
You won’t find a big, fancy golf course at Sunalei Preserve, a development of new homes on North Carolina’s Snake Mountain. And there’s not a manicured, man-made lake in sight. Sunalei Preserve is a community with a decidedly different focus—and a mission.
“We came to this project knowing this was a last undisturbed parcel in Watauga County, and we really wanted to preserve it,” says Mary Jane Rice, wife of Sunalei developer John Rice, and overseer of Sunalei’s advertising. They started with a biological study of the 1,000-acre property to identify and protect endangered species and plants. Then they deeded 132 acres of the craggy ridge of Snake Mountain to a conservation group, and plan to deed another approximately 100 acres in the future
It’s a feat many homeowners have tried to achieve—to create a traditional home that’s at once inspired by history and modern in its craftsmanship and amenities. It’s a challenging project to take on, but deciding to build a timber home definitely makes the task easier.
Just ask Bill and Joellyn Gibbons. Their timber home, which is situated on almost an acre of land in Blowing Rock, North Carolina, was constructed on the site where a hotel was built in the 1880s, but later torn down in 1942. The Gibbons eventually bought the property and built a summerhouse, which was destroyed in an electrical fire in 2003.