The House - Background

The location was a ridge just above the old Maple Springs Schoolhouse. The school is now long-gone without a trace left behind except for its fine road and excellent roadbed. The house was built by two educators from Miami, Florida in 1976. They were both of German descent and their names were Klaus and Gloria. It was originally an A-Frame with a large, partial wrap-around deck. The master bedroom was on the top floor and two bedrooms and another bath were below.

The house looks out to the mountain ranges and has a nice view of the Cowee Mountains. It was their retreat, a place to spend their summers and make daring visits in the winer. Here they practiced their avocations of stained-glass art and writing, while also pursuing their passion of gardening.

They decided to retire here and added a new dining room, a kitchen and a large bathroom. One of the lower bedrooms now became the new master bedroom. Their old kitchen became a spacious walk-in closet, also part of the new master bedrom. Underneath the new dining room they added a space they called the “root cellar” and which we call the “storage area”. Nonetheless, it excells at storing lawnmowers, weedeaters, mulchers, and all kinds of other things such as bags of Quickcrete, mulch, potting soil, rakes and shovels, and a whole lot more.

My wife and I bought the house in 1994 from Klaus and Gloria who moved to take care of an elderly parent. Much of the landscaping, flowers, grapevines, etc., on the property were placed there by them. We had asked them if they used chemical fertilzer or pesticides and were told an emphatic “NO”. The garden, and the entire property was completely organic. Good. We were organic gardeners too.

In 2002, we added the room we call the Family Room. We had always noticed that the most attractive part of the property was the area just east of the kitchen. We always loved to linger there. In the summer, the place was cool and breezy. In the winter, warm sunlight seemed to fall there all day long. Our dogs and our cat congregated there, and the birds loved the place. And that is where we built the Family Room. At the same time we extended the dining room northward about seven feet. Our contractor for this construction was Michael Manos, a former contractor who was pursuing his dream of becoming established as an artist. He was assisted in the construction of our room by an emergency room physician who wanted to become proficient working for Habitat for Humanity. So the room was built by an artist and a doctor.

When we designed the Family Room, we used information from architect Christopher Alexander. He is an Austrian who was educated in Austria, then received degrees from Cambridge in England and Harvard in the United States. He taught at Berkley for almost 40 years. He designed the campus of the University of Oregon, and is himself a student of great structures throughout Europe and Asia.

One of his books is the “Timeless Art of Building”, (which we have) but his most influential work is one he authored along with others and it is called “The Pattern Language” (which we also have) in which he explains how people over many centuries have designed and constructed communities, buildings, rooms, and other areas in ways that make them “come alive”. We had asked the previous owners if they had known about Alexander and they said they were familiar with him and had used some of his concepts in the addition they had made to the original construction.

We incorporated some of Alexander’s suggestions into our new Family Room: Light from two sides, Filtered light, Pools of light, The fire, South-facing outdoors, Floor surface, Six foot balcony, Half-private office, Indoor sunlight, Short passages, and there are others patterns either incorporated into the new construction or already present in the house.

A visit to our Family Room is a experience to remember. When people enter our Great Room, a lot of them have said “Wow!” and when they come into the dining room, they say "Oh look at the mountains!", and they smile when they see the kitchen. But when they enter into the Family Room, most just stand still, silently absorbing old familiar feelings they have not experienced for many years.

You walk out on the deck on a summer night and there are no lights to be seen anywhere.  Only the great night sky with its ever changing display of celestial lights and the warm glow of house lights on the deck.   Winter nights are different.  It seems as if there are as many stars shining below the horizon as above it.  Thousands of lights dot the landscape.  Scary?  Not with three large dogs who mainly sleep in the basement or on the deck, and there are six bright lights that will come on in sequence if anyone comes onto our property.

We've added a small trail that winds around the house. It is all on our property. No asphalt here, in fact it is a real mountain woodland trail. The first time you hike it I would recommend you take a staff and wear hiking boots. I have made a number of my photogaphs, some of exhibition quality, on this trail. Actually there are several interacting trails so there is always something new out there. Many wildflowers have been planted along the trail and it winds past more than 20 species of trees. In the summer you can walk out of sight of the house. The great naturalist, Marie Mellinger came here several times. Once she did an inventory of all the plants on our property. I still have that three-page document and will gladly pass it on. Springtime and autumn walks out of our trail are amazing slideshows that sometimes seem to change hour by hour. And the greatest walk of them all? I like the winter nights. It's best after snow has fallen. Then when the full moon rises, the world changes completely when you're out there. I take my dogs with me, or they take me. They're different then and so am I. It's nice. I will always remember that.

Sounds like I am in love with the place, doesn't it? I guess I am. Why leave then? Well, life moves on. Family ties beckon. New grandchildren need care that mere parents can't possibly give them – because they have to be parents. Besides, the new place will probably be a wonderland too. I am looking forward to what it will bring us. But we leave a very special place, and I want to leave it to someone who is special too.