The Great Room

The entry into the house is through the foyer. This presents a view down past the dining and kitchen areas.







If you look from the foyer to the left, you will see your first view of the Great Room with its fireplace, high ceiling and wall of windows.





Looking back toward the foyer from inside the Great Room, you can see the stairs which lead to the loft above and a private master bedroom (two of the three bedrooms in the house are 'master bedrooms') which is behind the loft. On the right of the picture frame you see some books in the library which comprise part of an entertainment center.

The entertainment center is placed against the wall with TV, Dish receiver, TV recorders, stereo system, DVD players, etc. There are also display opportunities in the shelves and on top of the bookcases. The drawers contain games, DVDs, VHS tapes, CDs, etc. We plan to leave all four parts of the center with the house. (While taking the books, and electronics with us!)


To the right of the entertainment center is the fireplace. This structure not only provides winter heat through its LP gas log system, but it also provides year-round beauty for this part of the house.

This picture shows the fireplace warming the house with the heat-retention blinds lowered.




The fireplace has a mantle which joins the bookcases to a small display shelf which runs across the part of the room which opens to the main deck.




The ceiling here is about sixteen feet, seven inches above the floor and three, thirteen-foot high beams hold two ceiling fans which provide adequate ventilation for this space and prevent air stratification.

The part of the Great Room that faces the deck is a Wall of Windows, including two french doors which are usually open almost all day long during the summer as well as much of the late spring and autumn. That serves to bring the main deck and the Great Room together as one magnificant living area.








Here is a view on a nice autumn day with the french doors open, showing how easy it would be to go out on the beautiful deck and sweep the fallen leaves preparing them for the compost!




Looking away from the bookcases leads one's view down a short hallway past the dining and kitchen areas to the right, and on into the Family Room.

The Family Room

When you enter into the Family Room you know you have arrived in a very special place. First you might notice the ceramic tile floor, the eight large windows, the french doors and the always interesting and constantly changing view from this mountain forest ridge.


Another look will reveal the Empire LP gas log stove which is thermostatically controlled, the two large ceiling fans and the lighting which is specially arranged for close detail work or casual romantic ambience.



Continuing around the room to the left you can see that we have an office space strategically placed in the center of one of the most beautiful offices in the world. It is on the north side of the room which has only two large windows






Now, moving away from our last position toward the french doors, and looking further to the left you can see another window which helps keep an eye on the main deck, and we have a treadmill tucked into the corner beneath the window next to the stairs which lead back up to the kitchen and dining areas and on into the Great Room.

Looking further around to the left reveals a glimpse of the full bath, then the four large windows which are arranged on the southwest side of the Family Room. They look out over the private driveway and into the forest beyond. You may notice plant grow lamps placed on the wall. Why are they there? To provide light for our indoor plants in the summer.

In the summer, this room is in the shade of the trees, and being on a ridge, a breeze from the south or west usually passes through this room on up the stairs into the rest of the house. In the winter, the first rays of the rising sun enter this room, and the sunlight streams through the then bare oak tree limbs onto the ceramic tile floor all day long. When the sun sets, you will notice the room cooling down. That’s when we lower the heat-retention blinds and set the thermostat on our Empire stove for a wonderful winter evening.

In the springtime and autumn, you see a world of wonder from this room. These pictures show part of the autumn, but the springtime is even better.

And our french doors are usually open to the “poop” deck when the weather is nice, which is often. Our dogs love this deck. It is their “crow’s nest” from which they keep an eager eye out for whomever might be coming up our private driveway. From here they can see down the western part of our ridge some 70 feet below the house.

Kitchen

This is probably OUR favorite room in the house because we both like to cook. Wonderful smells (and meals) come from here all winter long. Then our menues are hearty with stews, soups, bread, casseroles and even cookies.

Notice that the kitchen features ceramic tile for the floors, countertops, backsplash and ALL kitchen walls. It is a ceramic-tile kitchen!

The cabinets are made of selected oak and were custom built by Joe Morgan, Cabinet Maker in Franklin for more than 30 years.

Storage space provides access through 30 doors and 10 sliding drawers.

Three of the storage units feature rotating lazy-susan shelves for storage of cooking utensils, serving vesels and containers for use in refrigerator and freezer.






In the summer we eat a lot of pasta with goodies right out of our own garden. Herbs are right outside in containers on the uncovered part of our deck.



Pantry is floor-to-ceiling and has 7 shelves, 5 of which slide out for complete and easy access.









Appliance "garage" also has four electric receptacles inside.










Four stained glass lighted fixtures commemorate the seasons











Three windows are in the kitchen area, two over sink. They provide bright sunlight throughout the winter, and all three open full length to admit cool mountain breezes in the summer.

Bedrooms

MASTER BEDROOM

Windows on two sides, the south and the west. Lovely light filters in throughout the day, moonlight is available, on some nights, if you wish. There is a bathroom with walk in shower large enough not to even need a curtain. The closet is walk-in, sure, and you can dress in there if you wish to also. My wife has a desk with a small office in the bedroom too.










UPSTAIRS BEDROOM
Another master bedroom! Even larger than the one below. There is a full bath with tub and shower fixtures, and two closets, actually that closet is about 15 feet long with two doors. There is another closet too, it is about 7 X 7 feet. Four windows admit sunlight from the southern sky, at least in the winter. Otherwise you look out of here into the treetops. A door separates this bedroom from the loft beyond. Currently this bedroom is being used as my study. Here I write and do photos and video. When we have guests, some of them sleep up here from time to time.

GUEST BEDROOM

Three windows on the south side of the house. Large closet. Full bathroom is inches from the door.





FAMILY ROOM?
Not really a bedroom but we have used it as such. Its "sofa" is a fouton which lets down into a bed. The room does not have a closet, but does have a full bath with tub with shower. Lots of light - in the winter. Close to the kitchen. Sometimes my wife and I sleep out there and let guests with small children have our master bedroom. We have some friends from Florida who visit each summer and they drag their bags out there and sleep there, usualy with all the windows and doors open (they're country folk). Are they safe? You bet. Can't they be seen walking around with the windows open? Not unless the persons doing the "seeing" are trespassing on our property.

Winter Days

Winters come to the southern mountains in lots of different days. It brings sunny, warm breezes, and dark drizzles. Some days even bring snow.

Trail at Stamey Mountain Road House

The trail is all on the property owned with the house.  

The driveway is the blue line on the map, leading up to the house.

The trails run north and south mainly and some of the trees are marked.  

There is a pet graveyard marked with crosses.  Zach, Cherokee, Raqib, Sunflower and Scooter are buried here.  Wali died after we moved to Hickory and his ashes were scattered over the area. The graves are marked by large rocks.

Details of House

Size: Approximately 2400 heated square feet,
plus 1,000 sqft basement and 400 sqft storage area.
3 BEDROOMS, 4 full baths, plus 500 sqft bonus room.

Lot: 1.94 acres
Mountain views all year
Located on private driveway
Central heat and air, plus LP
gas logs in living room fireplace
& LP gas log Empire stove in family room
Water from private well - drilled 210 feet deep
Asheville is 1:15 away, Downtown Atlanta is 2:00.

Appalachian Trail 10 miles and 15 minutes from house
Private location, yet downtown Franklin is 10 minutes away.
Its two acres seem like many more because of location on a ridge.

Family room exposed to sun all winter, totally shaded all summer.
Fully organic garden with raised, double-dug beds. Compost also.
Great Smoky Mountain Nat Park AND Blue Ridge Parkway are 40 min. away
Kitchen features custom built oak cabinets, ceramic tile floor, countertops and walls.
Family room for dance floor, card games, classes, home office, etc.
Covered part of deck insures outside eating during summer sprinkles.
Uncovered part of deck provides safe container-gardening area.
Alternate energy potential from both solar and wind power.

French doors make deck a part of living room in summer
Second parking lot (undeveloped) beside family room.
Woodland trail encircles house – all on property.
A peaceful place with very little grass to mow
Flooding risk is negligible

Autumn Colors around Franklin

The colors have come sporadically to the Franklin area this year. They came in late and unevenly, but with great brilliance and apparently they will be short lived also, because days of rain are forecast in the coming week.

WAYAH TRAIL

Wednesday, October 17, 2007. My wife and I hiked the trail which is that part of the AT which winds down from the bald, about 5400 feet, to Wayah Creek CG, around 3500 feet. The hike is about 4 to 5 miles long, and usually brilliant with color in the middle of October. Not this year though - maybe later. Colors were mostly greenish-yellow with some bright yellow birch and basswood trees. Maples were red and green, mostly green. Lots of leaf cover and the mountains were predominately green.

FOREST ROAD 67
Saturday, October 20, 2007. Drove down Forest Road 67, south of Standing Indian CG. Only went down to Hurricane Creek. That was enough. The birch trees were brilliant gold, and with almost no leaf loss. The color was intense, and the evening light brilliant. Hard to get a picture because of the extreme contrast. Not much else in the way of color, lots of leaf cover.

CHUNKY GAL ROAD
Sunday, 21 October, 2007. This is that part of US 64W out of Franklin which runs up over Winding Stair Gap into Clay County, and on the the next overlook a little west of the Chunky Gal Trailhead. Again the color was overwhelming. Brilliant skies again, lots of leaf-lookers out, weaving all over the road (so was I). Birch trees brilliant gold, considerable leaf loss now compared to yesterday, probably due to some wind in unprotected areas. Sourwoods were providing some dark reds, summachs bright reds, and again maples were toying with some color.

BALL CREEK ROAD
Sunday, October 28, 2007. After four days of rain, Ball Creek is vibrant. Some birches left, lots of hardwoods turning now. The birch leaf loss in these heavy forests highlights the subsequent turning of the other leaves, enabling them to come forward in vision with remnants of gold dangling here and there. Now the hillsides are visible too and contribute their bright mixtures of red, green, yellow (no longer gold), and orange.

Stone Pagoda

Under an old chestnut tree just outside Newport, Tennessee, a sacred Buddhist ritual repeated its timeless call one more time. The sky above the site was clear, colored a fine Carolina blue, and a soft, cool breeze moved the leaves and flags and spread the scent of incense throughout the throng. Bells rang, gongs spoke, cymbals chimed and all this reverberated and echoed together with the chanted prayers.



Sixty-three years after the first atomic bomb blew apart the Japnese city of Heroshima, some of the survivors’ descendents and some of their American counterparts dedicated this new Shrine to Peace in the American Great Smoky Mountains, virtually within the sight of Oak Ridge, Tennessee.

The Stone Pagoda is not intended as a symbol of retaliation or revenge. It is a Buddhist prayer – written in stone – praying for peace for all beings.



Higher yet up the mountain, food awaits the participants and guests. The last time that the commemoration on this mountain included priests who had come from Japan, which was three years ago, we all feasted on American food. Today the food was Japanese. The meal was buffet and the hit of the day was Japanese curry over rice. Egg rolls, rice rolls, seaweed, sesame seed-coated green beens and a couple of other unidentified food objects. Everybody kept going back for more, and then they brought out the desserts!

And last time, when the food was American, the music was Japanese, beautiful and etheral. Today, Bluegrass music drifted out of the temple across the Great Smoky Mountains, and the Buddhist monks from Japan showed us they can smile, clap their hands and tap their toes just like the rest of us did. There were some 200 people (my estimate) who attended and perhaps a contingent of 20 to 30 who came from Japan.


So the temple is a place of beauty and worship and joy, but it is far more than just that. The temple, and now the stone pagoda, and within 4 more years the great Stupa of Peace, still to be built are all destined to be places where people of different religions, nations, races, education, and all other preparations for life can and will come to meet each other and to talk and worship peace each in their own way and in their own religion or even just commune with the Great Mysteries.



© John Womack, 2007. All rights reserved.

AnnaBanana & The OleGoate

We were paid a visit by Royalty this week. And that's as good as it ever gets. We did some puzzles, moved a desk 28 feet, prepared to remove a lot of rusty screws, and ate a lot of good food. Also went to the North Carolina Arboretum. We were expecting to be bored but were challenged by the diversity we encountered there. In the picture above you can see Queen AnnaBananna in royal lavender on the left, and the OleGoate is in the center wearing his old faithful yellow slicker that has kept him dry since grade school. Mother Karima still tries to bless his scientist's soul. Here she is preaching to him out of the pink shirt on the right


Later we went to Franklin's Spring Creek Creamery. They have the best ice cream in all of history. Three of us had butter pecan in plastic containers, I had a chocolate chip mint cone. We all drooled all the way back home. Thought we had seen a version of heaven - then the next morning we opened the cheese and dripped and drooled all over again. Better than the ice cream!! The owner of the creamery says this is because they make all of their own cheese and ice cream from their own cows, and all their cows are Jersies. The owner says Jersey milk is much creamier than that which comes form the Holsteins which are the most used milk cows in the US. For more information: http://inthesmokymountains.com/springridgecreamery/ and http://www.ltlt.org/fp042605.html



The visit was a great family affair. We ate extremely well and awfully often and told a lot of good stories. The girls worked a lot of puzzles and we guys told a lot of jokes. Here you can see the OleGoate talking with Brer Mujib. They told some real knee-slappers about girls.