This land has been inhabited by wild things for millennia, and the river valley is still a corridor and a haven for wildlife. At the confluence of the creek and the Ivy River, Native American pottery shards, arrowheads and other artifacts were found, indicating a probable Cherokee settlement.

More recently, this special 63 acres, now called Bend of Ivy, was a working farm for many years. George and Lucy Green and their six children lived here in an old log cabin that was moved and rebuilt here in the 1940’s. It stood in the flat area by the waterfall pool until we bought the land. A stone chimney with dual fireplaces provided heat and cooking for the family; the stone mantles can still be seen in the rockwork by the waterfall pool. The barn was built in 1950; the concrete block farmhouse in 1954.

Tobacco was the financial mainstay, as with most farms in the mountains. There were cows, pigs, chickens, a potato field, a garden where the Pavilion stands now, and tobacco in the bottomland. There was a corn crib (now the Boathouse) and several other sheds, now gone. Days were long, and everyone pitched in to do what needed to be done.

The Greens were good, hard-working people who loved the land, and were part of a strong community of self-reliant people, skilled at eking a living from the land. The Greens donated the land for Oak Grove Baptist Church at the top of the driveway, and for the cemetery.

We bought the farm in 1996 from George and Lucy’s heirs. Walking the land on the day we closed, and realizing we’d just put everything we owned and then some into 63 acres of neck-high weeds was rather daunting. Then, we stepped into the old barn. Seeing the burnished poles on which countless tobacco crops had dried, the light streaming into the dark interior through the spaces between the siding boards, the smells and feelings of an old barn filled with history inspired visions of what it could become.

Over 35 people contributed to a nine-month renovation. While a structural engineer dictated some foundation changes and several other details, the original walls, animal stalls in the basement, and roof structures are still there. To us, the Lodge itself is a symbol for transformation and renewal, and a reminder that in all of us is the possibility of evolving.