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Nature Preserve: The Flat Rock on Sewanee Creek

Last Summer I did a couple of short videos and posted them on youtube.  They are a bit bumpy and amateurish, but I think you’ll get the idea.   About 500 of our 750 acres will remain wild, designated as a nature preserve.

This video features a place called flat rock where Johnson’s Creek and Sewanee Creek come together.  The bottom of the creek here almost looks like poured concrete it’s so broad and flat.

Check out the fish and the swimming hole.  Flat Rock is near the cave that’s featured in my photo gallery.

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High Tech in the Woods-Work in your Tennessee Mountain Paradise

I met today with an executive from Ben Lomand Telephone Co-op.  The Village already has high speed DSL, so a minimally tech-familiar executive can easily set up a home office and begin tele-commuting from his Tennessee Mountain paradise.

In an earlier life, overseeing people in over 60 countries, I’ve done just that for about fifteen years now, using the internet for real time video conferencing and desktop sharing in a virtual office environment, so I know it works and I know how to do it.  It was an invaluable tool that helped reduce costs, local commute time and international flights while I worked, sometimes strange hours, in my bathrobe.  It played a valuable role in keeping my communications fresh and current across long distances and time zones.

I chose the location of the Village partially because I knew it had DSL, but more because of its proximity to Nashville, Chattanooga and Huntsville, all about an hour away from major airports.  The combination of high speed internet and good airports makes it possible for most executives to work from paradise if you know how – and I’m happy to coach anybody who is ready to make the leap from insanity.

But TODAY, I was blown away.  We’re looking at getting direct-to-the-house fiber optics.  That’s like plugging directly to the internet trunk line with not only SUPER high band-width internet, but also high def TV and video-on-demand delivered over fiber optics, not cable.  This is state of the art stuff in the middle of the woods.

WOW, pack your bags!

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Welcome two new Villagers

It’s my pleasure to welcome Jeff and Linnette (lots 6 & 7) and Marcia (lot 9).  We closed on these three lots yesterday and celebrated by spending the day with Linnette, Marcia, her daughter and grand daughter hiking the trails, visiting the amphitheater and enjoying dinner together last evening.  I couldn’t ask for better neighbors!
Marcia is a retired R.N., currently living in Atlanta.  She plans to relocate to the village this year.
The Petersens hail from the Roanoke, Virginia area.  They will take a bit longer to make the permanent move, but plan to visit often in the meantime, starting with a family reunion on their beautiful creek lot this summer.
At this point, we have closed on five of 15 phase one lots with commitments on several more.  The Village is beginning to take shape and with the coming of spring, is fully dressed out in blooming dogwoods.  Sunday’s heavy rains have filled the creeks and waterfalls.    The grass is beginning to appear from freshly mulched hillsides, so we hope to see the rolling hills become a velvet green carpet soon.  All is beautiful!

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My Journal Begins

I’m Grant Miller, owner, developer and resident of the Village on Sewanee Creek.

With this entry, my journal on this website just became operational.  I will begin posting both past tense and present impressions as they occur.  Check back often for new entries and feel free to add your own comments.

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Movie: Our 1st Hike down from the Waterfall to Sewanee Creek

This movie, posted on youtube is not a cinematic masterpiece.  My son shot it with his digital still camera and it’s pretty bumpy. But I think it shows the quiet grandeur of nature on the Cumberland Plateau.  Tennessee’s Mountain forests are incredibly beautiful, pristine and peaceful.

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Local Folks

Community Service

Collecting for Big Ed

Passing through Tracy City today, I had an insignificant extraordinary experience.  Each of the two “major” intersections was dominated with people carrying large signs collecting money to help a friend and family member, Big Ed, with his extraordinary medical bills.
I’m not unaccustomed to the fire department or other organizations collecting for various high profile causes, but this is the first I had encountered individuals publicly going out of their way to help individuals in need.  I was struck by the simple goodness of this act of caring.
I stopped to take pictures and learned that this kind of action on behalf of loved ones is quite common on the mountain.
So simple, yet so amazing that I have never seen this anywhere else I have lived.  I love the culture and the people who live here!  The mountain is beginning to be recognized for its unparalleled natural beauty.  But the mountain’s people are a treasure of even greater value that remains undiscovered and unappreciated.

I hope the people who move to the village can catch the spirit of the local folks.

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First Impressions

Today I visited a property located on Brown’s Hollow just beyond beautiful Grundy Lakes State Park on the Cumberland Plateau.

I had been searching the web in earnest for a couple of months for an investment property in Tennessee, preferably near Chattanooga because of the natural beauty of that area. I had found only opportunities in Western Tennessee where the land is flat and less interesting. Suddenly, this 750 acre tract appeared and I made the trek from Louisville, KY to see it the next day.

My first impression was that there is much work to be done to make this an attractive place to live. Portions of the property had been logged. But moving deeper into the pristine forest, I found stunningly beautiful views from steep, craggy bluffs. I felt a pull deep inside that said this is the place.