Introduction We moved here from Virginia in November 2003 and like to think of this as our little bit of heaven on earth. It's just taking a lot of hard work to achieve the potential of this land. I am showing before and after pictures where available to give you some idea of changes taking place. There is a lot more to be done, but Rome wasn't built in a day either! I pulled the adjacent satellite picture off the Internet to show you the property arrangement as it is fairly unique. The property within the red lines is ours. This was taken around October 2005 as I can see we were just finishing the roof on the new horse barn.

As you can see, we started by improving the driveway. The steep, narrow, gravel entrance was moved to the center, made a bit wider and PAVED! Not to mention the brush clean up and new fence.

BEFORE
AFTER

The main driveway area is 100 feet wide and about 5 acres and over 1/2 mile long to the homestead, so there can be a lot to see along the route. There is a large property with horses pastured to the left and the back of several property lots to the right of the drive.

BEFORE
Cresting the entrance hill, heading for the homestead.	This neighbor believes in recycling. What better place to store beer cans then an old john boat?	Continuing on...	At the end of the LONG drive, we have 35 more acres in back where the 2 creeks meet.

At the two creeks, the drive was originally very narrow where it crosses. Shortly after moving here, the rear right axle of a truck slid into the creek and THAT was something we didn't want to happen again...

BEFORE
To avoid future accidents, Howard widened the drive here and lined it with logs and I started building a rock wall over the logs.	This picture looks back up the long drive you just came down. Wait till I get the current pics, you won't believe the difference.

AFTER
My special project, the rock safety wall has come a long way.	Another view, showing work in progress (rocks over logs).	This picture continues up the drive towards the homestead. The drive gets steep here.

After crossing the first creek, the lower pasture is to the left...

BEFORE
There isn't much to be said here. We tore down an old fence/gate, but have yet to clear here.	After going through the trees lining the creeks, the pasture opens up to the left.	After going through the trees lining the creeks, the pasture also opens up to the right.	This is from the rear of the lower pasture, looking back.

Here we are skipping the homestead and going straight to the rear pasture.

BEFORE
Entering the rear gate.	Looking straight back.	Trails in the woods.
Damm side of pond.	Shallow side to right.	Other side looking back.

To the very left of the back pasture there is a wooded area going all the way down to the lower pasture. In the far corner is an OLD graveyard with 7 graves. It is even marked out on the property plot. We asked the surrounding neighbors who is buried there, but no one knows. The slabs are simply rough cut with no identifying markers.

The path to the graveyard.

A couple of sample graves..

And back to the main living area.

BEFORE & AFTER
Back of house and rear yard.	New paint job, stained deck, back porch and roof.

New parking area.

New 3 Stall Horse Barn/Fence (Now painted.)

Yard in front of barn.

Another interesting and beautiful site from time to time is the hot air balloons. There is a small private airport a couple of miles to the rear of the property. Balloons launch from there on a regular basis on the weekends when the weather is nice. This is just one picture. I'll get more when I can. There has been as many as 5 float over at a time, all with different shapes, colors and patterns.

Hot Air Balloons