Blue Mountain Builders was founded in 1988, with the goal of specializing in the building of new homes using antique materials… mostly log cabins, barns, farmhouses etc, with a few unique specimens thrown in here and there such as a mill, or a silo, or perhaps a stone retreat tucked gently into a hillside.
We’ve also done our share of historic restorations: some from the more famous homes in the area, but many that George Washington never slept in. Our focus has always been on pre 1850’s homes, we found out early on that there was little salvage value in homes built after that period. That position was abandoned when I received a call that Moriah was about to be destroyed. The caller inquired if I would be interested in salvaging any material from within her… flooring, trim etc.
Mariah was built in the late 1970’s by a very special lady, Bepee Lewis. I never had the privilege of meeting her, but the reputation of her charm was well known in the Free Union area and beyond. Her home sat on a hilltop with panoramic views of the surrounding western Albemarle countryside. The house was a legend as a well, the first of its kind in the area, a new home built using antique materials, and so it always had a special place in my heart.
The house was designed to fit the landscape, to blend in well. She was not a crass trophy of wealth, but a statement of… well… taste. The house was sided with painted cedar, a cedar shake roof, and over 3,000 square feet of wrap around porches. The interior woodwork, and the doors and windows were all handmade by Blasé Gaston, one of area’s finest woodworkers. The house was designed by Jay Dagliesh, his firm is world renowned… among its many projects was the restoration of Colonial Williamsburg. The abundance of salvaged materials was supplied by Willie Drake, of Mountain Lumber including 14 inch wide heartpine and hemlock flooring, massive ceiling beams which were salvaged from a Cotton Mill in the Valley, and a dining room and a guest bedroom created by reusing a 200 year old hewn oak log cabin.
I had fallen in love with this home when I first saw her in the early 1980’s and was shocked in 2004 when I received the call that the home had been bought for the hilltop that Mariah sat on, and that the new owners had a different vision for the property, which led to the decision to destroy the home. I was offered the rights to salvage the historic materials out of her… but before I could stop myself, I counter offered with the proposal to take the entire home.
It took me several months to take the home down and put it into storage in an abandoned chicken coop factory. There she remained for the next year or so while I searched for a potential buyer who would have me put it up for them, or on my own to find just the right piece of land in which I could put it up on in what was then a strong housing market.
In 2005 I found just that property… 12 acres with a quarter mile river frontage on the North Fork of the Rivanna River with a view of the waterfalls as it comes over the old mill dam in Advance Mills. The restoration process took me twice as long and cost twice as much as I originally projected, which is par for the course in the world of restoration (as I have learned over the years), some part of which was due to unexpected surprises, but the majority of which was due to changes and add-ons to make the project “all it could be”.
Changes such as upgraded chimneys… I found a source of incredible stone, all salvaged from a stone bridge in Pennsylvania. The interior layout of the rooms… which was very much 1970’s had to go, no more sunken rooms!. The kitchen now has new custom cabinetry and leather finished granite countertops built by an Amish family out of Lancaster Pennsylvania. There is travertine tile throughout the kitchen and baths giving the house even more warmth and character. The porches are all floored in Ipe, an exotic wood that will never decay, over 3,000 square feet of it.
The house has been featured in several publications, including the book, Early American Country homes by Tim Tanner, and Plow and Hearth regularly uses the home to photograph their offerings that are featured in their seasonal catalogs.
My family moved into the home in 2008 and we have greatly enjoyed the home, but the kids have all left the nest now and we feel it’s time to let someone else experience this incredible home, and so she is “up for sale”.
Originally posted 2014-12-10 19:19:24.