Working on a big canvas: 40 acres on Lookout Mountain, Alabama.


Purchase and Location

I bought this property in 2005 and named it Richmond Woods for my father who taught me about nature and respect for the wild. It's located in Alabama near the Alabama/Georgia state line. The small nearby village of Mentone, AL has been a mountain retreat for 150 years for people escaping the summer heat of Birmingham and Atlanta. My companion, Carolyn, has helped me every step of the way.

A Cottage in the Woods
When you were little, did someone read fairy tales to you? Invariably, there was mention of a cottage in the woods. Our plan is to build such a place: handmade, no architect plans, buying local materials or using salvaged materials. The purpose of this blog is to document our progress.

Tuesday, October 27, 2015

Dried In

The little building now has gable ends, a roof, and a door. It is officially dried in. I still have to add soffit and fascia to completely close it in. Also I need to add trim and siding.

     

 As you can see from the picture below, I spent considerable time hauling and stacking the siding and trim wood. This material, I bought from Daniel Millican at Millican Forest Products in Valley Head, Alabama.




The autumn weather has been beautiful on the mountain. Fall colors are popping everywhere.

Around dawn one morning, I caught this rainbow from my back yard looking West.
I was really wishing I had a wide angle lens.
This is a view of the Little River from the highway 35 bridge.

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