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THE STORY FROM THE OWNERS
In
the early 1990’s, our family was looking for the
”perfect” place in Greenville to live and raise our four
children. We had lived in a nice east-side subdivision.
We had outgrown the house and then built a bigger house
with all the “bells and whistles” in a nearby golfing
neighborhood. After a year or so there, we just didn’t
feel quite satisfied. Our boys wanted to climb trees and
have a tree house, and have a go-cart of their own,
which were not allowed in the golfing neighborhood. Our
girls wanted more privacy, a swimming pool and a garden.
I wanted more “nature” around my home.
Keith ‘s job was
very stressful and required long, long hours away from
home. He longed for peace and quiet and more of a
“sanctuary”-type feeling at home. We just couldn’t have
all of that in the previous places that we lived. We
also knew in time we would have a lot more cars and a
lot more teen activities to contend with, for which
having some space would be a big advantage.
We started searching
for some acreage. Our criteria were very specific: we
wanted to stay in our same school district on the
eastside of Greenville. We also wanted room for a
garden, and lots of trees…(we missed trees in the new
subdivision!) We wanted a swimming pool of our own and
enough land for horses in the future.
Acreage that met
these requirements was very, very hard to find. Most of
what we looked at was way out in the country, and not at
all convenient to Greenville living. Then we found a few
acres for sale on Phillips Road. It wasn‘t as much land
as we wanted, but it was a start. It took us another
year to acquire two more adjacent pieces of property,
all of which we combined to make around seven acres. (We
did not yet have the property that meets with the
creek).
Every time we would
visit this property, we would be in awe of the massive
oak trees and the soft breeze we felt at the high-point
of the land.
We were so anxious
to live on this beautiful piece of land, with all of its
old oak trees, that we left our 8,000 square ft. home
and bought a doublewide mobile home to live in while we
built our new home!
Our children thought
this whole adventure was great fun, like camping out in
the woods! They could climb trees, play make-believe in
the woods, yell and make noise to their heart’s content.
They had so much space to run and play ball! We started
making memories right then. It took under a year to
build our main house, and we moved in at Christmas-time,
1994.
Our swimming pool
was installed at the time we built the house. Over the
next few years, we added more landscaping, a pool-house,
a cabana, a tennis court/basketball court. We were also
able to acquire another three and a half acres of wooded
land that borders the creek at the lower end of “our
hill“.
Our home became
filled with activity, fun and adventure. We have been
able to have so many wonderful events here, involving
not only our children but also literally hundreds of
other children as well. We have an ideal place
For outdoor
entertaining, and we have hosted dozens of parties,
sleepovers and ceremonies. Every sports team our
children were involved with conducted activities here,
and we had several “homecomings” and pre-proms. Three
different years we had homecoming floats built here.
This home has been a
haven for so many teenagers over the last dozen years.
It has become a favorite place to “hang out”, watch a
game on the big TV in the pool-house, and be away from
adults while at the same time staying protected inside
the gated grounds.
We have so many
wonderful memories: Easter-egg hunts, snowfalls and
sled-riding, sitting out by the fire in the back patio
fire-pit, sharing stories on warm summer nights and
jumping into the lighted pool.
We have so many fun
memories of barbeques and birthday parties. We once
hosted a catered medical party outside and accommodated
about 400 guests as well as all of their vehicles very
comfortably. Having two outdoor bathrooms works so well
for these events!
I do believe our
children know every tree, every rock and every inch of
land here. Over the years, we have found (and taken care
of!): a litter of kittens, baby squirrels, baby birds,
and turtles. We love to sit outside at night, just at
dusk, and hear the owl’s hooting in the back trees while
they look for prey. At one point, our youngest son could
be found almost daily about 30 feet up in a tree, just
sitting there loving nature! He was about six years old
then (He is almost 21 now and a junior at USC Honors
College! How time flies!)
There are a few Green
frogs living under the big fountain out front. Every
spring they croak so loud we sit out on the porch and
listen to them. Then suddenly a few weeks later there
are tadpoles!
Just letting our big
Labrador retrievers run free on all the acreage has been
so much fun. They “patrol” the fence line daily, bark at
intruders and swim in the pool all summer. They have had
a wonderful life as well!
When I walk this
property now, I remember active little boys in the tree
house we all built together. I remember little girls
having tea parties in “dress up “clothes in the field in
front of the house. I remember ballgames in the summer
and building snowmen in the winter. We picked tomatoes
and cucumbers out of our garden every year and down over
the hill, near the creek, we picked wild blackberries
and made pies! I still have my herb garden near the back
door and still use the fresh herbs in cooking.
Inside the house I
can almost still hear four children rustling around
upstairs, early in the morning, getting ready for
school. I used to wake them all up by playing soft music
over the intercom system (later on I played a teenage
radio station!) One time, radio station B93.7 broadcast
live from our house, a supposed home invasion! What
fun!).
I always had
something that smelled good cooking in the kitchen for
breakfast and the kids would come down one-by-one,
stumbling and all sleepy-faced. We did a lot of
important sharing at that granite counter top in the
kitchen! The kitchen was always full of aromas and
activity, and this added to our memories.
I can truly say that
our house is homey, warm and comfortable, yet it’s big
enough for everyone to have their own space. (There is
also a guest room!) If you need a different kind of
space there is still enough room here to build whatever
you may want ! This really isn’t just a home, but a
“lifestyle”. It is so close to everything, yet so
private and quiet! I know we are so spoiled in terms of
privacy, and I keep reminding myself it will be
different when we move from here, and I won’t be able
to go out back in my night clothes or my bathing suit!
This house and
property truly has been our “paradise” and our
”sanctuary”. Sitting in our hot tub in the evening in a
totally private setting, while looking up at the trees
(and later the stars) is a real luxury indeed.
Keith and I are now
retired. We have raised our family here. This home now
needs a new family.
I really do believe
that our lifestyle here helped to mold our four children
into successful young adults. Because we had acreage and
did not live in a subdivision, we had more family time.
We were able to keep the teenagers at home and have “the
friends” come here. We were able to allow our children
to have what we think is the best of both worlds: the
best school district in a relatively upscale area, and
the opportunity to live with nature all around. The kids
could make all the noise they wanted, play and get
dirty, climb a tree and get in the creek, all without
bothering anyone. They could ride their go cart, play
tennis, swim, or go exploring without ever leaving their
home.
Now our oldest child
is in medical school and the youngest is a Jr. in
college. They won’t even discuss our selling the house.
All they can think about is their lifelong memories, and
they don’t want to ever sell this property. The prospect
of selling it does make us sad, but we are ready to move
on with our lives as well. This is a home filled with
love and laughter. It will be a very, very lucky,
special family who gets to live in this home.
…
Paula Kraemer
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FUNNY LITTLE FACTOIDS ABOUT OUR PROPERTY
 There is an 80 year old oak tree
that has a big open space in the front. On St.
Patrick’s day in the past, children have found a little
black “pot of gold” in there. The Easter bunny often
hid eggs and candy in there as well!
I planted wild violets on the side
of the house that originally I dug up at Butler’s Spring
Park in the early 1980’s. They were planted at both of
our previous homes and I brought some here from the
last home. Now they have formed almost a “carpet” of
groundcover and in the spring it’s a “sea” of purple.
The fountain in the front came from
Atlanta in the back of our truck.
We added electricity to the storage
“shed”, so now you can be in there at night.
You can put dogs in the tennis
court and shut the gate to keep them out of the way for
awhile. You can play tennis at night! The court is
lighted with lights which are directed so as to cover
only the tennis court. You can play at night if you
want. No one can hear you, either.
Turtles often hang out by the pool.
In the summer we find them walking up the hill from the
creek.
There are owls out back in the
trees that hoot at night. There are lots of woodpeckers
here too, some are beautiful red-headed ones.
Christmas time is special. We
really love to decorate our home for the season and the
lights are spectacular at night.
We are less than 2 miles from
Thornblade Country Club.
If you walk down the creek you will
end up in Sugar Creek .
In the fall you can see and hear
the geese landing on the pond on the property behind us
(the Hartness estate).
The creek has arrowheads in it and
beautiful quartz. Also, we have found lots of old coins
here with our metal detector.
There are daffodils all around the
property and in the woods that will pop up in the
spring. I never planted these; they are from long ago
landowners.
Our boys have pulled people all
around the property on cardboard: they tie it to the
back of the golf cart. This is especially fun
during winter snows.
Once, when the children were small
,we were shopping at Kmart. They had about Twenty
dollars to spend between them all. They took me over to
the automotive department and wanted to buy these "sleds
with wheels" (ten dollars a piece) to ride down the
driveway. They ended up having hours and hours of
outdoor fun in the driveways riding on their sleds. We
had them for years ! They are actually called
creepers. Mechanics use them to get under cars
while in garages!
We have had friends’ horses here
for birthday parties.
Once the Riverside High School
cheerleading squad and their coach drove a regular
school bus through the gate and right up to the front
door because my daughter (a cheerleader) forgot
something! While they were stopped here they raided the
drinks from the refrigerator.
You can have 150 teenagers in the
back yard having a party with loud music, and no one can
hear them outside of the property.
We have had the entire Asheville
School football team here for a cook- out and swim many
times. They would arrive on a full size bus that they
parked in the front.
“Hawk and Tom” from WFBC
"B93.7" broadcasted live from here once over a decade
ago.
I
designed the custom stained glass sidelight windows at
the front door, still have my original drawings. They
were made by Palmetto mirror and glass in Greer. one of
the patterns is a pineapple which is the symbol of
hospitality. They were expensive, they will stay with
the house.
We eventually found
out that Children can get from the upstairs to the
downstairs by climbing down the laundry chute when the
parents aren't looking? There is a special little cozy
room, with a little door, upstairs, that children love
to play in, or sneak into at night and stay up later
than they are supposed to. When we built the house, the
children thought their might be "tiny" people living
under the floor boards( I don't know why) . They thought
these little people only came out at night to play. So I
still have tiny little chairs around the house I
bought, just in case...
I am sure there are many other
things I could tell you when I think of them so check
back often as we probably add them right here. |
