Let’s start from the beginning… Stephanie and I were both able to go remotely for a year in 2017 (before “being remote” was cool). We traveled in a teardrop camper and cruised all around America from state parks to KOA campgrounds, from Maine to California.
We planned a multi-week stop in Wytheville, VA. Upon pulling into the campground, we immediately knew it wasn’t the right place for us, so we packed up and went north. A couple of hours down the road we stopped in Crozet, VA.
We fell in love with the activities, the people, and the way of life in the Shenandoah Valley and continued to vacation there when we needed to get to the mountains. One faithful day, Stephanie found five acres of land for sale off of Route 151 (the center of our favorite places) so we rushed to buy the land, without a real plan for it (you can read more about that here). We continued to vacation on our land and used it as a camping pad for a few years.
In 2020, we decided to start building the bed & breakfast. Our next step was to secure the financing and start the build. We found an excellent general contractor, and they started (finally) in the winter of 2022. The first pictures we received (because we were still living in Charleston at this point) were of the excavation and the driveway.
In the meantime, we were already selecting windows, appliances, roofing materials, and doors as lead times for these items had grown significantly because of the pandemic. Once the excavation was done, they got to work on the footers and the foundation, and we finally got to see the house take shape.
We were able to walk through the foundation and imagine where everything would be. The doors, courtyard, porches- just envision it. We sat on the land and watched some foxes and deer run through our field and realized that the dream was a reality and this was really happening. In February 2022, I got a job that would allow me to move to Virginia. Stephanie was still remote with her employer and Marietta was down to explore the mountains. Therefore, we packed up and moved into an apartment close to the construction. Oh yes, the camper has its spot at the future bed & breakfast too, so we continue to camp out when we can.
Thanks for reading!