Beach house season is upon us and Figure Eight Island is one lovely place to spend your summer. The private island in North Carolina has around 450 homes and is reached by a guarded causeway bridge.Today's home on the island is a new build. It has a reverse floor plan with the main living level on top floor. The home has four bedrooms including a large master suite that includes a steam shower in the master bath. The home has large porches and decks and is built for entertaining with a chef's kitchen, wine cellar, family room with a wet bar and an elevator to all three levels. This home is listed at $4.595 million.
What else would you find on castle ridge road but a castle? This castle is located in Tuckasgee, North Carolina is a four-bedroom palace tucked in to the Smoky Mountains. The home has a great hall, chef's kitchen with butler's pantry, wine cellar, art studio, pub/movie room, office and a hidden, secret room. The four bedrooms are each suites with fireplaces, separate sitting areas, large bathrooms. and balconies. The home is on eight acres which includes English-style gardens and multiple outbuildings. Vintage style details include the turret tower, spiral staircase, handpainted murals, stained glass, vintage pine floors and a 400-year-old Normandy mantel. There is also an additional 43 acres with a horse barn and tack room available. One man's castle might be another man's white elephant but it's right for a knight. This home is listed at $4 million.
Today's house in Marshall, North Carolina is tucked into the Blue Ridge Mountains near Asheville, North Carolina. The house can be bought with 215 acres or just five acres but either way you get a rare amount of privacy since the home is surrounded by 157 acres that will remain in permanent conservation easement. The home is 6,400 square feet of living space with a cedar and stone exterior and a lodge-style interior that includes a beautiful great hall with 100-year-old stained glass windows. The home has radiant floor heat, three fireplaces, a magnificent solarium with skylights, private library, and billiards room. The finished basement is home to a climate-controlled wine cellar. Outside, the home includes a hot tub, covered porch and stone terrace. The library has green faux leather walls and built-in shelves and the billiards room on the mezzanine floor has a circular window. The master bedroom has a stone fireplace, walnut floors and a private balcony. The master bath is a bit heavy with its cherry woodwork. There are four additional bedrooms. Other structures on the grounds include a gated greenhouse, tennis court, barn and a 900-square-foot log cabin guest cottage. The home is listed at $3,500,000 with 215 acres or $2,250,000 with five acres.
Little known fact about me, I've always secretly wanted an octagonal house. This explains my affection for the Palms at Pembroke, a new home in Wilmington, North Carolina. The six-bedroom home is located in a golf course community and has amazing water views over the intracoastal waterway. The home's key features include an elevator, geothermal heat pump, fiber optic pool lights and a 12-zone audio system. Other details include a saltwater pool, 400-gallon saltwater aquarium, wine storage and your own private boat slip. It is listed at $8.4 million. After the jump, eight is great.
The summer camp where the movie Dirty Dancing was filmed will now be a new development of homes. Firefly Cove in Lake Lure, North Carolina will include 41 homes on 54 acres. The homes will range from $600,000 to $1.5 million. Amenities will include concierge service, a community lodge, fitness center and the learning cottage which will host local and regional artisans and experts.
Yet another community is being planned in North Carolina. The latest is a luxury waterfront community in New Bern, NC. The DeGraffen Riverfront Residences & Yacht Club will be located at the confluence of the Trent and Neuse Rivers. The $250 million development will be four buildings and a private 150-slip marina. The buildings will include two- to four-bedroom luxury residences 1,200 to more than 3,000 square feet in size and selling for $600,000 to $1 million each. Construction will begin next year.
Not far from where I grew up in North Carolina was an extravagant old house named Chinqua-Penn that was periodically open to the public. Inside, treasures from the former owner's world travels lined the halls and rooms. It was a mansion built with tobacco money in the roaring twenties and at 31,000 square feet, was far from cramped. Located in Reidsville, 20 miles north of Greensboro, Chinqua-Penn is set amid the rolling farmland of North Carolina's Piedmont region. The house had been given to the University of North Carolina and it opened the house to the public. Budgetary constraints caused the house to be closed in 2002 and now the University is selling the house to fund scholarships. The house is an eclectic mish-mash of styles and sits on 23 acres of landscaped gardens. Of the numerous notable features is the Chinese Pagoda pool house and the clock tower with chimes. The house is being offered either with or without the massive collection of furniture and art that tacks an extra $2 million onto the asking price. Don't let this fantastic home fall into evil hands!
A new resort being planned for North Carolina will be
bigger than two small towns combined. The 6,000-acre development known as Laurelmor will be a luxury home community
of around 1,500 homes, 1,000 condo units or hotel rooms, two golf courses, a spa, water park, equestrian center and a
network of new roads where there is now just timberland. Environmentalists have some concerns about the massive
development's effect on the local watershed. The project is the latest from Ginn Clubs and Resorts which has created developments in Florida and
in the Caribbean (an example is shown here). Lots will start to be sold in October and the resort will open in the
third quarter of 2009. The minimum lot price is said to be $750,000 and the smallest houses in the development will be
around 3,000 square feet.
