Our story

These hills have been toiled and cultivated by my family on both sides since the 1840’s, long before Douglas Lake came into existence. My father’s cabin, his father’s, and also his father’s stood on the hill in the clearing across from what is now the reception hall, just across Jim Henry Road. Like me, they mostly farmed cattle.

Back then, the French Broad River was the heart of our farm. As was common before refrigeration and indoor plumbing, the farmhouse — the current iteration of which was constructed around 1930 — was carefully located to take advantage of a small freshwater spring. Guests who stay in the farmhouse can still use that spring-fed pump, located behind the kitchen and above the historic cold-cellar.

By the time of the Civil War, the French Broad River fueled a different kind of passion. Indeed, a pivotal battle of the East Tennessee Campaign took place on the ridge of an adjacent hill. What is now a cow pasture was once described as a place with “bullets flying so thick that their passage through the air sounded like a swarm of bees.”

Those days have long since passed by, but our little farm stands strong. Through thick and through thin, the vows my family took on these grounds have grown and blossomed into our personal patch of heaven on earth.

I hope to share this land of connections and history, of beginnings and dreams, of cows and sunshine with you.

Warmly,

Jimmy Henry
Farmer & Proprietor