Being so far from the main road, and our desire to keep the woods intact, the decision to use solar power was not difficult. The house was designed from the ground up by Ginger Watkins, a refreshing new architect. Jeremy Coxon, founder of SunWindPower Inc, provided the expertise in developing a solar power system with generator back-up. The house was one of the first EVER totally off-grid houses in the entire state of Kentucky. Leon Mattingly, a local builder, came onto the project with decades of experience yet an open mind to deal with the unique requirements the house needed to make it as energy-efficient as possible.
We were quite meticulous in the placement of the house, preservation of the surrounding trees, access to the lake, etc. The careful pruning of the trees to increase views through the woods began years before the first shovel hit the ground. Even the ATV trails, which were quite active at the time of the purchase of the land, have been recycled, providing the basis of the hiking and mountain-biking trails around the lake. Most of the 83+ acres have been protected in a conservation easement, promising a legacy from our family to the beautiful nature of our beloved home state that our children can be proud of. The restrictions allow for a harvest of timber on a renewable basis, the most recent being in 2015. Prior to that, one was done in the early 1990's. Despite this, the land continues to support a oak/hickory forest upon which wildlife thrives.