ジョージア州アテネのすぐ外にあるキッチン、リビングルーム付きのフルアパートメント、6歳以上の宿泊

I'm Wingate Downs, a "naturalized" Athenian, by virtue of my 41 years living in the Athens area. Like so many Athenians, I came here to attend the University of Georgia, (as the last of four siblings to do so). We followed our Grandfather and his brothers over 100 years my parents and uncles over 70 years ago. My greatest pride is in saying my three offspring have continued that tradition by becoming UGA graduates! I was one of the fortunate few who found employment in Athens after being graduated, and my employment as an Athens newspaper/wire photographer kept me intensely involved in the news and sports coverage of UGA. I traveled all over the country covering UGA sports - from Miami to Minnesota and from Utah to Washington state - and photographed every major event, every interesting person related to this region so dear to so many people. Among the top ten luckiest aspects of my life has been the ability to live in and document photographically this unique town and university!

After graduation in 1979, I married and lived with Dean William Tate and his wife Sue Fan in their beautiful rambling old house on Dearing Street, living in a section Dean Tate called "Oconee County" because it was "out that direction". By 1983 I purchased 4 acres of the property that now constitutes this Oak Ridge Studio mini-farm, and slowly added parcels to create the property that now includes hardwood forests, a pasture, my residence, and Oak Ridge Studio.

ORL was originally built (in 1996) as a functioning photo studio with a darkroom, dressing room, and "guest quarters" for anyone visiting. I made the shooting room very large - big enough to shoot products as large as (one time...) a truck interior, and rented it out for filming of commercials. While building the three story log building I received a call from someone in Athens who had inherited a photo studio (Eckenrod Studio) that was operating on College Avenue in the 1940's and had been in storage for 50 years. I bought it all - cameras, signs, and I have decorated ORS with many of the artifacts from that long ago business. Thus the "studio" name moniker applies not only to my 21 years of use, but also to the inclusion of historical photographic pieces from a studio in Athens 80 years ago as decorative elements throughout.

As digital imaging became more popular, I spent more and more time shooting "on site" for work, and the studio went largely unused, save one room for my office and computers for editing. Wedding clients would come discuss their plans and tell me they "would love to get married here" upon leaving on the long front porch. It slowly sunk in that from my decades of photographing weddings from Canada to Florida (and 10 other states between) this place was indeed as nice as most of them, and finally I decided to create just such a place. Over the year of 2017 I went about adding a master bedroom, converting my office into a catering kitchen, adding 700 tons of dirt, a barn, and fencing to create a perfect wedding and event venue. In so doing, I kept in mind the need to allow visitors to the area a chance to share the beauty of this peaceful place, so three separate "living spaces" were created, each with its own individual HVAC, kitchen, etc.

The Bulldog Suite became the perfect place to create a "Bulldog Museum" of my large body of UGA material. During my tenure as an Athens-based news and sports photographer, I had the pleasure of seeing much of my UGA work published in books and posters by the likes of Lewis Grizzard, Coach Dooley, and Loran Smith, as well as having my work printed by Sports Illustrated, USN&WR, Time, Life, and every major newspaper, from the NYT down. My coverage of the Athens music scene allowed me to do CD covers for the B-52s, Widespread Panic, and many other bands emanating from this area. I have had great fun exhibiting the highlights of these efforts, and have added to this the work I produced when I joined the photo team of the 1996 Olympics and shot that competition from Athens to Tennessee, culminating with the Gold Medal USA Women's Soccer team in Sanford Stadium. It has been great fun, and visitors love seeing all the historic images I've pulled together.

While I am still doing a great amount of photo work for UGA, I'm looking forward to winding down in time and allowing more people to enjoy this special place. We've had many family gatherings on the grounds, including a large wedding for my youngest daughter, Eleanor. My other daughter, Caitlin, is now running the Lodge as an event and VRBO/Airbnb location, and we are excited about meeting new faces and sharing this beautiful setting. There is such joy in sharing the experience of it: the view of the sun going down from the second-story, the sounds of the frogs in the pond and the cicadas in the woods at dusk, looking out through the morning mist on the pasture at the horses and donkeys eating, listening to the birds in the early morning, the hawks during the day, and watching the feathered traffic at the many feeders. And then there is simply the stillness and solitude, which is its own blessing. Our wish is to make our story of this place a part of the traveling story of many others!