Here in the Big South Fork area of Jamestown, Tennessee, most of the homes are, in fact, cabins. When Big South Fork National Park opened in the mid-1990s, it quickly became a destination for trail riders from Chattanooga, Knoxville, Nashville, and south central Kentucky. The Spruce Creek equestrian community was developed at about that time and many of those riders bought a piece of land and built a little cabin for their weekend getaways. Many of those are traditional, typical cabin design, with an open floor plan on the first floor and an open loft on the second. The demographic is largely people in their 50s and 60s and 70s who are fit and active but his area has a great deal of appeal for those about to retire and, when they express interest in looking for a cabin, they are wanting... 02/04/2010

I've always worked hard and done well but, in spite of my record, listing and selling horse properties in the vicinity of Big South Fork National Park, I was not the #1 "Featured Realtor" in Fentress County and I wanted to know why. I discovered that realtors who posted to a blog on Active Rain accrued points and it was the realtor with the most points who was featured, in each county of each state. Regional posts appear as "Localism" and reinforce the idea that you really know a lot about the area. Makes sense. So…I blogged. And then I blogged some more. In short order, I deposed the #1 Featured Realtor but I kept posting to my blog because I was learning so much about my community and it was fun to create little posts and find interesting pictures to go with them. As I drive around Ja... 02/02/2010

With this blog and tomorrow's sign-in I will reach my personal goal of getting to 2nd place in Fentress County's AR.  Not a huge goal, but one that I've worked hard on for about a month.  Some things have suffered - house cleaning, prompt dinners, and yes, real estate paperwork, but after tomorrow, I can chill for awhile (no pun intended). So this is my girl - a friend on the edge of the woods just 100 feet from the house.  She visited us all last fall and I hope she is making it through the winter ok. 02/01/2010

SO to follow-up with what our farm looks like after this last heavy-for-us snowfall, here are a few shots.  Believe it or not there is a driveway in all of these photos. We had fun making a big carbon foot print in the snow with ouR 4 wheelers.  They go great and make getting around the farm a lot easier in snow - or anytime.   02/01/2010

For those of you out west, where you tout the wide open spaces, I just want you to know there are some places here in the East that are wide open and unchanging as well.  Here in Fentress County and Jamestown TN, Big South Fork country, we change very little.  This is an aerial view of our farm and it's been this way since 1996 when we built our house and two barns.  We love it. No street lights - you can SEE all the stars there are to see! 02/01/2010

I keep writing that the winters in Tennessee are mild and it's true, but we do have four distinct seasons...which includes winter! We had a snowstorm yesterday that left 6 or 7 inches of bright, white snow. Just enough for those who enjoy the occasional snowfall but who don't want to deal with it for months on end! These pages from the American Cat Calendar by artist Lowell Herrero capture the moment. It...literally...says it all, right here in Big South Fork, Tennessee, right now. Being a cat lover, I buy one of these calendars every year. They are very popular and the publisher, The Lang Companies, sells out almost immediately. It's not too late to get one for 2010 but you'd have to order from Amazon. For information about Big South Fork real estate or horse properties in Jamestown, T... 01/31/2010

This cabin is a little jewel, tucked away in a secluded setting on 3½ acres, right on the Spruce Creek Trail and a 15-minute hack to the Cumberland Trailhead into Big South Fork National Park, with its hundreds of miles of glorious trails. Immaculate, charming and upscale, it's just the right size for a full-time single person, or for weekenders. The exposed beams and wide-plank Heart Of Pine floors create just the right ambiance. The seller was a professional "faux finisher" in Chattanooga so she did the treatment on the walls and you can see evidence of her excellent taste everywhere. The kitchen has walnut cabinets above and distressed black cabinets below; with black appliances, it looks like an ad from the Pottery Barn catalog! Tile floors in the kitchen and both baths. The firepla... 01/30/2010

You have to do something in the winter to get away from the computer.  So my husband and I go out and take pictures.  We usually have a bunch of cats and dogs going with us and they constantly provide amusing shots.  We have had a real winter this year.  More snow than usual, so computer time is up and showing property is way down,  Boy, do I look forward to the Spring! 01/29/2010

We live in an astounding landscape - the Cumberland Plateau.  I won't go into the geological history of it all.  Suffice it to say we live on top of a very resistant form of sedimentary sandstone called the Rockcastle sandstone.  It is loathed to erode, but once the relentlessly wearing of water, wind and freeze-thaw work their way though the sandstone, underlying layers give way easily.  This is what created our 100 to 250 foot bluffs on the western edge of the plateau.  Fentress County, TN is positioned in the most beautiful portion of this edge and until recent years, the blufflands were considered good for just forest - certainly not farming because of the thin soils.  Well, now we have a very active equestrian/recreation and retirement population moving in for the beauty, low taxes... 01/28/2010

What could be better than a closing where you have happy sellers, happy buyers and happy realtors?! I got a call a couple of months ago from a realtor just outside of Nashville, telling me that she had clients who wanted to look at horse properties here in Jamestown, because they planned to come up on weekends to ride the wonderful trails in Big South Fork National Park. "I could come with them," she said, " but I can't help them once we get there because I don't know anything about the area." She handed them off to me and I spent the day showing them various horse properties. They made an offer right away on one of my listings, through her, and we spent the last two months getting to closing. The buyer came yesterday for her walkthrough and it went very well indeed. She had had the cab... 01/27/2010

Ever notice how a comical view of nature can lift your spirits?  I was working the garden one day when I looked at a bloom on a Dahlia plant that Jerry Gernt had given me.  Now there's a blog - all about the Gernt family getting its roots planted here in Big South Fork country, Fentress County, Tennessee in the 1880's.  Jerry is one of the owners of Tennessee Recreational Properties and my same age - or about 3 months older.  I'll save the Gernt Family blog for another time.   Back to the bloom - well I took a closer look and saw these bugs all lined up and eating the petal as if they were at a dining room table.  Made me laugh - and thus the picture and photo title.   Well I thought is was funny.....maybe you had to be there.  01/27/2010

Big South Fork is well known for its trail riding and hiking and, among kayakers and whitewater rafters, for its Class IV and V rapids. It is also one of only a few National Park Service units legislated to allow hunting. Wild Boar is a popular big game species and an extended season for hog hunting runs from January 20 through February 28 in both Tennessee and Kentucky every year. A $5 permit is required to hunt hogs during this season in Big South Fork in addition to a valid hunting license. One of my favorite trail rides is to the Charit Creek Hostel. Most riders do not know that the hostel was once a hunting preserve called "The Hog Farm" that operated in the early 1970's to accomodate hunters in an old long hunters' camp in the pre-park Big South Fork backcountry. Over the years, p... 01/26/2010

Sit on what cash you have saved knowing inflation will eat away at it. Put it in a sideways-moving stock market. Buy real estate for 50 cents on the appraised dollar value.  Yes, it is truly a buyer's market when land will sell below appraisal.  The trick is to find the buyers with discretionary cash and the willingness to invest it in a non-liquid asset.  The most successful real estate investor company we know does exactly that. They find distressed properties/owners and alleviate their near term worries with cash at a real bargain.  These are the smart, sharp and risk-taking folks who later on are characterized as being "lucky".  Attracting those buyers is our focus now.  Offering a long-term potential in a buyer's market takes more skill and "connections" than does closing deals on... 01/25/2010

  With a 120 - 600 mm super zoom lens you can do a lot to capture the essence of a photo. We were in the right place with this equipment one day.        We had just hiked a trail at the Honey Creek Overlook in the Big South Fork National River and Recreation Area and were heading back to the truck when we heard voices.        We thought they came from the trail, but no, it turned out to be a group of fifteen kayakers in the swollen river 500 feet below.             What color they displayed.  We got some once in a lifetime shots. How does this relate to real estate sales...easy!  Anyone wanting to have a get-a-way cabin near a great whitewater stream has an abundance of opportunity here in Jamestown, Tennessee.   We know, we retired here and use our inflatable kayaks to navigate the ri... 01/25/2010

I don't normally mess with photographs, but there are occasions where it is warranted.  This beautiful falls is in the the Big South Fork area.  As part of the massive bluffs at River Park equestrian community,  it is named Denver Falls after a very kind and wonderful man who left us sadly and unexpectedly in a plane crash. There was a water pipe over the falls and IT HAD TO GO. If you look closely you can see it partially gone - then totally gone in the second titled photo.  The wonders of digital technology at work - plus much time and patience on my part!   01/23/2010

The Big South Fork of the Cumberland River, originating in Tennessee and flowing north into Kentucky, is a major drainage feature of the Cumberland Plateau. Not far from Jamestown, Tennessee, it flows through a deep gorge which has been eroded through sandstone. You'll appreciate the magnificence of the Big South Fork area when you drive down into the gorge and cross the Big South Fork itself at Leatherwood Ford. State Highway 297, signposted "Leatherwood Ford Road" winds 600 feet down in a series of switchbacks. You'll actually cross the river on a modern steel and concrete bridge. The old bridge, dating from Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) days, remains. It is decked with rough-hewn planks, with steel railroad rails to hold them in place when the bridge is submerged, as it often is.... 01/20/2010

The Big South Fork National Park is rugged terrain and, when I ride in the backcountry, safety is paramount. I need to count on my equipment as much as I count on my horse, and the SideStep Safety Stirrup is one of the best pieces of tack I have ever used. It has a wide, flat base so your foot rests comfortably and the ball of your foot does not develop a painful "pressure point" after long hours in the saddle. It hangs from the fender or stirrup leather in such a way that you don't need to augment it with stirrup straighteners which alleviate the need to twist your stirrup and fender with your foot, eliminating stress on both knees and ankles. Those two reasons alone would convince me to buy a pair but that's not why I use them. The best feature is that the design makes it impossible f... 01/19/2010

So to speak. Jamestown, Tennessee and the area surrounding Big South Fork National Park has become very appealing to retirees for a lot of reasons but anyone contemplating a move to a new place wants to know what amenities and facilities are available, relative to what they are leaving behind. All of us are concerned about health care; when you move to a new area, it is critical (no pun intended) to know who, what and where as far as medical coverage is concerned. Good news for veterans moving to the Big South Fork, who are eligible for care provided by the Veterans Administration either through the Alvin C. York Campus in Murfreesboro, which is a little over two hours away, and at the Nashville Campus, which is about 20 minutes further.  When a VA facility is located in proximity to a ... 01/18/2010

Winters are mild here in Jamestown, Tennessee and riders enjoy the trails in Big South Fork National Park year 'round. We do have four distinct seasons, though, and that does include winter. We were not exempt from the cold snap that chilled most of the country to the bone the last two weeks but, on Friday, the light changed from that pale, thin, watery blue "winter" light to yellow "spring" light and it was, literally, sweater weather. It's not quite time to think of lawnmowing but whomever took these in for service had better be making....um...alternate arrangements! For information about Big South Fork real estate or horse properties in Jamestown, Tennessee, go to www.trailridersrealestate.com 01/17/2010

This is a georgous and massive arch in Big South Fork National River and Recreation Area.  The photo was taken at about 6:50 AM January 27, 2007.  In order to get to the arch and have a decent shot, my husband Brad and I left our house in the pitch black of 5 AM, drove the 30 miles or so and then hiked about a mile climbing down several stairs along bluff faces. This side of the arch, locally know as TWIN ARCHES, faces east and the only way to get the right light is to get there at dawn with a tripod and wait...and freeze...and wait..  It's worth all that to see this beauty.  Back then, the owner of our Jamestown McDonalds, Danny Haley, wanted photographs of local features in his newly remodeled store and Brad was commissioned to do Twin Arches.  The best of Brad's photos of this arch i... 01/16/2010