10 minute read
This gem gleams on Lake Keowee
A fallen piece of an oak tree, wrapped in bubble lights and flanked by stumps adorned with tea lights, provided the backdrop for their storybook wedding.
“This past year we’ve hosted doctors and nurses looking for stress relief, and I’ve been surprised by the number of locals,” Lucas said. “But, they come for anniversaries and everyone has a birthday.”
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Your mobile phones may not work and there is no Internet, but each rental features phonographs and a collection of vintage vinyl. You’ll also find board games and a small book collection. Oh, there are also wine and chocolates.
In the morning you can enjoy fresh fruit and muffins with coffee or tea.
Other amenities include fire pits, complete with firewood, and chocolate bars and marshmallows for making the requisite s’mores. Each rental has an infrared grill (You provide the steak.), French press, coffee maker, electric kettle and mini-fridge. n
You can book either Stella Vista or Bella Luna on Airbnb directly. If you don’t have an account, you will need to set one up before trying to book from the links. Rates vary SundayThursday and Friday-Sunday with a two-night minimum required on weekends. For more information, visit: comesleepinthetrees.com
The grounds around Bella Luna were the setting for a unique and romantic wedding in 2019. Tea lamps and bubble lights accented wood the groom found in the surrounding woods.
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The home sits on one of the finest lots in The Vineyards community. The slope to the lake is gentle and gives way to a rare sand beach. The point leads out to a sandbar that serves as a breakwall that keeps boaters a safe distance from shore.
Even before there was a pandemic, Don and Susan Buckley spent most of their waking time on the deck that spans the width of their home in The Cliffs at Keowee Vineyards. Looking out over northern Lake Keowee, it has been the perfect place to enjoy morning coffee, a light lunch, a book in the afternoon, a tasty dinner cooked in the nearby outdoor kitchen or an evening glass of wine.
An outdoor fireplace or overhead space heaters have warmed cool spring mornings or brisk fall afternoons. On glorious summer days the screens have been retracted and the Cantina doors to the main house opened, creating a spacious area in which to entertain friends and neighbors.
In short, the Buckley home is the perfect place to engage life … specifically, the lake life they began dreaming of nearly two decades ago.
{at top} It is on this large deck spanning the width of the home that the Buckleys spend many of their waking hours. The area features a full outdoor kitchen, fireplace, television, multiple seating areas, infrared heaters and retractable screens.
{above}The soothing sound of a babbling creek is ever-present thanks to this waterfall located immediately off the lower level patio.
The gentle slope leading to the lake features terraced landscaping. The shoreline is highlighted by a dramatic point from which a sandbar leads to a small island that is now a Heron rookery. One of the few natural sand beaches on Lake Keowee is also on the property.
“The lake was the big draw,” Don said, “but we love the community.”
The Buckleys’ journey to Upstate South Carolina was a circuitous one, involving both an odd coincidence and a stroke of luck.
They moved around while working, but called San Diego home for 38 years. When thoughts turned to retirement, a lot of options were considered. A San Diego neighbor suggested they look at The Cliffs Communities in the Carolinas where he had purchased several lots. They listened, but didn’t rush into action. Then, their niece and her husband, who had attended Clemson, came to California for a wedding. When they stopped to visit in San Diego, the Buckleys learned that her husband was a salesman for the same Cliffs Communities their neighbor had been talking about.
“It was quite a coincidence,” Don said.
Eventually, they purchased a lot in Cliffs at the Valley. It would be the first of roughly 10 properties they would buy and sell, one of the last being a lot in The Cliffs at Falls South.
“As property owners we were invited to the grand opening event, but it was on the 4th of July. And, we weren’t going to fly all the way out here on a holiday,” he said, recalling the 2003 event. “We were sitting around the pool in San Diego and the phone rang. It was our San Diego neighbor, who had since moved to the Vineyards, calling to say we had won a drawing for a boat from the Falls property release. We had no idea about the drawing but then our niece’s husband came on the line and confirmed our good fortune. I wasn’t going to say no to a free, 24-foot boat, so we flew here immediately.”
The problem, however, was they had no dock.
In their search to find the perfect property on which to build, Don recalled seeing an undeveloped lot with a two-bay dock in The Cliffs at Keowee Vineyards. He secured the name of the owner and permission to moor his boat. The lot was so beautiful that they approached the owner about selling and eventually secured the lot.
It was on that lot — a parcel with a narrow point extending into the bay with an attached sandbar that enabled walking out to a small island — that they began building their home in 2008.
“All the amenities were here,” Susan said. “The golf, the wellness center …”
And, your own island?
“There are several Heron nests on the island,” Don said. “It’s been deemed a rookery and people are discouraged from using it. Duke came in and put in riprap to stop the erosion and to limit visitors, but you can’t bring a boat into the shallow water on this side, so we have our own inlet.”
It took two years to build the home the Buckleys designed. They started with their San Diego neighbor’s floor plan, but made extensive changes. They made it lighter and brighter by using more and larger windows. They added two bedrooms, a courtyard and a second two-car garage.
“Guys love their garages,” Don quipped.
{above left} The bathroom of the master suite features exquisite cabinets, granite countertops and twin brass basins. The door leads to a small herb garden, and adjacent to the vanity is a large, tile shower with multiple showerheads.
{above right} The main level master suite has a separate sitting area (left) and opens to a patio (right) with a hot tub and adjacent herb garden. The coiffed ceiling is repeated in several rooms throughout the home.
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The reclaimed maple flooring throughout much of the home blends seamlessly with custom cabinets and leathered granite countertops. This island serves as both a workspace and for casual dining. A back kitchen is behind the partition, and the door at left is a walk-in pantry.
The deck was expanded and its amenities enhanced.
“Don is an avid cook,” Susan said.
“And Sue is my sous chef,” he chimed in.
Together, they eat 95 percent of their meals at home, often enjoying that day’s “fresh catch” from the Cliff’s market. The weather determines whether meals are cooked in the outdoor kitchen with its granite countertops and stainless grill with built-in rotisserie and searing burner, or indoors, where there is both a “show” kitchen and a “back kitchen” where, according to Don, a few appliances can be left out and the “dirty work” of food preparation gets done.
The kitchen is typical of the entire home in that it is both formal and luxuriously functional. An island with leathered granite countertops and spacious seating for four evidences this. Nearby is a state-of-the-art magnetic induction range with limestone
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hood and a ventilation system that pops up when needed. Double Miele wall ovens with a warming drawer, a walk-in pantry and abundant custom cupboards complete the space.
“The house has a lot of little tricks,” Don said. “We don’t miss much when it comes to details.”
An impressive front entry opens to stellar indoor living space that includes a large foyer and great room whose dominant feature is a massive fireplace that is the largest of the home’s five fireplaces — three stone and two limestone. A wide archway leads to the kitchen as well as formal and informal dining areas, each with extensive views of the lake.
The home is comprised of six bedrooms, six full and two half baths, an exercise room, office/study, two laundries, recreation room and a media room. While there is surround sound throughout the home, the media room is equipped with a high resolution KEF speaker system identical to one gifted to President Ronald Reagan by Margaret Thatcher. 418 N. Main Street Downtown Anderson 864.225.2021
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The featured room on the lakeside level is a media room across from which is a full bar and entry to the home’s 1,100-bottle, temperature-controlled wine cellar.
There are three sitting areas on two levels. The lower level features two semi-private apartments, one of which, Susan noted, may have the best view of the island. Both have full baths that feature Italian marble countertops.
There is also a 1,100-bottle chilled wine cellar and cedarlined closet on this level.
The main level master suite features a separate sitting area with an exterior access to a hot tub and adjacent herb garden. The full bath has an impressive tiled shower, jetted tub and nearby walk-in closet.
As exquisite as the interior may be with its milled brown ash and reclaimed maple flooring, stone highlights and exquisite décor, the exterior is equally impressive. The landscaping includes terraced gardens and an impressive recirculating waterfall.
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