Taking Shape

Things are starting to really liven up now. As you can see in the photos below, they are framing the house in and you can start to get a little feel of how the rooms and interior spaces are taking shape. I watched as the crane lifted the trusses into place and it crossed my mind how fast this phase of construction goes compared to my Great Grandfathers day in 1874 when he was building the family home I showed earlier in this blog. I will fill in more when I return to Ford Sunday. 

Slab

 SO MUCH excitement! 
Well, to repeat myself, it's progress. We are doing something a little new for the Low Country, concerning the slab. It's a more common practice up north due to the cold. We are spraying a closed cell foam insulation on top of the gravel, before the concrete slab is poured. This technique (being done  by the guy in the space suit below), does 2 things: It creates a moisture barrier which is handy in a location like this where the ground can only absorb so much moisture, and this prevents it from coming up through the concrete. Second, the insulating properties are nice in the winter without needing a heated floor.

Concrete truck below pouring the slab.

Meanwhile, remember THE TUB? Well it was picked up by McCorquodale Transfer in Manhattan just yesterday and should be on it's way to Richmond Hill today to my storage unit. Also, I've been working on finalizing all the remaining plumbing and hardware selections. All these items will get ordered soon and shipped to the same storage unit in Richmond Hill so I'll have everything waiting on the contractor rather than the other way around.

Below is a little tidbit featured in our club news at Ford Plantation.

New Home Spotlight: The Samford FamilyJohn and Laura Lee Samford purchased property at The Ford Plantation in 2000 during a celebratory visit for their fifth wedding anniversary. When John first suggested they visit Ford, Laura Lee jumped at the chance. "I thought, that's the coast I went to as a child. We'd go to Jekyll Island, St. Simons, Tybee, so coming back here--I was introduced to it all over again and just completely fell in love," says Laura Lee. "At that point, it was a 'one day we'll do something here.'"

Thirteen years later, they have broken ground on their new home at Ford.

Pictured here are Laura Lee with the ceremonial shovel of dirt with her contractors, Brian and Scott Grant of Grant Homes.

Inspiration for their Ford home started with a collection of many architectural books Laura Lee has collected since her college days and especially the home she grew up in--a house built by her great, great Grandfather after his return from fighting in the Civil War. Laura Lee, "a died in the wool southerner from Georgia," is from Oconee County, about 60 miles east of Atlanta, and John is from Birmingham, Alabama, so both boast strong Southern roots and have a love of clean, simple Low Country architecture.

"I have renovated several homes both for my family and as a designer for clients, but I've never built a house from the ground up," says Laura Lee, who has a degree from Auburn University in Interior Design in the School of Architecture. With her background in residential and commercial design and love of architectural history, she knew she wanted "a relaxed, sort of rustic home."

Laura Lee says she's drawn many plans over the past 13 years, and the current design has been an evolution over time. "The house I would have built in 2000 is totally different from the one I'm building now. Time, wisdom, just really having a good understanding of what we love from every house we've ever lived in" has influenced the design.

In order to design their home, Laura Lee did a great deal of historical architectural research, including using a database maintained online by the Library of Congress, which has the houses and buildings that were documented by the Historic American Building Survey, a program started in the 1930s. "I did a lot of research on the French, Spanish, and English influence," she says.

"We wanted a house low to the ground, and our lot allows that because it's high enough.  As we age, along with dogs and small grandchildren, we didn't want a lot of steps," says Laura Lee. The house she designed is "a casual, open plan with a big, huge fireplace in the living room, huge screened-in porch with a fireplace on the back. We love to entertain and have friends and family here a good bit, so this worked for us. There's a wood shingle roof and it's just a very simple Low Country home with a French colonial influence."

Laura Lee continues, "As we've spent more time here, we've made friends, we've fallen in love with it, and it will be our main residence. The more time you spend here, the more friends you make, and it's wonderful. You feel like you're a college freshman again, on a new campus, and you're all kind of thrown together to make new friends and it's really been wonderful. There are people from different parts of the country. So many people have had very interesting careers, so it's been enlightening to meet different people with different backgrounds. It's been very enriching."

The Samfords hope to be in their new home in time for Christmas this year.

Plumbing

Progress at this point is as I described earlier, pretty much like watching the grass grow. So for a little merriment, I've included my illustriious dog, Scarlett O'hara pictured right on the pre-slab area with plumbing stubs in the back ground. 

Although this phase is not exciting it's probably one of the most important when doing a slab foundation. Remember the coupe tub purchase in New York City? Well, good thing that decision happened when it did. That tub is perched on big feet like an old fashioned tub. Therefore, the waste or overflow has to be exposed in a nicely finished drain pipe and then there is the drain. That too is a nicely finished fitting reaching up to the drain underneath the tub. Then these two have to join forces under the slab for the eventual disposal of waste down a central drain. That is all much easier to accomodate in the sand before pouring the slab. With the handy pdf drawings of the Water Works tub we were able to access them, print them and hand them over to the plumber for perfect preparation of the pipes before the slab is poured. That event I'm hoping occurs later this week, but I'd rather be safe than sorry for the careful consideration of all the wiring, gas lines and plumbing lines that you have to get right, before the grand pouring occurs. Stay tuned.

The infamous tub headed south from NYC!

Inspiration

Inspiration for our new home started with a collection of many architectural books I've collected since my college days and especially the home I grew up in since age 10. I mentioned growing up in the piedmont region of Georgia. That house was built by my great, great Grandfather after his return from fighting in the Civil War. Below is that house with the shake roof looking just put in place with my ancestors, including the beloved "Bute" almost hidden on the far right. The simplicity of this house at that time is what started my vision of a simple farm house, without the more formal trimmings of the Greek revivial that many envision of the civil war period, especially the grand plantation houses such as "Twelve Oaks" from the famous epic movie based on the great novel, Gone with the Wind.

Another inspiration, below, was the library retreat at "Beauvoir", home of President Jefferson Davis overlooking the Gulf of Mexico along the Misissippi coast. I was so charmed by it's lowness to the ground and sort of double hipped sweeping roof. Also, the full length windows, french doors and simple square columns gave it such a casual elegance. The main residence's basic form was very similar to my ancestral home above, just raised off the ground much higher and certainly more formal. But the little library retreat was the feel I was looking for.

Then what really captivated my attention was a French Colonial home built by a prominent merchant, Louis Bolduc located not in a likely place one would think of being a low country location, but in St. Genevieve, Missouri. 

This part of french architectural history, briefly putting, is due to the French settlers that started in Canada in the 16th century and migrated south along the Mississippi Valley and the Illinois Country bounded by the Ohio and Missouri rivers. As Russell Versaci mentions in his book, Roots of Home, ...Toward the end of the 17th century, the French arrived in the Lower Mississippi Valley. The hot and humid climate, prone to seasonal flooding and hurricanes, was very different from what they had known in the forests of the North. To suit these new conditions, French settlers merged the cold-climate building traditions of New France with those of the French West Indies, creating Creole- and Cajun-style homes.

He further writes, Under a pavilion roof- a tentlike form that had been developed in the Caribbean- deep porches surrounded the house on all four sides, providing shelter from the sun and capturing cooling breezes. 

Louis Bolduc was a Canadian fur trader who built his French Creole cottage out of squared timbers set into the ground. The timbers are spaced 6" apart and insulated with a filling of clay, manure, and horsehair finished with a limewash, called bousillage.  The high-peaked roof is framed of oak trusses pegged together in a technique reminiscent of medieval France.  A pieux debout fence of pointed cypress planks surrounds the house as a stockade to keep animals in.

Many early plantations were very influenced by the surrounding porches and even transom windows by the French West Indies form of architecture.  Luckily, General Sherman's march to the sea didn't include one heading toward the Gulf of Mexico. Many amazing structures were burned due to his madness in the south east, but the area from New Orleans along the Gulf Coast and up through the Mississippi valley up to Canada was preserved by comparison. St. Genevieve is the oldest, best preserved French Colonial village remaining in America. 

One of the other reasons I have an obsession with this house is the near perfect rectanglular floor plan. The Greeks were right about the "Golden Mean" rectangle shape being perfect for architecture. My being an Interior Designer by trade, has made me particular about furniture arrangement and the basic living flow of the house. The plan I had drawn so many times was very influenced by our beloved home on Cherokee Road in Birmingham, AL. I loved the way it sat low to the ground and when you entered the front door you could see straight through this beautiful triple hung 9' tall window to the back lawn. 

Therefore every house you live in influences the next one you either build or buy, I guess whether you liked it or not. I tried to make the square plan similar to my ancestral home work, but it didn't. I loved the "dog trot" historical homes too. So the plan I did actually worked perfect with the proportions of the Bolduc house. I have to give credit to the instrumental website of our Library of Congress, which now has the houses and buildings that were documented by the Historic American Building Survey, a program started in the 1930's.
Luckily the Bolduc house was very well documented with measured drawings and amazing photographs prepared in 1934. It would never work to copy this lovely old home, but I was pleased to see that the original measurements of the Bolduc home were only slightly smaller that the one I am building today.

I must also give credit to a wonderful southern architect, Hays Town, who built over 900 residences all over the south, mostly in Louisiana. The classic French Acadian cottage, the Spanish roofline and the separation of buildings in plantation style, the pigeonnier etc. all are encompassed by his work. His windows spanning almost from ceiling to floor reminded me of the windows at our Cherokee Road house.  Some of his houses were low to the ground some were raised, but the large hovering pavillion roof was a consistent element in most of his houses. 

Our ARB, (architectural review board) here at The Ford Plantation, was not originally thrilled with my design. I had to show the revelance of the low country house as far as Louisianna that had influenced so many southern homes, even the ones that were eventually burned.
A pattern book at one time was issued to new members at Ford. It is beautiful and very informative as a fabulous resourse for architectural history. It references Hays Town homes as well as many historically significant homes. Compiled and written by Donald M. Rattner and Anne H. Walker, it states, The Architectural Pattern Book has been conceived as a design tool.  The many illustrations contained in this volume demonstrate appropriate building approaches for The Ford Plantation which can serve as a jumping off point, or impetus, for creative development. 

That said, I felt that the design of our new home would meet the historically significant guide lines established in this pattern book. We wanted a home that is low to the ground to make it easy for entrance and egress as we age, and for our dogs and for the ease of our 5 grandchildren all 4 years old or younger.
Luckily our site is about 18' above sea level and it met the requirements of the local building codes.

So, stay tuned for the progress as it ensues.

Footings

In the beginning this may seem a bit like watching grass grow. The footings were poured Thursday and Friday. It's progress. Shown above is the southeast corner where the laundry/mud room will be.

Imagine if you can the front porch being about where that
horizontal 2 x 4 is now in the fore front.

Breaking Ground

The lot had been cleared and we've just been waiting for the "permit". So finally we have it and pictured above is the ceremonial shovel of dirt noting the momentous occasion with my trusty contractors, Brian and Scott Grant of Grant Homes. It's really happening. 

I was just in New York City and scoped out many wonderful showrooms and shops fine tuning my selections for the house (keeping in mind my budget that has already been carefully prepared). The biggist coupe to date is the tub I found at the Water Works showroom on e58th st. which was on sale 80% off the retail cost. This is a tub I would have never been able to afford and this was my lucky day. So it is soon on its way south to the low country.

History and Place

I have renovated several homes both for my family and as a designer for clients, but I've never  built a house from the ground up. My husband John and I purchased property at The Ford Plantation in 2000 during a celebratory visit for our 5th wedding anniversary. 13 years later, we are finally about to break ground hopefully next week pending a building permit from the city of Richmond Hill, GA.
Ford as I'll call it, is a special place(not to be confused with rehab!). It is currently a gated sporting community located in Richmond Hill about 20 miles south of Savannah, GA bordering on the Ogeechee river, with a maximum of 400 home sites. This is a place rich in history.

It's name sake, Henry Ford, purchased this land in 1925. Today The Ford Plantation is comprised of only 1800 of the original 70,000 acres Henry purchased. At that time the small town was called Ways Station which had 2 gas stations, 2 general stores and about 6 houses. Henry changed the name to Richmond Hill, named after Richmond Plantation and the site where he built his winter home overlooking the Ogeechee River. Richmond Plantation was one of many plantations he purchased. Only the beautiful ailee of live oaks survived, for the house of Richmond Plantation was burned during the civil war as was Silk Hope and Cherry Hill Plantations, their ailees of live oaks also remain. The sites of these plantations remain part of the developement today.
We are fortunate to have a small slice of this rich history to build our home. I will continue to post progress and photos as it ensues.

A peek of Ford Plantation's Club House centered on the ailee of ancient live oaks on the 

original site of the Cherry Hill Plantation home.

The name of my blog is Georgia spelled backwards. This is a funny
term coined by Mr. Ford in naming his Oyster House where he hung out with his friends Harvey Firestone, Thomas A. Edison and John Burrough's. Legend has it that they teased Henry about buying this land in "backwards Georgia", hence the reverse spelling. Although
Burrough's was a naturalist and encouraged Henry to buy this land for it's rich and most beautiful land and fauna. I was raised in Georgia and my roots run deep in Oconee County up in the piedmont area about 60 miles east of Atlanta. So now Georgia will be my home again, although we still have a home and family members in Birmingham, AL.