Roy Exum
Arthur Golden, a little boy who once went to Lookout Mountain Elementary School and grew to be an author of a different stripe with his best-selling book, “Memoirs of a Geisha,” penned a marvelous line in that book, “Adversity is like a strong wind. It tears away from us all but the things that cannot be torn, so that we see ourselves as we really are.”
Allow me to tell you what is “really” going to happen next month on the same Lookout Mountain. Brow Wood, a gentle and inviting multi-housing development for seniors, will come alive about a mile south of Covenant College. The development, headed by Frank Brock who attended Lookout Mountain Elementary a generation ahead of Arthur, will have 99 lots in an exclusive gated community for adults over 55 years of age.
Moreover, on March 18 more than 37 of 99 “quiet” agreements will be finalized to virtually assure the future success of the project. Once construction gets underway this spring and the houses begin to be built, a solution that older mountain residents have dreamed about for some time will quickly and most assuredly begin to take shape.
The most wonderful part of the story is that Brow Wood was borne from adversity. Several years ago a similar plan to build what was called Chapelbrow was shouted down and – believe it or not - the passions from the unwanted skirmish have been bridled in a way that makes Brow Wood now the safest bet since Secretariat.
Are you kidding me? Over a full third of the lots have been reserved and there has been no publicity, no advertising, no realtors nor – in this most particular case - any outcry. And that may be the most puzzling part of the story. More people have signed agreements than opposed the concept!
The Lookout Mountain “community” is divided by a state line. Few notice but roughly half the residents live in Tennessee and the other half in Georgia. There are separate governments, but they enjoy a marvelous shared-services pact in case of fire or calamity. In truth, no one seems to even notice the state line.
“The Georgia side” is more muddled because it is divided into two separate counties. When Chapelbrow was proposed, a small faction living in Walker County (where land was originally secured), created enough havoc to squelch the multi-housing project. Mind you, the Fairyland community is based in Walker County
So Dr. Brock, at one time the president of Covenant College and a heralded member of one of the region’s most renowned and beloved families, was suddenly able to obtain the old Wheland tract in Dade County, which offers lush brow lots and lends more in natural beauty and many more bluff views than Chapelbrow would have done.
The bad news? With the site change, the Fairyland community lost out on thousands of tax dollars that will now go to Dade instead of Walker County, where the elementary school, the town services and greater populous is located.
Now some Fairyland residents are fuming – especially since the architectural plans are quite an asset – and there is a renewed interest in Fairyland to find out “who we really are.” Suffice it to say Dade County is most delighted to add Brow Wood to its forthcoming tax rolls.
What people don’t understand is that Lookout Mountain is indeed a modern-day Camelot. It is a friendly, tightly-knit community, but, like everywhere, people get older and have little use for the big houses where they once raised their families.
They want to downsize, but, in order to do so, many are forced off the mountain because they have no other option outside of Stonedge, a small condo community in Tennessee that stays full. The new Brow Wood property will provide the long-awaited answer, ranging from private homes to monthly rental properties. You can learn more at www.browwood.com
Plans even call for an assisted living area, which Lookout Mountain has never had. Yet the biggest selling point is that people who have enjoyed the community for a lifetime can continue to attend the spectacular churches, Lookout Mountain Golf Club and the Fairyland Club with the same neighbors they have grown to love.
It’s a no-brainer. But who would have ever thought the springboard for its apparent success would have blossomed from those very people who once shouted it down? Their cries piqued a greater interest. Already 37 units have been pledged. That’s what “really” happened.
royexum@aol.com