The Essence of Beauty & Quiet

As you drive down a rarely-traveled road and turn onto Turkey Ridge, the Plauche ́ Estate, you instantly feel like you are in another world, a sanctuary nestled in the middle of Bliss, yet it’s 15 minutes away from downtown Cashiers. “That’s what Mom and Dad wanted – total privacy – and they got it,” says Catherine Plauche ́, daughter of Dr. Herbert Plauche ́, well-known and beloved orthopedic surgeon, and the amazing Virginia Plauche ́, botanist.The Plauche ́s always had a love affair with Highlands-Cashiers. Catherine says, “We spent many summers in cabin rentals, until Mom and Dad finally decided to buy their own land.”“When looking for acreage, my botanist-mom and healer-dad were deeply concerned about the environment,” Catherine continued, “so everything they bought, built, planted, trimmed, and cut was done with concern for Planet Earth. As a result, almost every timber, beam, board, stone, hand-hewn log, and bracket was repurposed from other constructions. Trees that needed to come down for construction were personally witnessed by my mom.”An old, salvaged stagecoach way-station provided logs for structural support. Tobacco barns provided timbers, siding, and balustrades (from spindles for tobacco-drying). The architect rendered a blueprint that had multiple roof lines. Virginia didn’t care for it, so she took pencil and graph paper and proceeded to design the entire house herself. A cabin was purchased and connected to the main part of her design as a master bedroom suite. A second cabin was purchased for the garage. It was allegedly a tabernacle Billy Graham once preached in. The jury is still out on that one, but it will always spark a captivating conversation.Floors in the main house came from a church in New Orleans (the Plauche ́s were from Louisiana). The main living and dining room areas have identical facing fireplaces (replicas of their former home’s fireplace). The room wasn’t wide enough, so Virginia suggested splitting logs out so the room’s width could be expanded. And so it was done. The contractor followed her design to perfection with its three bedrooms and 2.5 baths, and historic assemblages of barn, cabin, church, and waystation wood. Virginia also designed the four-bedroom, two-bath guesthouse from the same materials, plus an open-air pavilion overlooking the meadow.Catherine’s favorite part of the property is 2.5 acres of magic and memory, a perfect, circular meadow.She says, “It’s where Dad started his day with prayerful meditation; where we played soccer, badminton, and croquet; where my sister got married; and where barbecues fed scores of family members and friends.”It’s there that crickets and frogs serenade at dusk. Turkeys and whippoorwills join the chorus. Deer, occasional bears, and other opportunist diners munch on the historic apple varieties growing in the meadow. The orchard includes George Washington’s favorite, the Yellow Newton Pippin. On a clear, moonless night, the meadow beckons to residents to lie on a blanket and get lost in the dazzling Milky Way. This real estate comes with Mother Nature’s own planetarium.Native Americans once inhabited the property. An ancient bent tree remains a guide to travelers seeking water. The Cherokee often shaped trees to act as directional signs.There are many more stories the land has to tell, all the way back and beyond the time of the Cherokee. Create your own chronicles about magic on the meadow, celebrations in the pavilion, holidays in a room of matching fireplaces, walks through the beautiful fern forest (gnome and fairy alert), and cocktails on the porch at sunset.The estate, MLS 99145, is listed for $4,200,000 and shown by appointment only.Contact Julie Osborn, Broker in Charge of the Wildcat Cliffs Office of Pat Allen Realty Group/Allen Tate Realtors, (828) 200-6165 (cell), 828-526-8784 (main office), or email[email protected].

by Donna Rhodes