2024 Holiday Home Tour Houses
The Home of Dwayne and Vivian Blake
I started visiting Lake Gaston in the mid-1970’s when one of my dad’s best friends purchased a lot across from Edwards Beach and added a double-wide trailer. After my dad passed, my mother later remarried and when she and my stepdad visited Lake Gaston, he fell in love with the area. As a result, in 1990, they purchased a newly constructed townhome near Edwards Beach.
We were married in 1991 and over the years, our family and friends spent countless days at the lake boating, tubing, jet skiing and just having a good time. During those visits, Vivian and I would sometimes venture out on our jet ski, admire the beautiful homes for sale and dream of one day purchasing our own home on the lake. In the summer of 2016, we spotted our current home on the market, and during the July 4th weekend in 2017, we ventured out as usual and saw the house was still on the market. But this time, we took action by calling the listing agent and arranging a tour. When we walked through the front door, it just felt like home! And the layout of the property on a quasi-peninsula made it feel like an oasis. After touring three other properties with the agent, we made an offer.
The purchase of our home was completed in the fall of 2017, and we started spending as much time here as possible. The house was built in 1990 and had three bedrooms plus a room over the garage, but as we hosted and entertained our family and friends, we realized that additional sleeping space would be nice to have. This led us to make the decision to add square footage and undergo a full home renovation.
After working with a local architect to design the changes and selecting a general contractor to execute the work, the renovation project started in February 2022 and was completed in June 2023. We absolutely love how everything turned out and have continued hosting and entertaining our family and friends in a place where they can come to relax, unwind and enjoy all of the beauty that the lake entails. This holiday home tour will give visitors a chance to have this same experience and we look forward to welcoming you to our oasis here on Pea Hill Creek!
The Home of Kevin Rountree
For half a century I have been spending time at Lake Gaston, from the early days in the 70s when my parents would take us to Delbridge campground (now Lake Gaston Resort) and eventually they put a permanent camper there. In the 80s, my parents bought a lot on the lake and my grandparents built a home right next door. This is the community I live in now, Timberline Shores.
Fast forward to 2014, I found myself working from home employee of a major bank and thought – I can live anywhere now, time to go to my happy place. It was great timing as my mother, Jane, needed help taking care of my father suffering from dementia. The stars aligned and I was able to build a home across the street from my parents. Now, this is not the home on the tour this year, but it was on the tour in years past. That home located on Timberline Drive I sold in 2023 in order to start preparing for early retirement, in about 5 years.
So now to the present time, 50 years after being introduced to Lake Gaston, I continue to be a proud local and call this magical place home. After selling my first lake house last year, I started the search of a builder that fit my needs and timing. The end result is what you will see in the tour, a home that is set up for one level of living, not too big, but plenty big for one person. I was not all that concerned about the lake frontage; I was more concerned about privacy and getting away from the noise I had when being on the main drag of Pea Hill Creek. And, most importantly, I had to be close to my mother. So now I am not across the street, but still in the neighborhood and less than one mile down the road.
My favorite features of my home include the front elevation, it looks like there is a second story, but those windows are just for aesthetics and to help with a modern farmhouse style. I also absolutely love the feature windows in the office, primary bedroom, and family room. These were a must since they do face the backyard that encompasses great privacy and a sneak peek of a little lake frontage and boathouse. There are many more favorite parts of my home including the kitchen and primary bath, so I hope you will enjoy your visit to Treehouse Hideaway for the holiday home tour.
The Home of Todd and Wendy Nichols
After vacationing at Smith Mountain Lake, the Nichols knew they would enjoy owning lake property. All of the pieces to this goal aligned when Todd was being recruited for a position at VCU Health Community Memorial Hospital in South Hill during Covid. Formerly from West Virginia, the Nichols were up to the challenge of relocating.
As newcomers, they discovered Lake Gaston close by, the began the search for a lake property they could call home. Despite the pouring rain, on first look, they were sold! The peaceful home on Goose Creek in Ebony sits on 5 acres with a long, wooded driveway. Many mature pine trees help give this home privacy and natural beauty. Being at the end of a cove with lily pads and few neighbors brings both joy and peace to their lives.
Come enjoy this beautiful property on Lake Gaston during this year’s Holiday Home Tour.
The Home of Kevin and Frances Mock
We have been coming to Lake Gaston for more than 20 years, staying in Kevin’s parents’ 1970s log cabin. We spent many happy days here with our two sons, so we decided to build our dream home at the lake. Our boys were just about to head off to college when we finished construction, but we hoped to build a house that they would want to come back to for many years. It seems to be working!
We bought the house while it was under constructions after falling in love with the exterior. We made some adjustments to the interior layout and extended the deck and downstairs back patio. We plan to retire here and want to be able to age in place, so the main level has all the necessities and there are no steps from the garage into the house.
Kevin designed the garage and the “apartment” above it. We worked closely with our builder, John Gwynn of Dawes Allie Development, who brought his vision for this custom home to life. Martha Brown and Caleb Fleshood of TAB Designs advised us every step of the way regarding design elements from paint colors to plumbing and light fixtures to tile and stone. Kevin loves technology so the house has many modern gadgets that we can control with our phones.
We love being in and around the lake and are pleased to be part of the Littleton community. We have enjoyed the Holiday Home Tour for several years and wanted to do our part to contribute to this event and the meaningful charity work the Tour supports.
The Home of Andrew and Anna Vanover
We are thrilled to share our special home with you all! We chose to build on Lake Gaston as Andrew spent his childhood going to Camp Willow Run and his father is close by in Raleigh. We had always wanted a lake house to continue making memories, like when we brought our tiny twins home to the lake at the end of 2023.
The Wilde Retreat is a unique glass house on Lizard Creek. We designed the home to serve as a special place to bring our kids and others. This unique home is immersed in nature with a simple and warm Scandinavian interior. The home’s clean lines and natural light invoke a sense of calm with a connection from all sides with the beautiful outdoors. Within its central glass courtyard sits a rare and beautiful Japanese maple tree – a gentle reminder of the ever changing seasons. A complimenting maple tree sits out in the middle of the lake, growing up from the dock and seemingly hovering over the water like a floating wonder of nature.
Our home is named The Wilde Retreat after the quote by Oscar Wilde, “To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all.” We have found that when people refine excess, we engage with the fundamental aspects of life we consider the most important, such as eating, sleeping, and conversing. Homes aren’t just built to hold belongings. They house stories: collecting them across days and years, even generations. It’s these layers of life that give a place its patina. It’s about creating a real home with warmth and emotion.
We designed the Wilde Retreat as a place where you can truly live. Where you can come to quiet the noise and excesses of life with all the clutter stripped away so that you can rediscover the true essence of friendships and soak in one of life’s greatest beauties – quality time with your loved ones. We are so happy to invite you to visit our home.
The Home of Bob and Nancy Roegner
We retired in 1999 and moved to Littleton from Connecticut. We had bought our Osprey Point lot on Lake Gaston in 1994 after having looked for some years for lake property in NASCAR country as we have been fans for a long time. Beginning with our married life and all of our working life, we have lived on or very near water.
We rented a home in Myrick Estates while our home was being built by Clearwater Group, a Raleigh custom contractor. Our home was started and completed in 2000. The one story, ten-room, three-bedroom home with a stucco exterior sit on a ¾ acre fully landscaped lot. The home includes a great room with a wall of glass, a large enclosed screened-in porch, a spacious, well-equipped kitchen including decorative overhead niches, a formal dining room with a unique display wall, and the hall features an open office.
A lake frontage of almost 300’ provides a magnificently wide view of the entrance to Poe Creek and the main lake. Our three-tiered outdoor deck leads to a swimming pool and a winding walk to the boat dock. The home is truly a retreat for all including our son’s Raleigh based family - Rob, Heather, and our granddaughters, Kendall and Kamdyn, as well as many visitors and friends.
Home of Kelly and Brian Sneed
Family and framily – they are the heart of “Someday”, Kelly and Brian Sneed’s lake home. As a child, Kelly’s family rented a place for several years at Lake Gaston. Eventually, they bought their first family vacation home in Pea Hill Creek. The next move was to Myrick Estates, where her parents have since retired.
Kelly’s love for the lake grew with each visit and she knew Lake Gaston was the place she wanted to call home. She just needed to convince her husband! This wasn’t hard to do as their close group of friends (framily) were also regulars at the lake.
For more than 15 years, they rented a home on the lake for a week and enjoyed time together. When Kelly and Brian became a couple, she joined the group, getting to spend even more time there.
In the last few years, as planning for retirement became a bigger focus, Kelly and Brian saw the chance to become homeowners on Lake Gaston. After considering different options, they fell in love with the opportunities they saw in this home (the basement was a blank slate), the peacefulness of the cove, the friendliness of the neighbors and the proximity to Kelly’s parents.
They decided that this was their “Someday”, a name they chose until they retire, when they will add on “Is Now”. While they still enjoy lots of time with family at Myrick Estates, their home at the end of Pretty Creek is now a place they love to have their kids, siblings, parents and friends come to visit. Lake Week with the framily is still an annual tradition. Taking time as a couple to get away from their faster paced life in Virginia Beach is a must.