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Stuart Wade, Envision Virtual Tours
The second-largest and most developed of Georgia's barrier islands, St. Simons is approximately twelve miles long and nearly three miles wide at its widest stretch (roughly the size of Manhattan Island in New York). The island is located in Glynn County on Georgia's coast and lies east of Brunswick (the seat of Glynn County), south of Little St. Simons Island and the Hampton River, and north of Jekyll Island. The resort community of Sea Island is separated from St. Simons on the east by the Black Banks River. Known for its oak tree canopies and historic landmarks, St. Simons is both a tourist destination and, according to the 2010 U.S. census, home to 12,743 residents.
Early History
The earliest
St. Simons Island Village
record of human habitation on the island dates to the Late Archaic Period, about 5,000 to 3,000 years ago. Remnants of shell rings left behind by Native Americans from this era survive on many of the barrier islands, including St. Simons. Centuries later, during the period known by historians as the chiefdom era, the Guale Indians established a chiefdom centered on St. Catherines Island and used St. Simons as their hunting and fishing grounds. By 1500 the Guale had established a permanent village of about 200 people on St. Simons, which they called Guadalquini.
Beginning in 1568, the Spanish attempted to create missions along the Georgia coast. Catholic missions were the primary means by which Georgia's indigenous Native American chiefdoms were assimilated into the Spanish colonial system along the northern frontier of greater Spanish Florida. In the 1600s St. Simons became home to two Spanish missions: San Buenaventura de Guadalquini, on the southern tip of the island, and Santo Domingo de Asao (or Asajo), on the northern tip. Located on the inland side of the island were the pagan refugee villages of San Simón, the island's namesake, and Ocotonico. In 1684 pirate raids left the missions and villages largely abandoned.
Colonial History
As
Fort Frederica
early as 1670, with Great Britain's establishment of the colony of Carolina and its expansion into Georgia territory, Spanish rule was threatened by the English. The Georgia coast was considered "debatable land" by England and Spain, even though Spain had fully retreated from St. Simons by 1702. Thirty-one years later General James Edward Oglethorpe founded the English settlement of Savannah. In 1736 he established Fort Frederica, named after the heir to the British throne, Frederick Louis, prince of Wales, on the west side of St. Simons Island to protect Savannah and the Carolinas from the Spanish threat.
Between 1736 and 1749 Fort Frederica was the hub of British military operations along the Georgia frontier. A town of the same name grew up around the fort and was of great importance to the new colony. By 1740 Frederica's population was 1,000. In 1736 the congregation of what would become Christ Church was organized within Fort Frederica as a mission of the Church of England. Charles Wesley led the first services. In 1742 Britain's decisive victory over Spain in the Battle of Bloody Marsh, during the War of Jenkins' Ear, ended the Spanish threat to the Georgia coast. When the British regimen disbanded in 1749, most of the townspeople relocated to the mainland. Fort Frederica went into decline and, except for a short time of prosperity during the 1760s and 1770s under the leadership of merchant James Spalding, never fully recovered. Today the historic citadel's tabby ruins are maintained by the National Park Service.
Plantation Era
By the start of the American Revolution (1775-83), Fort Frederica was obsolete, and St. Simons was left largely uninhabited as most of its residents joined the patriot army. Besides hosting a small Georgia naval victory on the Fort Frederica River, providing guns from its famous fort for use at Fort Morris in Sunbury, and serving as an arena for pillaging by privateers and British soldiers, the island played almost no role in the war.
Following the war, many of the townspeople, their businesses destroyed, turned to agriculture. The island was transformed into fourteen cotton plantations after acres of live oak trees were cleared for farm land and used for building American warships, including the famous USS Constitution, or "Old Ironsides." Although rice was the predominant crop along the neighboring Altamaha River, St. Simons was known for its production of long-staple cotton, which soon came to be known as Sea Island cotton.
Between
Ebos Landing
the 1780s and the outbreak of the Civil War (1861-65), St. Simons's plantation culture flourished. The saline atmosphere and the availability of cheap slave labor proved an ideal combination for the cultivation of Sea Island cotton. In 1803 a group of Ebo slaves who survived the Middle Passage and arrived on the west side of St. Simons staged a rebellion and drowned themselves. The sacred site is known today as Ebos Landing.
One of the largest owners of land and slaves on St. Simons was Pierce Butler, master of Hampton Point Plantation, located on the northern end of the island. By 1793 Butler owned more than 500 slaves, who cultivated 800 acres of cotton on St. Simons and 300 acres of rice on Butler's Island in the Altamaha River delta. Butler's grandson, Pierce Mease Butler, who at the age of sixteen inherited a share of his grandfather's estate in 1826, was responsible for the largest sale of human beings in the history of the United States: in 1859, to restore his squandered fortune, he sold 429 slaves in Savannah for more than $300,000. The British actress and writer Fanny Kemble, whose tumultuous marriage to Pierce ended in divorce in 1849, published an eyewitness account of the evils of slavery on St. Simons in her book Journal of a Residence on a Georgian Plantation in 1838-1839 (1863).
Another
Retreat Plantation
large owner of land and slaves on St. Simons was Major William Page, a friend and employee of Pierce Butler Sr. Before purchasing Retreat Plantation on the southwestern tip of the island in 1804, Page managed the Hampton plantation and Butler's Island. Upon Page's death in 1827, Thomas Butler King inherited the land together with his wife, Page's daughter, Anna Matilda Page King. King expanded his father-in-law's planting empire on St. Simons as well as on the mainland, and by 1835 Retreat Plantation alone was home to as many as 355 slaves.
The center of life during the island's plantation era was Christ Church, Frederica. Organized in 1807 by a group of island planters, the Episcopal church is the second oldest in the Diocese of Georgia. Embargoes imposed by the War of 1812 (1812-15) prevented the parishioners from building a church structure, so they worshiped in the home of John Beck, which stood on the site of Oglethorpe's only St. Simons residence, Orange Hall.
The first Christ Church building, finished on the present site in 1820, was ruined by occupying Union troops during the Civil War. In 1884 the Reverend Anson Dodge Jr. rebuilt the church as a memorial to his first wife, Ellen. The cruciform building with a trussed gothic roof and stained-glass windows remains active today as Christ Church.
Civil War and Beyond
The
St. Simons Island Lighthouse
outbreak of the Civil War in 1861 put a sudden end to St. Simons's lucrative plantation era. In January of that year, Confederate troops were stationed at the south end of the island to guard the entrance to Brunswick Harbor. Slaves from Retreat Plantation, owned by Thomas Butler King, built earthworks and batteries. Plantation residents were scattered—the men joined the Confederate army and their families moved to the mainland. Cannon fire was heard on the island in December 1861, and Confederate troops retreated in February 1862, after dynamiting the lighthouse to keep its beacon from aiding Union troops. Soon thereafter, Union troops occupied the island, which was used as a camp for freed slaves. By August 1862 more than 500 former slaves lived on St. Simons, including Susie King Taylor, who organized a school for freed slave children. But in November the ex-slaves were taken to Hilton Head, South Carolina, and Fernandina, Florida, leaving the island abandoned.
After the Civil War the island never returned to its status as an agricultural community. The plantations lay dormant because there were no slaves to work the fields. After Union general William T. Sherman's January 1865 Special Field Order No. 15 —a demand that former plantations be divided and distributed to former slaves—was overturned by U.S. president Andrew Johnson less than a year later, freedmen and women were forced to work as sharecroppers on the small farms that dotted the land previously occupied by the sprawling plantations.
By
St. Simons Lumber Mills
1870 real economic recovery began with the reestablishment of the timber industry. Norman Dodge and Titus G. Meigs of New York set up lumber mill operations at Gascoigne Bluff, formerly Hamilton Plantation. The lumber mills provided welcome employment for both blacks and whites and also provided mail and passenger boats to the mainland. Such water traffic, together with the construction of a new lighthouse in 1872, designed by architect Charles B. Cluskey, marked the beginning of St. Simons's tourism industry. The keeper of the lighthouse created a small amusement park, which drew many visitors, as did the seemingly miraculous light that traveled from the top of the lighthouse tower to the bottom. The island became a summer retreat for families from the mainland, particularly from Baxley, Brunswick, and Waycross.
The island's resort industry was thriving by the 1880s. Beachfront structures, such as a new pier and grand hotel, were built on the southeastern end of the island and could be accessed by ferry. Around this time wealthy northerners began vacationing on the island.
Twentieth Century
The
St. Simons Island Pier and Village
opening in 1924 of the Brunswick–St. Simons Highway, today known as the Torras Causeway, was a milestone in the development of resorts in the area. St. Simons's beaches were now easily accessible to locals and tourists alike. More than 5,000 automobiles took the short drive from Brunswick to St. Simons via the causeway on its opening day, paving the way for convenient residential and resort development.
In 1926 automotive pioneer Howard Coffin of Detroit, Michigan, bought large tracts of land on St. Simons, including the former Retreat Plantation, and constructed a golf course, yacht club, paved roads, and a residential subdivision. Although the causeway had brought large numbers of summer people to the island, St. Simons remained a small community with only a few hundred permanent residents until the 1940s.
The
St. Simons Island
outbreak of World War II (1941-45) brought more visitors and residents to St. Simons. Troops stationed at Jacksonville, Florida; Savannah; and nearby Camp Stewart took weekend vacations on the island, and a new naval air base and radar school became home to even more officers and soldiers. The increased wartime population brought the island its first public school. With a major shipyard for the production of Liberty ships in nearby Brunswick, the waters of St. Simons became active with German U-boats. In April 1942, just off the coast, the Texas Company oil tanker S. S. Oklahoma and the S. S. Esso Baton Rouge were torpedoed by the Germans, bringing the war very close to home for island residents.
Due in large part to the military's improvement of the island's infrastructure during the war, development on the island boomed in the 1950s and 1960s. More permanent homes and subdivisions were built, and the island was no longer just a summer resort but also a thriving community. In 1950 the Methodist conference and retreat center Epworth by the Sea opened on Gascoigne Bluff. In 1961 novelist Eugenia Price visited St. Simons and began work on her first works of fiction, known as the St. Simons Trilogy. Inspired by real events on the island, Price's trilogy renewed interest in the history of Georgia's coast, and the novelist herself relocated to the island in 1965 and lived there for thirty-one years. St. Simons is also home to contemporary Georgia writer Tina McElroy Ansa.
Since
Epworth by the Sea
1980 St. Simons's population has doubled. The island's continued status as a vacation destination and its ongoing development boom have put historic landmarks and natural areas at risk. While such landmarks as the Fort Frederica ruins and the Battle of Bloody Marsh site are preserved and maintained by the National Park Service, and while the historic lighthouse is maintained by the Coastal Georgia Historical Society, historic Ebos Landing has been taken over by a sewage treatment plant.
Several coastal organizations have formed in recent years to save natural areas on the island. The St. Simons Land Trust, for example, has received donations of large tracts of land and plans to protect property in the island's three traditional African American neighborhoods. Despite its rapid growth and development, St. Simons remains one of the most beautiful and important islands on the Georgia coast.

The bedroom continues the global feel, dominated by textiles from Peru and Guatemala. The baskets on the wall are from Swaziland. Linens are from Pottery Barn.

Stuart Wade, Envision Virtual Tours
The second-largest and most developed of Georgia's barrier islands, St. Simons is approximately twelve miles long and nearly three miles wide at its widest stretch (roughly the size of Manhattan Island in New York). The island is located in Glynn County on Georgia's coast and lies east of Brunswick (the seat of Glynn County), south of Little St. Simons Island and the Hampton River, and north of Jekyll Island. The resort community of Sea Island is separated from St. Simons on the east by the Black Banks River. Known for its oak tree canopies and historic landmarks, St. Simons is both a tourist destination and, according to the 2010 U.S. census, home to 12,743 residents.
Early History
The earliest
St. Simons Island Village
record of human habitation on the island dates to the Late Archaic Period, about 5,000 to 3,000 years ago. Remnants of shell rings left behind by Native Americans from this era survive on many of the barrier islands, including St. Simons. Centuries later, during the period known by historians as the chiefdom era, the Guale Indians established a chiefdom centered on St. Catherines Island and used St. Simons as their hunting and fishing grounds. By 1500 the Guale had established a permanent village of about 200 people on St. Simons, which they called Guadalquini.
Beginning in 1568, the Spanish attempted to create missions along the Georgia coast. Catholic missions were the primary means by which Georgia's indigenous Native American chiefdoms were assimilated into the Spanish colonial system along the northern frontier of greater Spanish Florida. In the 1600s St. Simons became home to two Spanish missions: San Buenaventura de Guadalquini, on the southern tip of the island, and Santo Domingo de Asao (or Asajo), on the northern tip. Located on the inland side of the island were the pagan refugee villages of San Simón, the island's namesake, and Ocotonico. In 1684 pirate raids left the missions and villages largely abandoned.
Colonial History
As
Fort Frederica
early as 1670, with Great Britain's establishment of the colony of Carolina and its expansion into Georgia territory, Spanish rule was threatened by the English. The Georgia coast was considered "debatable land" by England and Spain, even though Spain had fully retreated from St. Simons by 1702. Thirty-one years later General James Edward Oglethorpe founded the English settlement of Savannah. In 1736 he established Fort Frederica, named after the heir to the British throne, Frederick Louis, prince of Wales, on the west side of St. Simons Island to protect Savannah and the Carolinas from the Spanish threat.
Between 1736 and 1749 Fort Frederica was the hub of British military operations along the Georgia frontier. A town of the same name grew up around the fort and was of great importance to the new colony. By 1740 Frederica's population was 1,000. In 1736 the congregation of what would become Christ Church was organized within Fort Frederica as a mission of the Church of England. Charles Wesley led the first services. In 1742 Britain's decisive victory over Spain in the Battle of Bloody Marsh, during the War of Jenkins' Ear, ended the Spanish threat to the Georgia coast. When the British regimen disbanded in 1749, most of the townspeople relocated to the mainland. Fort Frederica went into decline and, except for a short time of prosperity during the 1760s and 1770s under the leadership of merchant James Spalding, never fully recovered. Today the historic citadel's tabby ruins are maintained by the National Park Service.
Plantation Era
By the start of the American Revolution (1775-83), Fort Frederica was obsolete, and St. Simons was left largely uninhabited as most of its residents joined the patriot army. Besides hosting a small Georgia naval victory on the Fort Frederica River, providing guns from its famous fort for use at Fort Morris in Sunbury, and serving as an arena for pillaging by privateers and British soldiers, the island played almost no role in the war.
Following the war, many of the townspeople, their businesses destroyed, turned to agriculture. The island was transformed into fourteen cotton plantations after acres of live oak trees were cleared for farm land and used for building American warships, including the famous USS Constitution, or "Old Ironsides." Although rice was the predominant crop along the neighboring Altamaha River, St. Simons was known for its production of long-staple cotton, which soon came to be known as Sea Island cotton.
Between
Ebos Landing
the 1780s and the outbreak of the Civil War (1861-65), St. Simons's plantation culture flourished. The saline atmosphere and the availability of cheap slave labor proved an ideal combination for the cultivation of Sea Island cotton. In 1803 a group of Ebo slaves who survived the Middle Passage and arrived on the west side of St. Simons staged a rebellion and drowned themselves. The sacred site is known today as Ebos Landing.
One of the largest owners of land and slaves on St. Simons was Pierce Butler, master of Hampton Point Plantation, located on the northern end of the island. By 1793 Butler owned more than 500 slaves, who cultivated 800 acres of cotton on St. Simons and 300 acres of rice on Butler's Island in the Altamaha River delta. Butler's grandson, Pierce Mease Butler, who at the age of sixteen inherited a share of his grandfather's estate in 1826, was responsible for the largest sale of human beings in the history of the United States: in 1859, to restore his squandered fortune, he sold 429 slaves in Savannah for more than $300,000. The British actress and writer Fanny Kemble, whose tumultuous marriage to Pierce ended in divorce in 1849, published an eyewitness account of the evils of slavery on St. Simons in her book Journal of a Residence on a Georgian Plantation in 1838-1839 (1863).
Another
Retreat Plantation
large owner of land and slaves on St. Simons was Major William Page, a friend and employee of Pierce Butler Sr. Before purchasing Retreat Plantation on the southwestern tip of the island in 1804, Page managed the Hampton plantation and Butler's Island. Upon Page's death in 1827, Thomas Butler King inherited the land together with his wife, Page's daughter, Anna Matilda Page King. King expanded his father-in-law's planting empire on St. Simons as well as on the mainland, and by 1835 Retreat Plantation alone was home to as many as 355 slaves.
The center of life during the island's plantation era was Christ Church, Frederica. Organized in 1807 by a group of island planters, the Episcopal church is the second oldest in the Diocese of Georgia. Embargoes imposed by the War of 1812 (1812-15) prevented the parishioners from building a church structure, so they worshiped in the home of John Beck, which stood on the site of Oglethorpe's only St. Simons residence, Orange Hall.
The first Christ Church building, finished on the present site in 1820, was ruined by occupying Union troops during the Civil War. In 1884 the Reverend Anson Dodge Jr. rebuilt the church as a memorial to his first wife, Ellen. The cruciform building with a trussed gothic roof and stained-glass windows remains active today as Christ Church.
Civil War and Beyond
The
St. Simons Island Lighthouse
outbreak of the Civil War in 1861 put a sudden end to St. Simons's lucrative plantation era. In January of that year, Confederate troops were stationed at the south end of the island to guard the entrance to Brunswick Harbor. Slaves from Retreat Plantation, owned by Thomas Butler King, built earthworks and batteries. Plantation residents were scattered—the men joined the Confederate army and their families moved to the mainland. Cannon fire was heard on the island in December 1861, and Confederate troops retreated in February 1862, after dynamiting the lighthouse to keep its beacon from aiding Union troops. Soon thereafter, Union troops occupied the island, which was used as a camp for freed slaves. By August 1862 more than 500 former slaves lived on St. Simons, including Susie King Taylor, who organized a school for freed slave children. But in November the ex-slaves were taken to Hilton Head, South Carolina, and Fernandina, Florida, leaving the island abandoned.
After the Civil War the island never returned to its status as an agricultural community. The plantations lay dormant because there were no slaves to work the fields. After Union general William T. Sherman's January 1865 Special Field Order No. 15 —a demand that former plantations be divided and distributed to former slaves—was overturned by U.S. president Andrew Johnson less than a year later, freedmen and women were forced to work as sharecroppers on the small farms that dotted the land previously occupied by the sprawling plantations.
By
St. Simons Lumber Mills
1870 real economic recovery began with the reestablishment of the timber industry. Norman Dodge and Titus G. Meigs of New York set up lumber mill operations at Gascoigne Bluff, formerly Hamilton Plantation. The lumber mills provided welcome employment for both blacks and whites and also provided mail and passenger boats to the mainland. Such water traffic, together with the construction of a new lighthouse in 1872, designed by architect Charles B. Cluskey, marked the beginning of St. Simons's tourism industry. The keeper of the lighthouse created a small amusement park, which drew many visitors, as did the seemingly miraculous light that traveled from the top of the lighthouse tower to the bottom. The island became a summer retreat for families from the mainland, particularly from Baxley, Brunswick, and Waycross.
The island's resort industry was thriving by the 1880s. Beachfront structures, such as a new pier and grand hotel, were built on the southeastern end of the island and could be accessed by ferry. Around this time wealthy northerners began vacationing on the island.
Twentieth Century
The
St. Simons Island Pier and Village
opening in 1924 of the Brunswick–St. Simons Highway, today known as the Torras Causeway, was a milestone in the development of resorts in the area. St. Simons's beaches were now easily accessible to locals and tourists alike. More than 5,000 automobiles took the short drive from Brunswick to St. Simons via the causeway on its opening day, paving the way for convenient residential and resort development.
In 1926 automotive pioneer Howard Coffin of Detroit, Michigan, bought large tracts of land on St. Simons, including the former Retreat Plantation, and constructed a golf course, yacht club, paved roads, and a residential subdivision. Although the causeway had brought large numbers of summer people to the island, St. Simons remained a small community with only a few hundred permanent residents until the 1940s.
The
St. Simons Island
outbreak of World War II (1941-45) brought more visitors and residents to St. Simons. Troops stationed at Jacksonville, Florida; Savannah; and nearby Camp Stewart took weekend vacations on the island, and a new naval air base and radar school became home to even more officers and soldiers. The increased wartime population brought the island its first public school. With a major shipyard for the production of Liberty ships in nearby Brunswick, the waters of St. Simons became active with German U-boats. In April 1942, just off the coast, the Texas Company oil tanker S. S. Oklahoma and the S. S. Esso Baton Rouge were torpedoed by the Germans, bringing the war very close to home for island residents.
Due in large part to the military's improvement of the island's infrastructure during the war, development on the island boomed in the 1950s and 1960s. More permanent homes and subdivisions were built, and the island was no longer just a summer resort but also a thriving community. In 1950 the Methodist conference and retreat center Epworth by the Sea opened on Gascoigne Bluff. In 1961 novelist Eugenia Price visited St. Simons and began work on her first works of fiction, known as the St. Simons Trilogy. Inspired by real events on the island, Price's trilogy renewed interest in the history of Georgia's coast, and the novelist herself relocated to the island in 1965 and lived there for thirty-one years. St. Simons is also home to contemporary Georgia writer Tina McElroy Ansa.
Since
Epworth by the Sea
1980 St. Simons's population has doubled. The island's continued status as a vacation destination and its ongoing development boom have put historic landmarks and natural areas at risk. While such landmarks as the Fort Frederica ruins and the Battle of Bloody Marsh site are preserved and maintained by the National Park Service, and while the historic lighthouse is maintained by the Coastal Georgia Historical Society, historic Ebos Landing has been taken over by a sewage treatment plant.
Several coastal organizations have formed in recent years to save natural areas on the island. The St. Simons Land Trust, for example, has received donations of large tracts of land and plans to protect property in the island's three traditional African American neighborhoods. Despite its rapid growth and development, St. Simons remains one of the most beautiful and important islands on the Georgia coast.
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The firepit has a natural gas line below the underslab of the the bricks. We installed the perimeter brick banding first then the red brick in a herringbone pattern. Brick entry columns in the background and your can see the herringbone pattern continues past the gate to the guesthouse. We also installed the stone walkway.

Stuart Wade, Envision Virtual Tours
The second-largest and most developed of Georgia's barrier islands, St. Simons is approximately twelve miles long and nearly three miles wide at its widest stretch (roughly the size of Manhattan Island in New York). The island is located in Glynn County on Georgia's coast and lies east of Brunswick (the seat of Glynn County), south of Little St. Simons Island and the Hampton River, and north of Jekyll Island. The resort community of Sea Island is separated from St. Simons on the east by the Black Banks River. Known for its oak tree canopies and historic landmarks, St. Simons is both a tourist destination and, according to the 2010 U.S. census, home to 12,743 residents.
Early History
The earliest
St. Simons Island Village
record of human habitation on the island dates to the Late Archaic Period, about 5,000 to 3,000 years ago. Remnants of shell rings left behind by Native Americans from this era survive on many of the barrier islands, including St. Simons. Centuries later, during the period known by historians as the chiefdom era, the Guale Indians established a chiefdom centered on St. Catherines Island and used St. Simons as their hunting and fishing grounds. By 1500 the Guale had established a permanent village of about 200 people on St. Simons, which they called Guadalquini.
Beginning in 1568, the Spanish attempted to create missions along the Georgia coast. Catholic missions were the primary means by which Georgia's indigenous Native American chiefdoms were assimilated into the Spanish colonial system along the northern frontier of greater Spanish Florida. In the 1600s St. Simons became home to two Spanish missions: San Buenaventura de Guadalquini, on the southern tip of the island, and Santo Domingo de Asao (or Asajo), on the northern tip. Located on the inland side of the island were the pagan refugee villages of San Simón, the island's namesake, and Ocotonico. In 1684 pirate raids left the missions and villages largely abandoned.
Colonial History
As
Fort Frederica
early as 1670, with Great Britain's establishment of the colony of Carolina and its expansion into Georgia territory, Spanish rule was threatened by the English. The Georgia coast was considered "debatable land" by England and Spain, even though Spain had fully retreated from St. Simons by 1702. Thirty-one years later General James Edward Oglethorpe founded the English settlement of Savannah. In 1736 he established Fort Frederica, named after the heir to the British throne, Frederick Louis, prince of Wales, on the west side of St. Simons Island to protect Savannah and the Carolinas from the Spanish threat.
Between 1736 and 1749 Fort Frederica was the hub of British military operations along the Georgia frontier. A town of the same name grew up around the fort and was of great importance to the new colony. By 1740 Frederica's population was 1,000. In 1736 the congregation of what would become Christ Church was organized within Fort Frederica as a mission of the Church of England. Charles Wesley led the first services. In 1742 Britain's decisive victory over Spain in the Battle of Bloody Marsh, during the War of Jenkins' Ear, ended the Spanish threat to the Georgia coast. When the British regimen disbanded in 1749, most of the townspeople relocated to the mainland. Fort Frederica went into decline and, except for a short time of prosperity during the 1760s and 1770s under the leadership of merchant James Spalding, never fully recovered. Today the historic citadel's tabby ruins are maintained by the National Park Service.
Plantation Era
By the start of the American Revolution (1775-83), Fort Frederica was obsolete, and St. Simons was left largely uninhabited as most of its residents joined the patriot army. Besides hosting a small Georgia naval victory on the Fort Frederica River, providing guns from its famous fort for use at Fort Morris in Sunbury, and serving as an arena for pillaging by privateers and British soldiers, the island played almost no role in the war.
Following the war, many of the townspeople, their businesses destroyed, turned to agriculture. The island was transformed into fourteen cotton plantations after acres of live oak trees were cleared for farm land and used for building American warships, including the famous USS Constitution, or "Old Ironsides." Although rice was the predominant crop along the neighboring Altamaha River, St. Simons was known for its production of long-staple cotton, which soon came to be known as Sea Island cotton.
Between
Ebos Landing
the 1780s and the outbreak of the Civil War (1861-65), St. Simons's plantation culture flourished. The saline atmosphere and the availability of cheap slave labor proved an ideal combination for the cultivation of Sea Island cotton. In 1803 a group of Ebo slaves who survived the Middle Passage and arrived on the west side of St. Simons staged a rebellion and drowned themselves. The sacred site is known today as Ebos Landing.
One of the largest owners of land and slaves on St. Simons was Pierce Butler, master of Hampton Point Plantation, located on the northern end of the island. By 1793 Butler owned more than 500 slaves, who cultivated 800 acres of cotton on St. Simons and 300 acres of rice on Butler's Island in the Altamaha River delta. Butler's grandson, Pierce Mease Butler, who at the age of sixteen inherited a share of his grandfather's estate in 1826, was responsible for the largest sale of human beings in the history of the United States: in 1859, to restore his squandered fortune, he sold 429 slaves in Savannah for more than $300,000. The British actress and writer Fanny Kemble, whose tumultuous marriage to Pierce ended in divorce in 1849, published an eyewitness account of the evils of slavery on St. Simons in her book Journal of a Residence on a Georgian Plantation in 1838-1839 (1863).
Another
Retreat Plantation
large owner of land and slaves on St. Simons was Major William Page, a friend and employee of Pierce Butler Sr. Before purchasing Retreat Plantation on the southwestern tip of the island in 1804, Page managed the Hampton plantation and Butler's Island. Upon Page's death in 1827, Thomas Butler King inherited the land together with his wife, Page's daughter, Anna Matilda Page King. King expanded his father-in-law's planting empire on St. Simons as well as on the mainland, and by 1835 Retreat Plantation alone was home to as many as 355 slaves.
The center of life during the island's plantation era was Christ Church, Frederica. Organized in 1807 by a group of island planters, the Episcopal church is the second oldest in the Diocese of Georgia. Embargoes imposed by the War of 1812 (1812-15) prevented the parishioners from building a church structure, so they worshiped in the home of John Beck, which stood on the site of Oglethorpe's only St. Simons residence, Orange Hall.
The first Christ Church building, finished on the present site in 1820, was ruined by occupying Union troops during the Civil War. In 1884 the Reverend Anson Dodge Jr. rebuilt the church as a memorial to his first wife, Ellen. The cruciform building with a trussed gothic roof and stained-glass windows remains active today as Christ Church.
Civil War and Beyond
The
St. Simons Island Lighthouse
outbreak of the Civil War in 1861 put a sudden end to St. Simons's lucrative plantation era. In January of that year, Confederate troops were stationed at the south end of the island to guard the entrance to Brunswick Harbor. Slaves from Retreat Plantation, owned by Thomas Butler King, built earthworks and batteries. Plantation residents were scattered—the men joined the Confederate army and their families moved to the mainland. Cannon fire was heard on the island in December 1861, and Confederate troops retreated in February 1862, after dynamiting the lighthouse to keep its beacon from aiding Union troops. Soon thereafter, Union troops occupied the island, which was used as a camp for freed slaves. By August 1862 more than 500 former slaves lived on St. Simons, including Susie King Taylor, who organized a school for freed slave children. But in November the ex-slaves were taken to Hilton Head, South Carolina, and Fernandina, Florida, leaving the island abandoned.
After the Civil War the island never returned to its status as an agricultural community. The plantations lay dormant because there were no slaves to work the fields. After Union general William T. Sherman's January 1865 Special Field Order No. 15 —a demand that former plantations be divided and distributed to former slaves—was overturned by U.S. president Andrew Johnson less than a year later, freedmen and women were forced to work as sharecroppers on the small farms that dotted the land previously occupied by the sprawling plantations.
By
St. Simons Lumber Mills
1870 real economic recovery began with the reestablishment of the timber industry. Norman Dodge and Titus G. Meigs of New York set up lumber mill operations at Gascoigne Bluff, formerly Hamilton Plantation. The lumber mills provided welcome employment for both blacks and whites and also provided mail and passenger boats to the mainland. Such water traffic, together with the construction of a new lighthouse in 1872, designed by architect Charles B. Cluskey, marked the beginning of St. Simons's tourism industry. The keeper of the lighthouse created a small amusement park, which drew many visitors, as did the seemingly miraculous light that traveled from the top of the lighthouse tower to the bottom. The island became a summer retreat for families from the mainland, particularly from Baxley, Brunswick, and Waycross.
The island's resort industry was thriving by the 1880s. Beachfront structures, such as a new pier and grand hotel, were built on the southeastern end of the island and could be accessed by ferry. Around this time wealthy northerners began vacationing on the island.
Twentieth Century
The
St. Simons Island Pier and Village
opening in 1924 of the Brunswick–St. Simons Highway, today known as the Torras Causeway, was a milestone in the development of resorts in the area. St. Simons's beaches were now easily accessible to locals and tourists alike. More than 5,000 automobiles took the short drive from Brunswick to St. Simons via the causeway on its opening day, paving the way for convenient residential and resort development.
In 1926 automotive pioneer Howard Coffin of Detroit, Michigan, bought large tracts of land on St. Simons, including the former Retreat Plantation, and constructed a golf course, yacht club, paved roads, and a residential subdivision. Although the causeway had brought large numbers of summer people to the island, St. Simons remained a small community with only a few hundred permanent residents until the 1940s.
The
St. Simons Island
outbreak of World War II (1941-45) brought more visitors and residents to St. Simons. Troops stationed at Jacksonville, Florida; Savannah; and nearby Camp Stewart took weekend vacations on the island, and a new naval air base and radar school became home to even more officers and soldiers. The increased wartime population brought the island its first public school. With a major shipyard for the production of Liberty ships in nearby Brunswick, the waters of St. Simons became active with German U-boats. In April 1942, just off the coast, the Texas Company oil tanker S. S. Oklahoma and the S. S. Esso Baton Rouge were torpedoed by the Germans, bringing the war very close to home for island residents.
Due in large part to the military's improvement of the island's infrastructure during the war, development on the island boomed in the 1950s and 1960s. More permanent homes and subdivisions were built, and the island was no longer just a summer resort but also a thriving community. In 1950 the Methodist conference and retreat center Epworth by the Sea opened on Gascoigne Bluff. In 1961 novelist Eugenia Price visited St. Simons and began work on her first works of fiction, known as the St. Simons Trilogy. Inspired by real events on the island, Price's trilogy renewed interest in the history of Georgia's coast, and the novelist herself relocated to the island in 1965 and lived there for thirty-one years. St. Simons is also home to contemporary Georgia writer Tina McElroy Ansa.
Since
Epworth by the Sea
1980 St. Simons's population has doubled. The island's continued status as a vacation destination and its ongoing development boom have put historic landmarks and natural areas at risk. While such landmarks as the Fort Frederica ruins and the Battle of Bloody Marsh site are preserved and maintained by the National Park Service, and while the historic lighthouse is maintained by the Coastal Georgia Historical Society, historic Ebos Landing has been taken over by a sewage treatment plant.
Several coastal organizations have formed in recent years to save natural areas on the island. The St. Simons Land Trust, for example, has received donations of large tracts of land and plans to protect property in the island's three traditional African American neighborhoods. Despite its rapid growth and development, St. Simons remains one of the most beautiful and important islands on the Georgia coast.

With overwhelming support by the community who dug deep and donated, the 2018 Central Valley St. Jude Dream Home Giveaway successfully raised $957,100 for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital! Since 2007, De Young Properties has been a major donor and builder of 12 St. Jude Dream Homes, helping to raise $11,628,545 to help the kids of St. Jude fight cancer and other life-threatening childhood diseases. One hundred percent of the proceeds will be donated to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, which works around the clock to develop cures to save the lives of boys and girls, including children in the San Joaquin Valley.
“We strongly believe in our responsibility to help others, which is why the St. Jude’s Dream Home Giveaway is so important to us and our entire De Young team. We are grateful to our community’s continued support of our business – a community that has given so much to us, which is why we are so passionate about giving back. In fact, we are even more passionate today than we were in 2007 when we first partnered with St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. We are honored to be a donor and builder of our 12th St. Jude Dream Home in this war against childhood cancer. St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital positively affects the lives of families across the country, in addition to giving us the opportunity to change the life of a local family,” said Paula De Young of De Young Properties. “This amazing pediatric research center, that not only treats life threatening cases in children, also freely gives guidance to doctors around the world and here in the Central Valley. We count ourselves fortunate to be able to help such an important cause”
The 2018 St. Jude Dream Home is one of the most popular De Young floorplans, the Residence 210 with a beautiful Cottage elevation, and will offer three bedrooms, two full bathrooms, a formal dining room, spacious den and an open-air courtyard with a gorgeous stone accented fireplace.
With celebrity designer, Michael Moloney, donating his design talent and resources once again as Design Ambassador for this year’s St. Jude Dream Home, the home boasts a long list of special features, including fashionable quartz and granite counters from Granite Mountain Stone Design, premium designer maple cabinetry and professional closet design from KraftMaid Cabinetry and stainless steel Bosch appliances with a gas range, washer, dryer and built-in refrigerator. In addition, premium-grade wood-look porcelain tile floors by Shaw Floors, spacious 10’ ceilings, professional and water efficient front and back yard landscaping, and Energy Star approved Eagle Brand Cool Roof Tile.
The prime Clovis location of the St. Jude Dream Home is in the De Young Trailside at Loma Vista community which is within walking distance to Reagan Educational Center and located within the greater 3,300-acre Loma Vista master-planned community designed by the City of Clovis. In addition, it is a short drive from Clovis Community Medical Center and a variety of entertainment and dining options including the Sierra Vista Mall, The Square at Campus Pointe, Old Town Clovis and even Wild Water Adventure Park. Easy access to Highway 168 and Herndon Avenue can provide a fast work commute during the week and a family outing to Shaver or Huntington lakes on the weekend and even more.
De Young Properties would like to once again thank everyone in the community who contributed their hard-earned dollars to this worthy cause. They are appreciative of everyone who donated, volunteered or purchased a ticket to win this year’s St. Jude Dream Home, and feel privileged to be able to help such an important cause.

Our Canyon Club Project embodies the essence of modern desert interiors, blending sculptural form, rich materiality, and seamless flow between indoor and outdoor living. Set within a mountainous landscape, the home takes on a lounge-inspired identity through deep walnut tones, green stone accents, vintage furnishings, and subtle nods to a refined golf lifestyle. Hospitality drives the layout, with a spacious kitchen that opens to an expansive outdoor entertaining area, connected by continuous tile and intentional spatial transitions.
Designed with the sensibility of a multidisciplinary studio approach, each space is crafted to feel elevated yet grounded. A hidden speakeasy-style bar and a bronze and quartzite fireplace act as focal points, adding depth, contrast, and a sense of discovery throughout the home.
As a project led by our luxury design-build firm, the #CanyonClubProject sets a new benchmark for regional living. The home is layered with thoughtful details, including artisan ceramics handmade in Mexico, offering a tactile and collected perspective shaped by the voice of an Arizona interior designer.

Tall ceilings and the modern rustic architecture of this home inspired this luminous kitchen. The clients who are community focused frequently host fundraisers and community meetings. They wanted a large kitchen that could accommodate monthly large gatherings of a dozen people or so, while feeling warm and inviting for daily cooking with just themselves. They love to cook and bake, so plenty of area to prep, cook, and clean with good workflow was important. The gorgeous Italian range and hood in a custom color combination of chrome and taupe offers 8 burners of gas cooking and two ovens below. The range and hood became the focal point of the kitchen. Because of this, we designed floor to ceiling cabinetry to wrap up and around which emphasized and celebrated the ceiling height. All the upper cabinets are on servo drive bi-fold lift mechanism to maintain the clean handless design for the uppers and allow the wall cabinets to remain open while they cook or clean and then close when they want the kitchen to look pristine. The cabinetry finishes are a mixture of a dark textured laminate and a micro shaker quartersawn white oak with continuous grain matching along their expanse. The mixture of wood grains and tones on the cabinetry, flooring and rustic ceiling beams is softened by the taupe range and light marble veined Silestone countertops, and perfect smooth white walls.

With overwhelming support by the community who dug deep and donated, the 2018 Central Valley St. Jude Dream Home Giveaway successfully raised $957,100 for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital! Since 2007, De Young Properties has been a major donor and builder of 12 St. Jude Dream Homes, helping to raise $11,628,545 to help the kids of St. Jude fight cancer and other life-threatening childhood diseases. One hundred percent of the proceeds will be donated to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, which works around the clock to develop cures to save the lives of boys and girls, including children in the San Joaquin Valley.
“We strongly believe in our responsibility to help others, which is why the St. Jude’s Dream Home Giveaway is so important to us and our entire De Young team. We are grateful to our community’s continued support of our business – a community that has given so much to us, which is why we are so passionate about giving back. In fact, we are even more passionate today than we were in 2007 when we first partnered with St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. We are honored to be a donor and builder of our 12th St. Jude Dream Home in this war against childhood cancer. St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital positively affects the lives of families across the country, in addition to giving us the opportunity to change the life of a local family,” said Paula De Young of De Young Properties. “This amazing pediatric research center, that not only treats life threatening cases in children, also freely gives guidance to doctors around the world and here in the Central Valley. We count ourselves fortunate to be able to help such an important cause”
The 2018 St. Jude Dream Home is one of the most popular De Young floorplans, the Residence 210 with a beautiful Cottage elevation, and will offer three bedrooms, two full bathrooms, a formal dining room, spacious den and an open-air courtyard with a gorgeous stone accented fireplace.
With celebrity designer, Michael Moloney, donating his design talent and resources once again as Design Ambassador for this year’s St. Jude Dream Home, the home boasts a long list of special features, including fashionable quartz and granite counters from Granite Mountain Stone Design, premium designer maple cabinetry and professional closet design from KraftMaid Cabinetry and stainless steel Bosch appliances with a gas range, washer, dryer and built-in refrigerator. In addition, premium-grade wood-look porcelain tile floors by Shaw Floors, spacious 10’ ceilings, professional and water efficient front and back yard landscaping, and Energy Star approved Eagle Brand Cool Roof Tile.
The prime Clovis location of the St. Jude Dream Home is in the De Young Trailside at Loma Vista community which is within walking distance to Reagan Educational Center and located within the greater 3,300-acre Loma Vista master-planned community designed by the City of Clovis. In addition, it is a short drive from Clovis Community Medical Center and a variety of entertainment and dining options including the Sierra Vista Mall, The Square at Campus Pointe, Old Town Clovis and even Wild Water Adventure Park. Easy access to Highway 168 and Herndon Avenue can provide a fast work commute during the week and a family outing to Shaver or Huntington lakes on the weekend and even more.
De Young Properties would like to once again thank everyone in the community who contributed their hard-earned dollars to this worthy cause. They are appreciative of everyone who donated, volunteered or purchased a ticket to win this year’s St. Jude Dream Home, and feel privileged to be able to help such an important cause.

The operable aspect of the iron-wrought grapevine design on this custom wine cellar door is clearly illustrated here.
Operable iron can conveniently be removed, for ease of cleaning.
The iron-wrought grapevine design is a functional and beautiful aspect of this wine cellar design TX.
To learn more, continue on through the project, and check out: http://www.winecellarspec.com/wine-room-small-magnificent-colleyville-texas/
Wine Cellar Specialists
1134 Commerce Drive
Richardson
(972)454-0480
75081
https://winecellarspec.com/

This warehouse loft was rich in character, but it lacked one thing: defined rooms. Our client challenged us to incorporate two new bedrooms, and since the defining wall was lined with windows, we were able to introduce partitions as the driving solution. We also made a point to expose the layered history and raw texture of the original warehouse building that was masked behind the drywall before our renovation. Now, there are two elevated bedrooms with expansive glass walls (alongside integrated curtains), allowing light to continue to fill the depth of the apartment with the option for privacy.

This project was done for a professional couple who had two children and a grandchild move back home due to the Pandemic. We helped the family add over 600 SF to their living space that they desperately needed.
The home is a brick home built in the 1980s. The area we had to work with was an atrium (We don’t see many of those these days!) and a garage that would be closed in.
They needed an additional room & storage space including a mechanical room for the AC that would service this area and expanded office space.
The primary difficulties were making the project not look like a closed garage and reframing the roof that had a valley that terminated at the atrium.
We were able to raise + level the floor of the garage so that it was equal to the rest of the home. We also matched windows put into the garage to other windows on the front of the house creating design continuity.
Often when we do garage conversions, we uncouple the drive way from the house to avoid the closed in garage appearance. Unfortunately, on this project that was not possible because of the need for maximum parking. But with the design consistency, the conversion appears seamless with the house.
The roof framing turned out to be more problematic than we had anticipated because the garage roof had been created with trusses whereas the rest of the roof had been traditionally framed. That combined with the open atrium falling in the roof valley made the infill framing a challenge. Ultimately, we were able to fill in the roof over the atrium so that it looks like it was always there.
Where there had once been a garage door, there was now a bedroom wall with two large windows. In addition to the two large windows, light-colored paint and flooring also contributed to the brightness of the new space. The bedroom has a walk-in closet with built-in shelving.
On the other side, we created a large storage space for the family to use since they no longer have their garage for storage.

This warehouse loft was rich in character, but it lacked one thing: defined rooms. Our client challenged us to incorporate two new bedrooms, and since the defining wall was lined with windows, we were able to introduce partitions as the driving solution. We also made a point to expose the layered history and raw texture of the original warehouse building that was masked behind the drywall before our renovation. Now, there are two elevated bedrooms with expansive glass walls (alongside integrated curtains), allowing light to continue to fill the depth of the apartment with the option for privacy.

With this Cayuga Lake home you are sure to have something to do all day long, all year-round...don't take my word for it -- come check it out Down the long, stone private drive, nestled on a breathtaking hillside, awaits a custom built home -- a vision where love and quality craftsmanship go hand-in-hand Outstanding Cayuga Lake views can be enjoyed throughout most of the home, patios, and deck. The lush perennials frame around the home as if it was an illustration in a classic storybook. This home has a touch of elegance, yet the comforts of home. The new hardwood floors are stunning -- extending throughout most of the main level. A set of French doors welcome you to your place setting in the spacious formal dining room -- a "fine dining" ambiance is instantly created and includes a view into the flourishing garden through the wall of windows. The family room is impeccable with floor to ceiling windows, and French doors that open to the front patio/outdoor screened-in room. A panoramic lake view that extends inside to out. The cozy fireplace will fill the room with warmth, and create a peaceful environment. The eat-in kitchen is a chef’s dream come true with a Viking sub-zero refrigerator, six-burner gas range, Brookhaven cabinets, complimented with granite countertops, a center island with seating for two, and over the counter lake views. For ease of entertaining, there is a dining area centrally located between the kitchen and living room -- and includes an easy access point to the side patio. The dining area has a tray ceiling that illuminates above -- a decadent addition. The living room continues the theme of the wall of windows AND an additional wood burning fireplace. The hallway is a work of art -- quite literally -- the design was inspired by the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston. The upper level includes 3 large bedrooms with large closets, a home office, hallway full bathroom (with a separate shower room) and a laundry chute. The master suite is magnificent -- definitely, a room that you wouldn't mind waking up in every morning! The dramatic cathedral ceiling is enhanced by the wall of windows and lake views. Completing this master suite you get a private balcony, TWO walk-in closets (that are the size of small rooms), and an en-suite that includes his & hers granite topped vanities and a tile steam shower with built-in bench. Down to the newly repainted, generously sized finished walkout lower level, you have a media room, bedroom, full bathroom, and large storage/utility room. The French doors open to the back deck where you can find the hot tub, and sturdy steps that lead to the deep water dock and Cayuga Lake! Outbuilding can conveniently hold your outdoor tools and toys. The 9.87 acres allows you room to build a garage This home will leave a lasting impression on you and your guests!

A complete primary bathroom remodel in Springfield, Virginia, designed around three priorities our clients came in with: a real walk-in shower, a freestanding tub by the windows, and a proper double vanity with storage that actually worked.
The original layout had everything in the wrong place. The tub sat against an interior wall away from the natural light. A small stall shower took up real estate across the room. The vanity was squeezed into whatever space was left over. Three windows on the back wall were doing nothing for the room because the layout was fighting them. Our solution involved knocking down the dividing wall between the old shower and vanity area, relocating plumbing for both the tub and the new vanities, and placing the freestanding tub directly under the bay of windows so morning light became part of the experience.
Design Approach
We anchored the room around contrast: deep navy cabinetry against soft white walls, warm brushed gold against cool marble tile, sharp Shaker lines against the curved silhouette of the freestanding tub. Navy was the design decision the rest of the room was built around — the clients knew they wanted color but didn't want anything that would feel dated in five years. Navy reads bold without being loud, pairs with virtually any metal finish, and has staying power that trendier choices don't.
We used Fabuwood Galaxy Indigo for the vanities — all-plywood construction with solid wood doors and drawer fronts, soft close throughout. Shaker-style flat panels keep the navy from feeling heavy. The brushed gold (Jeffrey Alexander 635-96SBZ in satin bronze) shows up across hardware, faucets, lighting, the tub filler, and the shower trim, creating a quiet continuity throughout the room.
The Shower
Removing the wall between the old shower and old vanity area created room for a proper walk-in. We tiled the entire shower floor to ceiling in Decovita Calacatta Suave 24x48" porcelain — large format installed in a 50% offset horizontal pattern, with cement board and redgard underneath. The marble-look porcelain gives the visual depth of natural marble without the maintenance.
A built-in shower bench, custom-built into the corner, is wrapped in the same wall tile on the front with a quartz top matching the vanity counter. The shower niche is detailed with MSI Arabescato Carrara 2" honed hex mosaic at the back, the same tile used on the shower floor. All tile edges are finished with Schluter in satin bronze to match the room's metal finishes. The shower door is custom frameless 3/8" tempered glass with a satin bronze pull — no metal frame interrupting the sight line.
The Vanities and Countertops
The new double vanity gives both clients their own space for morning routines. Counter tops are MSI Calacatta Miraggio Cielo quartz with pencil edging and a 4" backsplash — a soft white with subtle gray veining that reads like real Calacatta marble without the porosity issues. Two undermount square porcelain sinks finish the surface cleanly.
The Tub
A 60" freestanding soaker tub sits under the bay of three windows. The floor-mounted tub filler is satin bronze with a handheld sprayer. We relocated the drain and supply lines to make the centered placement work. The tub is the room's quietest feature and its strongest — clients tell us they use this bathroom differently than they used the old one.
Flooring
MSI Sande Ivory 12x24" matte porcelain runs throughout the bathroom floor in a 50% offset pattern parallel to the vanity wall. Cement board underneath, 4" white wood baseboard, Whisper Grey grout that handles daily use without showing wear.
Paint and Lighting
Walls are Benjamin Moore Chantilly Lace 2121-70 in satin — a true crisp white that doesn't lean cool or warm. The ceiling uses Benjamin Moore Aura Bath and Spa White, which is formulated to resist mildew in high-humidity spaces. Lighting is layered: three new 6" LED recessed lights on a dimmer, two satin bronze vanity sconces above the mirrors, and the existing three windows providing the daytime ambient light.
Project Specs
Location: Springfield, Virginia
Project type: Full primary bathroom remodel
Project duration: Approximately 5 weeks
Style: Modern, Transitional
Color palette: Navy, white, brushed gold, marble
Materials
Cabinetry: Fabuwood Galaxy Indigo, Shaker-style flat panel maple, all-plywood construction
Cabinet hardware: Jeffrey Alexander 635-96SBZ Satin Bronze pulls
Vanity counter and bench top: MSI Calacatta Miraggio Cielo Quartz, pencil edge with 4" backsplash
Sinks: Undermount white porcelain BR-202 square (x2)
Wall tile: Decovita Calacatta Suave 24x48" porcelain
Floor tile: MSI Sande Ivory 12x24" matte porcelain
Shower floor + niche back: MSI Arabescato Carrara 2" honed hex mosaic marble
Edge trim: Schluter satin bronze
Shower door: Custom frameless 3/8" tempered glass
Tub: 60" freestanding acrylic soaker (Ferguson)
Tub filler: Floor-mounted satin bronze (Ferguson)
Vanity faucets, mirrors, sconces, toilet: Satin bronze coordinated finishes (Ferguson)
Wall paint: Benjamin Moore Chantilly Lace 2121-70 Satin
Ceiling paint: Benjamin Moore Aura Bath and Spa White
Grout: Whisper Grey (floor), Standard White (walls and shower)
Designed and built by My Kitchen and Bath out of our Alexandria showroom at 5710 General Washington Drive. We've been designing and building kitchens, bathrooms, and full home renovations across Northern Virginia and the DMV since 1994.

Stonecoat is made from blown-on limestone. Our client opted to have it colored and cut to look like the stone on the exterior of their home.
This is a great example of having your wine cellar design compatible with the rest of your house design. It can increase the overall aesthetics of your wine room and living space considerably.
On this note, having a wine enclave constructed will even increase the value of your home.
To learn more, continue on through the project, and check out: http://www.winecellarspec.com/wine-room-small-magnificent-colleyville-texas/
Wine Cellar Specialists
1134 Commerce Drive
Richardson
(972)454-0480
75081
https://winecellarspec.com/

With overwhelming support by the community who dug deep and donated, the 2018 Central Valley St. Jude Dream Home Giveaway successfully raised $957,100 for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital! Since 2007, De Young Properties has been a major donor and builder of 12 St. Jude Dream Homes, helping to raise $11,628,545 to help the kids of St. Jude fight cancer and other life-threatening childhood diseases. One hundred percent of the proceeds will be donated to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, which works around the clock to develop cures to save the lives of boys and girls, including children in the San Joaquin Valley.
“We strongly believe in our responsibility to help others, which is why the St. Jude’s Dream Home Giveaway is so important to us and our entire De Young team. We are grateful to our community’s continued support of our business – a community that has given so much to us, which is why we are so passionate about giving back. In fact, we are even more passionate today than we were in 2007 when we first partnered with St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. We are honored to be a donor and builder of our 12th St. Jude Dream Home in this war against childhood cancer. St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital positively affects the lives of families across the country, in addition to giving us the opportunity to change the life of a local family,” said Paula De Young of De Young Properties. “This amazing pediatric research center, that not only treats life threatening cases in children, also freely gives guidance to doctors around the world and here in the Central Valley. We count ourselves fortunate to be able to help such an important cause”
The 2018 St. Jude Dream Home is one of the most popular De Young floorplans, the Residence 210 with a beautiful Cottage elevation, and will offer three bedrooms, two full bathrooms, a formal dining room, spacious den and an open-air courtyard with a gorgeous stone accented fireplace.
With celebrity designer, Michael Moloney, donating his design talent and resources once again as Design Ambassador for this year’s St. Jude Dream Home, the home boasts a long list of special features, including fashionable quartz and granite counters from Granite Mountain Stone Design, premium designer maple cabinetry and professional closet design from KraftMaid Cabinetry and stainless steel Bosch appliances with a gas range, washer, dryer and built-in refrigerator. In addition, premium-grade wood-look porcelain tile floors by Shaw Floors, spacious 10’ ceilings, professional and water efficient front and back yard landscaping, and Energy Star approved Eagle Brand Cool Roof Tile.
The prime Clovis location of the St. Jude Dream Home is in the De Young Trailside at Loma Vista community which is within walking distance to Reagan Educational Center and located within the greater 3,300-acre Loma Vista master-planned community designed by the City of Clovis. In addition, it is a short drive from Clovis Community Medical Center and a variety of entertainment and dining options including the Sierra Vista Mall, The Square at Campus Pointe, Old Town Clovis and even Wild Water Adventure Park. Easy access to Highway 168 and Herndon Avenue can provide a fast work commute during the week and a family outing to Shaver or Huntington lakes on the weekend and even more.
De Young Properties would like to once again thank everyone in the community who contributed their hard-earned dollars to this worthy cause. They are appreciative of everyone who donated, volunteered or purchased a ticket to win this year’s St. Jude Dream Home, and feel privileged to be able to help such an important cause.

The Home
Nestled in Jackson Ranch, Thurston House welcomes you to experience the solace and comfort of this warm and peaceful home.
As you step past the barnwood accented exterior, you enter a refined rustic interior with a barnwood wall and century-old beams
gracing the great room. Durable, luxury, vinyl, tile flooring leads you further in, past a front office with ample sunlight. Relax as you gaze upon the Front Range, through the pines, from the great room - while a wood-burning fire crackles nearby. Continue into the spacious kitchen, complete with custom cabinets and more amazing views. An expansive walk-in pantry gives way to an oversized garage, a builder and hobbyist’s dream space. Steps away from the kitchen, the master bedroom envelops you, providing those awe-inspiring views, while balancing privacy in the pines.
Whether you seek to entertain or to escape, the downstairs of Thurston House delivers. The stairs open to a lounge, complete with a
wood-burning fireplace and abundant screen space, while a wet bar is tucked away for close conversation. Additional bedrooms offer
comfort and privacy for overnight guests. A home gym leads to the privacy of your backyard among the pines, with mountain views to
motivate you.
The Builder
Custom Design Builders (CDB) provides a relational partnership aimed at building the home that exists in your mind. Founder and president, Ben Woody, draws on the practical creativity of his nearly 30 years of construction experience, along with the safety consciousness he acquired as a firefighter. Ben is skillful at building according to your desires, incorporating a thoughtful design that balances safety and functionality in a dynamic process. CDB relies on the expertise acquired from years of building partnerships with the most reliable tradesmen in the area. Our team of partners consistently delivers the highest quality products and services, which has helped drive our exponential growth via word-of-mouth referrals.
As a family-owned and operated business, CDB understands relationships. Engaging in a partnership with CDB is to take on an active role in designing and defining your project, while relying on the comfort and security that can only come from decades of experience.
The Interior Design
Thurston House brings a feeling of warmth, comfort and hospitality. Modern accents elevate your living experience by highlighting the character of century-old, hand-hewn beams and barnwood. A luxurious freestanding bathtub and Euro-style shower in the master bathroom encourage you to relax and recharge in your own spa-like retreat. Energy efficient HVAC and water systems, appliances and windows minimize your footprint. Durable flooring offers stability and longevity, and hand trowel-finished drywall with reclaimed wood accents provide a warm background for your life. The open floor plan lends itself to entertaining, and the views of the Front Range through the pines are enticing. These same spaces also feel private and individual. Whether training in the home gym for your next marathon, building your dream canoe in the garage, or relaxing while you listen to the crackle of a fire in your fireplace accented by those hand-hewn beams, Thurston House is a stunning place to call home.

With overwhelming support by the community who dug deep and donated, the 2018 Central Valley St. Jude Dream Home Giveaway successfully raised $957,100 for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital! Since 2007, De Young Properties has been a major donor and builder of 12 St. Jude Dream Homes, helping to raise $11,628,545 to help the kids of St. Jude fight cancer and other life-threatening childhood diseases. One hundred percent of the proceeds will be donated to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, which works around the clock to develop cures to save the lives of boys and girls, including children in the San Joaquin Valley.
“We strongly believe in our responsibility to help others, which is why the St. Jude’s Dream Home Giveaway is so important to us and our entire De Young team. We are grateful to our community’s continued support of our business – a community that has given so much to us, which is why we are so passionate about giving back. In fact, we are even more passionate today than we were in 2007 when we first partnered with St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. We are honored to be a donor and builder of our 12th St. Jude Dream Home in this war against childhood cancer. St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital positively affects the lives of families across the country, in addition to giving us the opportunity to change the life of a local family,” said Paula De Young of De Young Properties. “This amazing pediatric research center, that not only treats life threatening cases in children, also freely gives guidance to doctors around the world and here in the Central Valley. We count ourselves fortunate to be able to help such an important cause”
The 2018 St. Jude Dream Home is one of the most popular De Young floorplans, the Residence 210 with a beautiful Cottage elevation, and will offer three bedrooms, two full bathrooms, a formal dining room, spacious den and an open-air courtyard with a gorgeous stone accented fireplace.
With celebrity designer, Michael Moloney, donating his design talent and resources once again as Design Ambassador for this year’s St. Jude Dream Home, the home boasts a long list of special features, including fashionable quartz and granite counters from Granite Mountain Stone Design, premium designer maple cabinetry and professional closet design from KraftMaid Cabinetry and stainless steel Bosch appliances with a gas range, washer, dryer and built-in refrigerator. In addition, premium-grade wood-look porcelain tile floors by Shaw Floors, spacious 10’ ceilings, professional and water efficient front and back yard landscaping, and Energy Star approved Eagle Brand Cool Roof Tile.
The prime Clovis location of the St. Jude Dream Home is in the De Young Trailside at Loma Vista community which is within walking distance to Reagan Educational Center and located within the greater 3,300-acre Loma Vista master-planned community designed by the City of Clovis. In addition, it is a short drive from Clovis Community Medical Center and a variety of entertainment and dining options including the Sierra Vista Mall, The Square at Campus Pointe, Old Town Clovis and even Wild Water Adventure Park. Easy access to Highway 168 and Herndon Avenue can provide a fast work commute during the week and a family outing to Shaver or Huntington lakes on the weekend and even more.
De Young Properties would like to once again thank everyone in the community who contributed their hard-earned dollars to this worthy cause. They are appreciative of everyone who donated, volunteered or purchased a ticket to win this year’s St. Jude Dream Home, and feel privileged to be able to help such an important cause.

Our Canyon Club Project embodies the essence of modern desert interiors, blending sculptural form, rich materiality, and seamless flow between indoor and outdoor living. Set within a mountainous landscape, the home takes on a lounge-inspired identity through deep walnut tones, green stone accents, vintage furnishings, and subtle nods to a refined golf lifestyle. Hospitality drives the layout, with a spacious kitchen that opens to an expansive outdoor entertaining area, connected by continuous tile and intentional spatial transitions.
Designed with the sensibility of a multidisciplinary studio approach, each space is crafted to feel elevated yet grounded. A hidden speakeasy-style bar and a bronze and quartzite fireplace act as focal points, adding depth, contrast, and a sense of discovery throughout the home.
As a project led by our luxury design-build firm, the #CanyonClubProject sets a new benchmark for regional living. The home is layered with thoughtful details, including artisan ceramics handmade in Mexico, offering a tactile and collected perspective shaped by the voice of an Arizona interior designer.
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