Blue Mountain Lodge - near Gatlinburg, Great Smoky Mountains, Tennessee.
In 2009 a family friend bought a cabin in the area and invited us to come along for a visit. Until then, we barely heard about the Smoky Mountains. We always loved the mountains and seeing the Smokies for the first time made quite an impression.
We started coming to the area to look at foreclosed properties, with the idea to buy and renovate, because that was the only way we could afford to buy. We did not like the "resorts" with cookie cutter cabin styles and architecture. Besides, we have always imagined a quintessential cabin to be set in the woods and nature, not surrounded by dozens of other cabins on all sides. So we were looking for a place that offered some privacy.
When we first saw the property that we'd later name "Blue Mountain Lodge", it was a bank-owned foreclosure, sitting unoccupied for couple of years, with everything stripped - from lights to doors to kitchen (and bath) sinks. It had no running water, no heat, no AC. It took us 1.5 years of proverbial "blood, sweat and tears" to finally not only restore the cabin, but also add many improvements. Once we completed the restoration and started to rent the cabin to vacationers, it became a success very soon.