Special Feature How One Homeowner Roughed It While Building a House As pioneers of Fairview Forest, Ray and Pat Reynolds know all about roughing it. They and their family lived primitively for seven months without running water and most modern conveniences while Ray was building their house. Coming from the suburbs of Philadelphia, Ray and Pat fell in love with what was then called Arrowhead. They purchased 3.35 acres at the end of Black Oak Forest Road (previously called Blackhawk Trail) even though they had to hike to the property because the road had been washed out and was overgrown. Photo at right: Ray Reynolds copes with the one-man project of building his own home. Ray works the chute, which was necessary to handle the delivery from the cement truck to create the 30-foot-by-30-foot slab. The chute was used for bringing in not only the cement but also most of the other building materials. In the spring of 1978 they hired workers to grade the road and install the septic system. "It was strictly handshake agreements with the local workers," Pat recalled. "There were no written contracts. One guy said if Ray had asked for a written contract, he would have jacked up the price. These were the good ol' mountain boys." In May, the couple, along with two of their children, ages 11 and 14, camped out in a partially built house that was nothing more than a shell with walls and a roof. It was located about a quarter mile away near the entrance to Black Oak Forest Road. (Completed years later, that house is now owned by Tom and Sharon Blakeley). "We rented this shell for $50 a month," Pat recalled. "It had no electricity at first and no running water, but at least we were camping out with a roof over our heads." They connected a trailer extension cord from a nearby temporary construction power pole to an electrical box in the kitchen. "We ran extension cords into all the rooms for light and a TV and an electric skillet," said Ray. "We had a two-burner stove. If we had too many things going on, it would blow a fuse." For a bathroom they used a chemical camper toilet. Outside the kitchen door, Ray built a primitive outdoor shower. "My youngest son would get four five-gallon buckets of water from the spring in the morning — one for each of us — and put them out in the sun, and by evening the water would be warm enough to take a shower," said Pat. "You would take a bucket into the shower, pour water over yourself with a smaller pot, soap up, and then rinse off. "Ray hung a floodlight from an 8 millimeter camera for a little extra heat in the shower. But when the weather turned cold, we would heat the water in a pot. It took an hour to get a bucket of hot water for a bath. One pot at a time. Ray got his first because he was the dirtiest, then the kids, and then me last. So from six to 10 p.m. one of us was taking a bath." While Pat went to work as a supervisor for the U.S. Forest Service, Ray toiled on their house. A Goodyear mechanic in Pennsylvania, he had no real building experience. "I had never built a house before," he said. "I had never laid block before." He was assisted by his college-age nephew during part of the summer. Plans called for the three-story house to be built on the side of a steep bank so the roof would be even with the driveway. "Everything had to be carried in — every block, every board, every nail," recalled Ray. "I built a chute and everything slid down the chute or down the bank." After his nephew went back to school, Ray continued to work on the house by himself until December. "I put in 4-by-12-by- 29-foot-long main beams by myself," he said. "I built a ramp from the driveway up to the framing and then used a come-along," which is a hand-operated winch. He did get help from time to time. His neighbor Bud Huntley, a stone layer, brought a crew over to install large windows in the two-story-tall great room. "Bud wouldn't let me pay him for their work," said Ray. "That's the kind of man he is." By the end of November the house was a buttoned-up shell so the family moved in. "The studs were up but there were no interior walls and no siding although we had insulation," recalled Ray. "I had hired a plumber and electrician, so by Christmas we had electricity and hot running water." But for three weeks prior, they had no running hot water. "We had a wood burning stove that could heat a whole five-gallon bucket at one time, and we'd put the hot water in pots and pour it over ourselves," he said. "We hung sheets and blankets for walls to give us privacy." Unable to stay unemployed any longer, Ray got a fulltime job as a mechanic at what is now Apple Tree Chevrolet where he still works part-time. Today Ray and Pat are among five current residents who have lived on the Mountain the longest — 33 years and counting. Looking back on those house-building days, Ray said he was proud of what he had built. "It was hard work, but very satisfying," he said. As for the experience, Pat said the family had mixed feelings about roughing it for all those months. "The kids tolerated it, but it was good for them because it taught them what they could live without. They did love living in the woods, however. As for Ray and me, there were times when it got frustrating. But overall, it was a wonderful experience. Maybe that's because we both have a pioneering spirit." Fairview Forest Homeowners' Association   •   101 Fairview Forest Drive   •   Fairview, NC 28730