How It All Started: A Love Story That Turned Into a Dream in the Woods

It All Started: A Love Story That Turned Into a Dream in the Woods

It all began fourteen years ago, before cabins, before trails, before we even knew what our future would look like.

Just LaNae and me on our very first hike together — one week after we met at a mutual friend’s party in Charleston WV.

I saw her across the room and she stopped me cold. The most beautiful woman there… hell, the most beautiful woman I had ever seen.

Those blue eyes. That heart-shaped face. She just floored me.

So I walked over, shrugging off frustration — wearing my favorite shirt, which had just gotten a smear of grease on it thanks to someone brushing past with a drinks and food— took one deep breath like a man bracing for impact, and said hello. And that was it. Locked in. Instant connection.

Next day we met for lunch. And after that, we were just… us. Inseparable.

Two years later, we both left our careers to start working on houses together. I’d been doing it since ’97. She was brand new — but within weeks she was blowing me away. A natural. Her finish work was cleaner, sharper, and more precise than anyone I’d ever worked with. We were a perfect match in every sense.

Seven years later, an opportunity fell into our laps. Fourteen wooded acres. A big creek winding through it, a quiet pond, and rolling hills right next to her family’s land.

A place where the world feels a little slower, a little older, a little more magical. We bought it.

Moved our kitchen and bathroom remodeling business to Point Pleasant — home of the Mothman — and set our roots in the very soil her family had walked for generations.

The business did fine, but something deeper kept tugging at us. A pull to step back from the day-to-day grind and finally chase the dream we whispered about for years: Build a place people could escape to. A place full of legends, peace, magic, and West Virginia soul.

Now, 2026 is the year. Most of the groundwork is done. The trails are there. The land is ready.

All that’s left is framing the first cabin and turning those long-held dreams into real walls and warm light in the woods. We’re overwhelmed and excited simultaneously.

We’re finally stepping into the next chapter of our lives — one we’ve been walking toward since that very first hike.