Posts Tagged ‘VA waterfront homes’

Blue Waters, Green Fairways, Golden Sands– Check Out This Fine Lot In Bay Creek Golf Resort, Cape Charles, Virginia

Friday, May 13th, 2011

Itching to hit the links and swing into some great Eastern Shore golf ?   What better way to enjoy a  relaxed  golf  lifestyle than to build a custom home on this large lot for sale overlooking a deep green fairway just minutes away from the shining blue waters of the Chesapeake Bay and the soft golden sands of Bay Creek’s several  miles of  beach  ?   In 2010,  Bay Creek Golf Resort,  a waterfront golf community currently comprised of  10 separate residential villages centered around an  18 hole Arnold Palmer Signature course and an 18 hole  Jack Nicklaus Signature course,  was chosen as  one of the top 50 golf resorts by GolfWorld and it was  the 12th ranked resort course in the US,   great praise indeed.   Located in one of  Bay Creek’s  most beautiful villages,  Heron Pointe,  this lot has a view of one of the little lakes  and its lovely waterfall which features a stunning large bronze sculpture of a blue heron ( of course, what else ) standing on a bronze log  in a  little pool just below the waterfall,  a special custom commission by the developer.

As one of the most upscale villages at Bay Creek,  Heron Pointe is home to a number of  luxurious properties.  Located in the area of  Bay Creek Resort where the Chesapeake Bay and Old Plantation Creek intersect,  it is the neighborhood where the influence of being surrounded by water is felt most vividly–  most of the Heron Pointe lots have some  saltwater views or front on one of its several freshwater lakes.  Indeed,  several of the most talked-about waterfront holes of  Bay Creek’s  Arnold Palmer Signature Course wind through Heron Pointe,  including  the famed holes # 1 and #3,  which have been called some of the finest golf holes  in Virginia.  Hole #1 is so impressive– as you look down the long,  long  fairway you see what appear to be  large white “petals” of  a  huge flower lying on the ground near the approach to the green.  A pretty tricky flower however,  sort of like a Venus flytrap,  because once you get caught in one of these  sand  “petals”  it can be quite difficult to get out,  as I’m sure as many a Bay Creek golfer will attest !    

Located just beyond the flower petal shaped sand traps is the elegant  reproduction of  Old Plantation Flats Light,  built by Bay Creek in 2004 as a a replica of  the unusually shaped original 1886 lighthouse which stood in the  Chesapeake Bay near Cape Charles for many years.   Sited in a small freshwater lake at the very edge of the Bay and the beach, this impresssive  reproduction features an antique  fog bell from a retired buoy and a new Fresnel fourth order lens.  One can stand on the lighthouse deck and by gazing east,  overlook  much of  Heron Pointe.  A glance south nets a great view of the  # 2 green on the Palmer course,  located just at the edge of the Chesapeake Bay, overlooking  the broad sand beaches.  Certainly the lighthouse is  a great place to stand and watch the ships go by on the horizon,  a grand place to enjoy the spectacular sunsets over the Bay. 

 And for the icing on the cake,  from this Heron Pointe lot it’s only a few minutes to the Chesapeake Bay marina,  clubhouse,  pool, tennis courts and the many other golf community amenities.  All this and a chance to enjoy the special beauty of the Eastern Shore comes as a complete package,  gift-wrapped and topped with a spectacular bow,  with the purchase of  this spacious 3/4th acre building lot in Heron Pointe,  most attractively priced at $149,000.  Visit the Blue Heron website and see more golf properties as well as beachfront,  boating,  historic and town & country properties at  www.blueheronva.com .

Wander Down Dogwood Lane and You Will Discover This Elegant Frank Lloyd Wright Inspired Home

Tuesday, May 10th, 2011

Wander down Dogwood Lane near Belle Haven, VA  in the springtime  and  you will see it is well-named,  profuse with beautiful clumps of its namesake trees, pink and white  flowers set against a backdrop of  the broad blue waters of Occohannock Creek,  a saltwater inlet from the Chesapeake Bay on the Eastern Shore of Virginia.  And gently rising  from a  gorgeous wooded setting is this elegant contemporary  home,  inspired by the architectural traditions of  Frank Lloyd Wright.  Perfectly integrated into its wooded waterfront homesite,  it maintains  the essential elements of  Wright’s   “prairie”  style,  the low horizontal lines of the home,  very open  interior spaces,  nearly flat roof lines with overhanging eaves,  bands of horizontal windows as well as clerestory windows, a central chimney  and solid craftsmanship.  But  a very special and unique architectural element has been added to this particular prairie style home,   an element which brings it into perfect harmony with the coastal traditions of the Eastern Shore of Virginia.  

Designed by the architect son of the original owners,  this home is reminiscent of a ship,  the center portion of the home symbolizing  the stack and the brick terrace towering over  the shoreline as the prow.  It is a very attractive design,  different, bold and exciting.   One of  Wright’s central tenets was that  a “good building is not one which hurts the landscape but rather one which makes the landscape more beautiful than it was before the building was built.”  Certainly this property qualifies in every sense,  the home  looks completely natural  and in tune with the site,  almost as if it had been grown from the land itself,  the deep colors of the California redwood exterior blending in perfectly with the surrounding trees and colorful flowering shrubs,  each complementing the other and providing an attractive contrast to the blues of the waterfront beyond.

The  history of the creation of the “prairie” style architecure  is quite interesting.  At the turn of the 20th century, Frank Lloyd Wright and a group of like-minded architects were striving to come up with an alternative to what they perceived as the over-embellishment and fussiness  of the then-prevailing European styles like Victorian, Tudor, etc.  They wanted to create something which had cleaner,  more simple lines.  By designing long homes with low silhouettes,  horizontal lines and open interior spaces they were creating homes designed to be built on large lots,  in more  open spaces.  These new styles  contrasted sharply from the tall narrow homes with closed in interiors so popular in cities at the time.   When Wright wrote an article about a  home he had just designed in the new style and entitled it  ” A Home in A Prairie  Town”,  a name and a  style were born.

As magnificant inside as out,  the interior of this home gleams with the rich polished redwoods,  accented by soft recessed lighting, pointed up by the use of interesting ornamental lamps throughout.  This is a bold house,  a house that is quite modern, a house that requires contemporary furnishings and modern art.  Actually, the house itself truly is a work of art– it’s clear that a great deal of thought was given to the visual appeal of each design detail,  even down to where to place the most interesting boards, the ones with the most intricate swirls and grains,  installing them in locations where the most beautiful boards would be at eye-level.   Shapes have been elevated to an art form in this home,  a small powder room with a 12 foot ceiling,  a short entry corridor opening into a rectangular great room overlooking a triangular patio, an intricate dining room with its focal point being a triangular shaped fireplace projecting into the room,  the kitchen a long, sleek galley with a pass-through into a long corridor overlooking the water which links the dining room and the great room.  The  bedrooms comprise a complete wing of the house,  long bands of windows suffuse soft  light throughout  the wing’s hallway,  the master bedroom placed at the end to allow for a private little deck which overlooks the woods of the front yard.  The tray ceiling of  the master bedroom blends down into a unique redwood triangular shape embossed panel  above the bed and the same panel is replicated in the bathroom, perfect for contemplating while taking a long bubble bath. 

This is a house that is so amazing inside that it could be easy to ignore the outside grounds if they too were not spectacular.  Two huge oak trees anchor the mature landscaping, with hollies, azaleas, camillias landscaped through the pines and dogwoods, right  down to the shoreline along Occohannock Creek,  a tidal saltwater inlet from the Chesapeake Bay offering shimmering blue views.

  The dock on the property is perfect for small boats and kayaks,  and the  inlet offers easy access to the Bay and all sorts of fishing, crabbing, etc., all in only about 15 minutes.   The front approach to the home has been landscaped with small white stones which the owner has raked into a labyrinth design,  the contours of the white stones in sharp contrast to the dark pebbles of the circular driveway beyond.   This incredible home is absolutely perfect for anyone seeking a strong contemporary feel in a waterfront environment and is attractively priced at $549,000.  (More info at www.blueheronva.com )