BRINGING LAND AND PEOPLE TOGETHER HARMONIOUSLY

Story by Grant S. Green

Summer has passed and rich color fills the creek- side woodland where Leslie and Al McWilliams have built their "cabin." It is situated on 80 acres in The Woods, one of four large mountain communities offered by Jimmy and Barry Wagner. Leslie and Al bought 26 acres three years ago and were so enamored with the high woodsy setting they quickly acquired more of the beautiful land where the Cumberland Plateau tumbles down into the most gorgeous valley in Tennessee-the Sequatchie.

Walking along a favorite trail, Leslie, a Chattanooga attorney with a booming family practice, waves an arm as if to introduce a canopy of orange leaves, "We were looking for a weekend home, but that changed when we saw all this-we bought it on the spot." Her dogs, Dixie, Little Bit, Claude, Boy and Bear lope past us along the trail and scramble down a ravine after a squirrel.

The home the couple has chosen to build incorporates solar technologies along with a wood stove for supplemental heat to create the kind of natural environment they were looking for. She notes that there are other kinds of properties, some secluded, some farm-like, "but out here you can be who you want to be," she adds. Al, who is in management at Rodeway in Nashville, works for several days at a stretch, and comes home for as many more. They enjoy four-wheeling and hiking, and well-trees. Her 50-minute commute into downtown Chattanooga is made easier with Highway 111, which was completed in 1994.

According to McWilliams, "The drive is incredibly beautiful. By the time I'm over the mountain, I'm completely relaxed." The broad valley stretches across Sequatchie and Bledsoe counties and is just 22 miles from Fall Creek Falls State Park. The park is made up of over 20,000 acres of rugged terrain and is one of the top US Parks in the Southeast. Fall Creek Falls is the highest waterfall east of the Rocky Mountains and plunges 256 feet into a shady pool at the base of the gorge. Since Jimmy Wagner started a national advertising campaign and developed an Internet presence at www.landintennessee.com, hundreds of people have come through looking for the perfect place-near all this natural beauty-for a first or second home. Some, like Bob and Cindy Wilson of Plano, Texas have bought property here for a retirement home. "It was completely unspoiled," says Cindy. "We liked Jimmy's attitude about the land-he was interested in protecting it." Although Cindy still works from her home, they were beginning their search for a place to retire, and the choices were almost overwhelming. Bob was from North Carolina originally and Cindy was from the East Coast. They wanted to live in the Central Time zone, in a state with a favorable tax structure, amid a landscape of mountains and trees. One night while browsing the Internet, they located the Fredonia Mountain acreage that would become theirs. "His photos were beautiful," says Wilson. The couple had been looking in the Maryville area, but most of the developers seemed desperate to make money, tearing down most of the trees. "One developer kept saying, 'Look, you can see the Interstate from here,' he just didn't get it."

Jimmy Wagner was a breath of fresh air for the couple. Cindy adds, "He's been a joy to work with, putting us in touch with dependable people, from builders to bankers to insurance people in Dunlap-and that's important when you are out of town." The Wilsons expect construction on their home to be complete in the spring of 2001. Jimmy Wagner's enlightened attitude toward land use has found a following in nearby Dunlap, Tennessee.

Restaurant owners Don and Colleen Fehn have found a place of total serenity on their 11 acres out in Fredonia Mountain's Greenfields community. The home site is a 35-minute drive from the family-owned Fehns restaurant, in Hixson, Tennessee. The Fehns are on a different schedule from most 9-to-5 working couples, so rush hour is not a factor for them, but they look forward to being away from the frenetic pace of the work.

"You should see the stars out here at night," says Don. He and Colleen walk daily and they're avid gardeners. They plan to keep some wooded acreage and cultivate some pasture. "We bought it because of its natural beauty and uniqueness. It's a nice setting that is going to be different from so many cookie-cutter developments," he adds.

The little town of Dunlap has an estimated population of 5,000 with about 5,000 more people living in the county. George Wagner is mayor of Dunlap and also happens to be Jimmy Wagner's father. He grew up hunting and fishing in the valley, has owned a number of successful businesses here and probably knows it as well as anyone. "People from all over have discovered this beautiful valley and they think its heaven," he says. "Its near Chattanooga, has low taxes and a low crime rate." He quickly runs down the list of light industries in the area, Tecumseh Corporation, High Country Archery, and a parachute manufacturer. With the new office of the Southeast Career Center, a state-funded training facility designed to upgrade the skills of the local workforce, located in nearby Dayton; Wagner is optimistic about the economy of the valley. And today he's delighted because a Japanese company that manufactures tubing is looking into the new industrial park. "We're growing, but we still have that small-town feeling," Wagner says with a certain amount of pride.

Brothers Barry and Jimmy bring more to the table for homeowners than do many developers. Having grown up in the valley they are attuned to its rhythms and have a vision for its future. Both are physicians with a host of accomplishments behind them. Barry is chairman and founder of the Cumberland Medical Center and is board certified in emergency medicine in Georgia and Tennessee. Jimmy is a retired medical doctor who moved back home from his practice in Fort Lauderdale, Florida with a desire to see his hometown grow in a way that would preserve the beauty of the valley for generations to come. To this end he looks for people who understand and share his philosophy.

"We let the land determine the size and shape of these properties by using natural boundaries like hollows, ridges and streams. It prevents drastic change and allows people to be better stewards.

"I always ask what type of property they're looking for-deep woods, fields and ponds, rock formations or mountain views, and I tell them to pay no attention to the plat, just look at the land, if you don't feel better when you're on that land, then its not for you-there's got to be something therapeutic in being there."

"Wagner is focused to a fault, and he's made the cultivation of these communities-matching landowners to land-a science, although it sounds more like an Eastern religious philosophy. And most of his new neighbors are awfully glad he goes to such lengths. Don Fehn remarks, "Usually after you've made a purchase the developer just disappears, but we see a long-term commitment and never-ending enthusiasm from Jimmy."

Reprinted from Chattanooga Magazine, Fall 2000