In the late 1940s, Ellis Slater, an executive in the House of Seagram, decided to move from his urban New York surroundings to the fescue rich countryside of Landrum. He methodically purchased several thousand acres and established Caroland Farms.

To locate his home, Slater surveyed his land and chose a hillside, which offered the best view of his holdings. The view is indeed worthy of much admiration – rolling hills to the east and west and the Applachian Mountains to the north. The view to the south is of large fields where Tryon Hounds can be seen jumping over hedgerows and coops.

Carter Brown was employed to design Slater’s home. Brown was a transplant from Michigan, specifically, Metamora Hunt Country. He came to the area to foxhunt and designed seven homes for members of the hunt, which have become local landmarks. Still Point, finished in the early 1950s, was his last effort.

The rustic elegance of the home’s construction materials is a trait for which Carter Brown is best known. Weathered wood salvaged from old barns and rough hewn beams, reclaimed log walls and stone and brick chimneys make up the house.

In many houses across the country the kitchen is the real heart of the home, and Still Point is no exception to this rule. Here, this spacious room boasts fairly distinct cooking, eating and sitting areas, complete with a fireplace.

Open fires play quite a role in this household, where there are a total of five fireplaces.

The dining room adjacent to the kitchen is framed in beams and painted a brick red with a floor of slate. The spiral staircase, which leads down from the second floor, is the great hall with balcony at one end and straw plaster ceilings rising to a peak at least 15 feet above the viewer.

Everywhere there are surprises – curved doors opening under the staircase, an anteroom off the great hall, fireplaces and even a narrow, hidden staircase leading to the balcony.

A series of paddocks surround the home, making its setting more than ideal for this family of keen horse riders.

The Tour of Homes, presented as a fundraiser by the Green Blades Garden Club, is a self-guided driving tour held on Saturday, April 30. Hours of the tour are 10 a.m. – 4 p.m.

Tickets may be purchased at the Book Shelf, Vines & Stuff and Down to Earth Garden Center in Tryon, Accents on Main, PJ’s Fashions and Expressions Florist in Landrum and the Garden Patch and Flower Cottage in Columbus.

On the day of the tour, tickets will be sold at each of the homes as well as the Park on Trade.

For more information call Helen Gilbert at 828-894-2491.