The land presently known as the Summit at Lost Ridge was farmed from the early 1900’s until the early-70’s.The Hodges family had a large house about 1/4 mile above lot 80 on the property known now as the Summit Reserve.  The house burned in the late 20’s but the chimney is still standing.  One of the Hodges children built a cabin on lot 81 in 1938 prior to his marriage.  They lived there several years before he went into the Army during WW II. After the war they settled in the Southwest US.  In 2004, Mickey Ruben (one of the developers of the Summit at Lost Ridge) happened to see an elderly couple (the Hodges) near the bowl area at lot 60.  They were preparing to walk up to the old family house on the Summit Reserve (a 1.5 mile walk with more than 1000 ft elevation change).  They wanted to see it and the old cabin on lot 81.  Both were more than 80 years old so I drove them to the two areas.  This was before Tucker Trail was built and a four wheel drive vehicle was required to get there.  The Mr. Hodge told me the entire area between lot 60 all the way up to the family house was an open field that the family farmed. They were completely self sufficient.  They went to town (Boone) once a month and it was a half day trip. In the early 30’s the Chestnut blight almost stripped the property of all trees.  This disease killed the trees but it did not rot the wood.  The cabin on lot 81 is 100% wormy chestnut.  It still stands and is in reasonably good condition.  Wormy Chestnut is a very sought after and expensive wood.  In the early 70’s a Jim Truelock bought most of the area in the sub-division and built the stone house on lot 77.  The stone was taken from a boulder field adjoining the house.

From the mid-70’s to the mid-90’s it was a working cattle farm. !in 1986 Bud Lawrence bought the property and continued raising cattle.  In 1996, Eddie West, a Baptist Minister bought approximately 240 acres intent on developing a Christian retreat.  During the next three years a number of lots in the first phase were sold. For a variety of reasons this concept of a Christian Retreat proved to be unobtainable.  In 1999 Ken Newsome and other investors bought the property from Eddie West.   In 2003 Michael Ruben and Ken Newsome formed the Summit at Lost Ridge Land Company, LLC and developed the remaining portion of the property except the 73 acres sold to the Summit Reserve and a remaining 55 acre tract adjoining Laurel Branch Road.  Today the development has 71 developed lots that cover approximately 100 acres and an additional 14 acres donated to the Summit at Lost Ridge Property Owners Association.  The common area includes four stocked ponds, the bowl area and a number of overlooks that the Association maintains.

The Realtor currently representing the Summit at Lost Ridge Land Company, LLC is Remax Mountain Places.  Vic Troncalli is the Broker in charge and is the agent who holds the listing. The contact information for Vic and his team is:

Office phone number - 828.963.5478
E-mail address - info@MountainPlaces.com
Web site is:  http://www.mountainplaces.com/

Clicking on the email link will allow you to contact them by email, but check out their web site by clicking on the web site link.  When you are done, be sure to use your browser retunarrow to reconnect with this web site.