"
Que será, será
Whatever will be, will be
The future's not ours to see
Que será, será
"
Jim and I moved to the DC Metropolitan area in the beginning of 1983.
We rented a small, post war, single story, brick, two bedroom house with a big fenced in backyard in Falls Church, VA. The neighborhood was quiet and our neighbors were diverse in age, ethnicity and economic strata. We were excited about starting our young married lives in the Nation’s Capital. We had both found jobs fairly easily. Some of Jim’s family lived in the area as well as both of our college roommates. We settled into our working routines and enjoyed making new friends and exploring our new home region.
It wasn’t long before we were taking weekend trips to various surrounding areas to see what each had to offer. We still enjoy the Mid-Atlantic region for its wide ranging possibilities of different outdoor experiences - all within just a few hours of our doorstep. To the North are destinations in Pennsylvania, Maryland and up the coast to Delaware and New Jersey beaches. To the East is the Atlantic Ocean and the Chesapeake Bay. To the South are areas of historic significance; Jamestown, Williamsburg, and Monticello to name a few. Travel a little further South and you’re in the rolling mountains of North Carolina. And to the West, of course, is West Virginia!
Part of planning many of these weekend jaunts included indulging ourselves in more thoughts of owning country property. With my West Virginia “Roots”, and my incredibly sentimental nature, the thought of owning a piece of the Mountain State really appealed to me. Jim wasn’t opposed to it either. So, we began looking at “for sale” notices in the newspaper classified sections (this preceded internet searches) for acreage in West Virginia . If we found a few that looked interesting, they were put on the agenda for an upcoming weekend day or overnight trip! We were often accompanied on these scouting expeditions by my college roommate, Paula, and her husband Greg. Greg’s family had owned property in West Virginia when he was growing up, so they shared our interest in the possibility of a weekend retreat.
The areas due West of the DC region quickly became a targeted zone.
By this time we had purchased a home in Northern Virginia, inside the Beltway. Jim had launched an architectural practice with a partner. I was on my second job since we had moved to DC from Cincinnati and we were talking about starting a family. We wanted our “getaway” to be an easy, enjoyable ride away. So we narrowed our searches to land that could be reached in under 3 hours from our new home. If you're interested in a similar approach, check this link out on Trip Savvy!
Many of the properties and acreage that we looked at were in the Lost River Valley in West Virginia. Sometimes we contacted and met local real estate agents, sometimes we were in touch with the property owners themselves, and sometimes we just followed our noses and hoped to find something interesting - somewhere that was beautiful. These were fun adventures and we met lots of colorful characters along the way.
We eventually came across a couple of places that appealed to us enough that we had to give some thought as to how we would actually finance a purchase. Our new home had enough immediate equity available in it to allow us the chance to refinance and have modest funds available for such a commitment. So we set ourselves a “not to exceed” number and kept up the search. Jim and I both agreed that if we found a property that we liked and we pursued its purchase, if it was meant to be - it was meant to be! If it fell through then it just wasn’t the right piece of property for us. Que será será!
We stayed a couple of times at The Guesthouse Lost River while we were on the hunt. It is a beautiful, charming, comfortable place with hospitality galore.
We were becoming more and more enamored with the areas in this beautiful valley. We would find places to camp for weekend overnights or just drive over for the day and cruise back roads. We investigated Trout Pond (when it was still rather large) and tried various routes in and out of the area.
We found favorite places to stop for ice cream or dinner or to go hiking. The more we explored the more we hoped that we would find our little piece of “Almost Heaven” here in this scenic portion of Hardy County, WV. We knew it was only a matter of time until the right place found us!
"Que Será, Será" is a song written by the team of Jay Livingston and Ray Evans that was first published in 1955. Doris Day introduced it in the Alfred Hitchcock film The Man Who Knew Too Much, singing it as a cue to their onscreen kidnapped son.