What’s in a Name? Plenty if You Live in Big Canoe…
You searched for months, spent endless hours on the Internet looking for Big Canoe homes, and have finally found the home of your dreams. It’s perfect in every way! The furnishings, paint, and atmosphere reflect your inner soul, and yet you have the toughest hill ahead of you…now it’s time to NAME your home!!!
One of the best parts about a drive through Big Canoe is the cute and clever home names that dangle happily where our mailboxes should be. Perhaps it’s the equivalent to the American flag on the Moon. Your quest is over and you get to do a victory dance to tell the whole world (or whomever drives by your home in Big Canoe) who you are in a short phrase carved in wood at the end of your doorstep. Some of my favorites are: Bada Bing, More Cowbell, Incommunicado, Viewtopia, Mountain Zen, I Love View, No Guts-No Glory, Almost Heaven, High Cotton, Changes in Altitude (they were from Florida ;D) and the Luv Shak.
There are common themes up here regarding bears, mountains, views, and various wildlife. Each sign, once hung becomes a part of the character of Big Canoe. A perfect example is at the corner of Wake Robin and Petit Ridge there is a home named “R House”. This simple sign has been a staple on whether or not people find my home on Trout Lily Trail. True Story; my daughter was having a birthday party and I actually included the “R House” in the directions as a landmark. The party started at 3 and by 3:30 the calls started pouring in from lost guests who couldn’t find Wake Robin because they never saw the R House sign. I thought they were just giving me an excuse so I drove out to the house and low and behold, the R House sign was MISSING! Turns out the owners were having it redone. Luckily it wasn’t too hard to round up my guests who were circling Sanderlin Mountain. I finally met the owners of the R House and they thought it was hilarious when I told them the story and promised me that they would notify me of any future changes.
There are many residents who simply prefer to hang their names up on their posts. This is probably the best and easiest way for your friends to find you. But the folks that name their homes whether you like the name or not have put some time and effort into these little banners. So I hope this has helped to stir up your imagination and choose the perfect name for your house.
Sincerely,
Karin-of the ‘Trout Lily Nut House’
PS – Once you do find your house name give Arliss Brigman a call at his home in Big Canoe. He hand makes signs and posts.
~Karin Elliott is resident of the North Georgia mountain Community of Big Canoe. See all Karin’s Big Canoe Real Estate Listings here. Read more about living in Big Canoe in her blog Life in Big Canoe, Real Estate in the Mountains.
May 18th, 2008 at 10:35 pm
‘Trout Lily Nut House’….so true. Some of the residents have come up with some really creative names! I still laugh when I think about my brother telling me about driving through a DIFFERENT North Georgia area and seeing a rental home with a sign hanging out front that said “The Woods Have Eyes.” Bad marketing choice there….
May 20th, 2008 at 10:19 pm
Peter says:
Very interesting blog! I too live in Big Canoe and enjoy seeing the numerous original names residents put on their home’s address posts. We have some very creative homeowners in our “mountain paradise!”
May 24th, 2008 at 7:22 pm
Funny and true story….We stayed at this beautiful house with my parents. I love them, but they are from the hills of Arkansas if you know what I mean:) Anyway, my father finally spoke up and said in his very country accent ” This is such a great house, I just don’t understand why they would name it after wine! Why not just call it Mountain Moonshine” I took me a minute, but I finally realized the problem. I said “Uh, dad… you are probably thinking about Zin, which is short for Zinfandel. This house is called Zen which is Japanese for meditation or peace”. I had to give him credit though, Mountain Moonshine would be a good name too.
May 25th, 2008 at 3:01 pm
Ha Ha, funny story Mike
I agree that Mountain Moonshine would be a great name, and it’s one I haven’t seen up here yet. Thanks for the hilarious comment!
June 4th, 2008 at 9:56 am
I will miss having this amazing Big canoe home. I do wonder what the next guest will name it though? It looks so small and “cabin like” from this outside shot. Its hard to believe it’s so huge inside with such a great layout.
June 11th, 2008 at 11:30 am
We’ve stayed in Mountain Zen a couple times. It has the perfect layout for family gatherings and the back decks are awesome. I would love to have a place like this to call home!
K
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