Take a picture of this: your whole family spread out in one big room!
(If this gives you the cold chills, skip to bottom of page.)
The littles will be bouncing from guitar hero with their siblings to jigsaw puzzles with the crazy aunts to reading a book sitting in grandma’s lap to chasing each other outside to raiding the kitchen where grandpa is cooking dinner and back to the beginning at a pace that only the youthful can attain.
Some people have this everyday. For them, I recommend a quiet cabin in the woods, just big enough for two. (And I am jealous)
Is it just me, or is spring break splattered all over the calendar now days? We have dear friends that we would love to go on spring break vacation with (not sure if they want to go with us but…) Anyway, our school calendars never match up. Or, that’s what they tell me anyway. So we happily settle for a quick weekend somewhere in the middle and make the best of it.
What are some of your childhood family get together memories?
Our guests always rank cleanliness at the very top of the scale on the exit surveys— something we are very proud of and work hard to ensure. Actually, now that I add them up, it is easily the highest-rated category. Looks like we need to work on signs, and we don’t answer the phone or respond to emails fast enough. (Why is everyone looking at me?)
So it was not a surprise to see this in the mail, and though it is not the first time, I had to take a pic and show it off.
Puddles. I hope this is my nickname in my old age.
I was talking to a guest and he was going on about what a great area the Gorge is, how much he liked the cabins, how private and peaceful it was, and how great restaurants in Fayetteville were. And then he asked, “Why don’t you fix the road?”
I knew immediately what he was talking about. You see, we have a long driveway, not really a road so much. It’s not a great road. It is really not even a great driveway.
I would like to see a strip of grass down the middle making it more of a two-track from my childhood, but… fix it? No WAY! Those puddles are staying!
Cities and fancy resorts and gated communities— these kinds of places have speed bumps. We have Speed PUDDLES! Yep, speed puddles. Some call them chuck holes or potholes or any number of endearing terms, but to us, they are speed puddles.
Speed Puddles
They don’t have much affect on humans.
This one had a life of it’s own so we had to fill it in.
These are our style.
The straight away has lots of speed puddles to remind you to relax.
You see it is a one-lane gravel driveway, not a road. And if you are going too fast, you will miss something you don’t want to miss. I mean, you do want to miss the puddles, and you can work around them if you slow down enough. And you don’t want to miss all the cool things we have seen on the driveway.
Slow down, look around and relax. The mud will wash off.
Besides, they are a good weather gauge: if the puddles are dry we need rain. They have not been dry too much this year.
Come check out our speed puddles and slow down a little. You will like it.
I don’t want to mow these beauties!Another reason why I hate to mow…
I hate to mow! Especially hate it in the spring when all the pretty flowers are coming up. Only two of the cabins really have yards; The Meadows and The Farm House. All the others are in the woods.
Freshly mowed, and saved some flowers
But even with just two yards, we still have to mow.
The Farm House has rich bottom land and a lush yard that requires constant mowing or it will quickly become a jungle. Good thing it is a small, oddly-shaped yard.
The Meadows is another beast entirely. We have worked very hard to get grass to grow on the hard clay ground there, and now it does. Too well sometimes. There are several acres of grass to cut, hence the name The Meadows. The old garden spot is truly a meadow at this point, and we have never mowed it.
It’s not that we don’t appreciate nicely mowed grounds, especially if there’s a tee box and green on either end of it. Those long, even, alternating stripes are beautiful and hold such promise and challenge.
But we don’t have the patience to make our yards look like a golf course. After all, these are cabins in the woods in the country. So, just keep this in mind, and don’t be surprised if the grass is a little tall and the flowers a little taller when you show up for your cabin vacation.
Yes, we are rule breakers. School does not teach us this skill but we entrepreneurs can’t help it. We are made that way.
And you can be too.
Everyone has rules. I don’t know why but we do. My job has always been to bend or break them. Just ask my parents.
Opossum Creek Retreat has rules just like everyone else. The big difference between us and them is that we are happy to break the rules for you. Well, except the no smoking in the cabin rule. That one is not negotiable.
Let Us Break The Rules For You
I got a very nice note from a future guest about how she had spent 4 hours on our website (OMG! 4 hours! Are you okay? Did you stop for water?), her whole trip was planned when she saw THE RULE about minimum stay. Crushed, she sent a note explaining her situation. As it turns out we have room to make a shorter stay work for she and her lucky husband. He will be so surprised!
We are very fortunate to have a job that allows us to make people happy everyday. Even if that means we have to break a few rules along the way.
So get some really good rule breaking tips. Then get out there and break some rules! Just nothing that might end up with you in handcuffs.
Hmm, unless you can get a home confinement sentence and the judge lets you serve it at one of the cabins.
I see a potential “Cottage” industry here. “Special rates for longer stays”. “Nonviolent Offender Discount.”
Recent guest Clinton Curtis wrote this blog post about his recent stay at Opossum Creek with his family.
Clinton and Megan
My wife and I created a ritual this year – coinciding with the Chinese New Year we would escape to a secluded location in the mountains with our two daughters to reflect on our lives and plan for the year ahead. Theoretically, we could have done this at home, but to retreat from our daily routines and familiar surroundings added energy and excitement to the process.
We rented a cabin at Opossum Creek Retreat where the stars pierce the ink black sky at night and the only distractions are the wildlife and the gurgling stream.
Fun in the Tub
To some, it may seem like a lot of effort to pack and drive to an offsite location for such an event, but many fortune 500 companies send their employees great distances for such ‘offsite’ meetings because of the unencumbered creativity that ensues. For us, however, the trip from our home to the woodland sanctuary of OCR is all of seven miles!
To describe this phenomenon we’ve borrowed the term ‘staycation’ from the 1970’s book Your Money or Your Life. Our staycation has been even better than expected. We have welcomed the Year of the Dragon in fine fashion, nestled in the tree branches of the eastern woods we love so much.
Our cabin exemplified simplicity and royalty simultaneously, and dipping into the hot tub in midwinter added an element of the mystical.
Our family found a wonderful harmony at OCR and a quiet ability to fulfill our goals. As I mentioned, we have created a ritual, and we plan to return to Opossum Creek Retreat in 2013 to bring in the Year of the Snake!
The name of a business is important. Right? It should tell you a lot, with a little. It should give you an idea of what a company does, where it might be and all that good stuff.
Some business names are great, some aren’t. Check that. Some belong in the “What the hell where you thinkin’?” category.
View from Long Point Trail New River Gorge West Virginia
Which brings us to our name. Opossum Creek Retreat. For many, the only exposure to our name sake is on the highway. More often than not, usually not looking its ‘best’ (Cough..road kill). There has to be quite a few folks wondering what we were thinking.
Spelling and Alphabet
Know who doesn’t like our name? The Alphabet. And regular readers of Webster’s.
When you pick-up an area visitor’s guide, we’re always toward the bottom. The letter ‘O’ is nowhere near the beginning of the Alphabet (you knew that, right?). So, as you might imagine, when listings are done alphabetically we are way down there.
Then, we have to deal with silent letters. We aren’t sure who invented silent letters, but he hates us. Why does it start with an ‘O’? Who knows. Perhaps the spelling was passed down from our Irish ancestors.
Also, turns out, Opossum is kind of hard to spell. Don’t believe us? Check out the July 27th thread on our Facebook Fan Page. It’s very funny. Not really “ha ha” funny but funny as in, “How did any of us pass 4th grade?”. No one can spell Opossum, we even misspell it from time to time!
We’re starting to get a bit of a complex here.
Google’d
As if we weren’t already feeling a bit insecure, Google also hates our name. Like it or not, Google (and Bing) has become the way lots of businesses like us “do” business these days.
It’s the Google-fication of America. Google acts a lot like an old friend at a party full of people we don’t know. It introduces us to great folks we hadn’t the opportunity to meet before. Perhaps someone like you.
Hi. Nice to meet you. Let the ‘Possification begin.
Well, it appears that in order for Google to help introduce us to folks, that might like what we have to offer, Google has to like our name. We wish they liked it more. I could have named the business West Virginia Cabin Rentals. After all, we have cabins for rent and we are in West Virginia. Makes sense right?
Our name doesn’t include the words ‘Cabin Rentals‘. Google frowns a bit.
Our website address doesn’t include the words ‘West Virginia cabin rentals’. Google no-likey.
Our web address and name don’t really say what we have here: rental cabins.
Our guests know we do more than just “rent cabins”. Does Google care? No.
Why We Love Our Name (And Hope You Do Too)
When I named the business more than 15 years ago, Google didn’t exist and the Internet was still a baby. All I was thinking was this: “It’s a cute name and people will remember it”. I think it worked. Many repeat guest have remembered it and have returned time and time again.
Cabin Rentals in West Virginia
We love our name. It does tell you about what we do, and where we are. Proof? The Farm House, our first rental, sits on the banks of Opossum Creek.
Our goal, the same as 15 years ago, is to provide a place where you can retreat from it all and relax.
Get it? Opossum Creek… Retreat. Our name is here to stay no matter what Google may think of it.
What some people imagine when they hear "cabin in the woods".
For some reason, when you say “Cabin”, lots of people still think of the hunting camp. They imagine a stereotype of a cabin. You know, a moldy, dirty shack. Out house only. We still get people asking if we have running water. Even after they’ve seen our brochure or website.
Cabins 1 and 2 especially are “showcase cabins”. They’re over built for sure. From the ground up, we over did it. The question is, why?
We have a “grandfather clause” at Opossum Creek Retreat. That just means that, when we build a cabin or a table or whatever it is, we want to be able to show our grand children, and they can show theirs. It’s not the traditional meaning of “grandfather clause”, I know. But hey, being able to show generations what you built? That’s a good legacy.
Because the cabins are tucked in the woods, we didn’t want to dig a trench in the ground, cutting all the tree roots in the area. A tree is actually bigger underground than it is above. To minimize the impact of our
West Virginia Cabin rental Cabin 1 from outside
foundations, we dug small holes straight down to the bedrock, drilled into the rock, and tied the steal in the hole then poured cement. We still cut some roots, but only a fraction compared to standard perimeter foundations, and all the trees are still healthy.
These two were framed in conventional stick building style, with a lots of insulting and vapor barrier. All of the siding was sourced locally. We found a saw mill making pressure treated siding from poplar trees. We asked them if we were to buy enough, would they sell it to us before the pressure treating process (highly toxic arsenic)? They agreed, so we pulled a batch out of the production line and we hauled it home. We stained it with some nut oils, which was way nicer than arsenic pressure treated. It’s still in great shape, and should be for a long long time.
The interior trim is from the same mill. Poplar is not as knotty as aptly named knotty pine. It has all the shades and character. We tongue-and-grooved some of it, used it on the ceiling, and used some on the wall (not too much, I think). It’s still mostly drywall for that crisp, clean, this-is-not-a-hunting camp look.
The screened porch came from a different mill nearby. Back then, at the right time of year, mills cut hemlock for tobacco barns and that’s what we got in on. Beautiful golden hemlock wood, sawn post-and-beam with some
Timber frame screened pourch on Cabin rental 1
Japanese’s timber frame joints that one of our builders, Craig, did just for some style points.
You get the idea. A lot of thought and sweat and creativity went into these vacation cabins. You’re going to love them.
The highest compliment we can receive is a repeat guest.
We actually have lots of them. Not bragging or anything. Just saying lots of people come back to Opossum Creek Retreat to stay in their little cabin in the woods. And since that’s what we do, we think it’s a beautiful thing.
Hearts!
Some folks come back several times a year. Others take the same cabin on the same holiday every time (and have for almost a decade). We’ve had guests that will change their vacation plans to get their favorite cabin. That’s not typical, but hey, neither is love.
Everyone’s got a reason. Some people say we saved their marriage. Others say we caused theirs. Still others still come back every year with more and more kids, and tell us it all started here. From first dates to first vows, there’s something special about this place (the hot tubs?) that people love to come back to.
Don’t get me wrong. Not everyone comes back. Not everyone gets it (a few really don’t get it: “there are bugs and noises outside the cabin, and the woods were very dark, so we left”). We don’t offer a paved environment, room service, valet parking or street lights lighting up the woods at night. So I guess that means to be prepared to, um, stay in a cabin.
I think (actually, I know) people request a particular cabin from year to year because that cabin in the woods makes them feel comfortable and at peace with the surroundings. They keep memories there, and add to them year after year. It makes us feel good to know they trust us to keep things just so and welcome them back. Very cool.
Each of the cabins has its own personality, and you can see it in the guest book comments. There’s a theme in each one (working on those posts, I promise). They all have the same basic features, but we’ve given them all their own unique touches of wood working and art. What’s the quote about the guy who loves what he does so much that he never has to go to work? That’s me.
I believe our guest come back to the same cabin over and over because it is here they find it easiest place in the world to relax. Just a guess.
And for the record, my own personal favorite cabin is whichever one I fall asleep in when I’m supposed to be doing yardwork 🙂
Clicking on the BOOK NOW tab provides cabin availability. It DOES NOT mean you’ve booked a cabin. After you confirm availability, there are several additional steps required regarding potential dates, minimum stay times, group size, and of course payment information.
If you prefer the peace of mind of speaking with someone to book your stay, Anna is amazing!
