After a serendipitous Sunday drive, two Tennessee empty nesters trade the neon of Nashville to patiently restore a seen-better-days barn on 83 bucolic acres.
While empty nesters Karol Ann and Chris DeLong always planned to retire in the country, it’s safe to say they never thought they would live in a barn. “We both grew up in small towns, so we had a desire to get out of Nashville and move into a small community where we could get involved,” says Chris. “We started taking Sunday drives, trying to find just the right spot.” One Sunday, the couple discovered tiny Santa Fe, Tennessee (population: 300), and a few days later, they found themselves in a bidding war at an auction for an 83-acre property, complete with an old farmhouse, a smokehouse, a chicken coop, and a rickety barn. “There were probably 100 people there, but we got it,” he says. “And then we shook a lot of hands and assured the locals that we had good intentions for the place.”
This story is from the June 2018 edition of Country Living.
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This story is from the June 2018 edition of Country Living.
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