t'ville's skyscraper

 

 

 

Bill Stone had a vision. Bill Dugan sold him a cheap piece of land next to his cabin on the river in Thomasville, and Bill Stone put in giant cement pilings. And reinforced the riverbank with cages full of rocks. He remembers the flood. Then he bought a bowling alley floor. And then he started building up.

   But he likes to cook, particularly crawdads and seafood, so first he built an outdoor kitchen on a deck overlooking the river. (That is not his outdoor kitchen above—that is the "indoor" kitchen, though the glass garage door and window over the sink roll up to another deck over the river that make it almost outdoors.) To the outdoor kitchen, he added a smoker, and a large screen TV to watch football games. I asked, aren't you afraid the rain is going to wreck it? He said, "Nah."

That's Dugan's house on the left, more typical of T'ville than Stone's extravaganza. The two Bills disagree on about everything politically, but they get along fine as (very close) neighbors. 

    All of these decks overhang the river. 

 

Much of the wood came from local lumberyards (except the bowling alley floor), and Stone clearly loves wood. He is building what he calls his meditation wall.

 And he lovingly pointed out the alien and the doggy in the grain on his bowling alley floor.

He is particularly proud of the lavish stove in his indoor-outdoor kitchen.

In the upstairs there is only one bedroom and a bathroom. The bath has no mirror, but rather a window to the river. "I don't need to look at myself," he says. Stone and his wife live in town about a half an hour away, but he and his crew work in T'ville. 

  "Does your wife come out much?" I asked.

  "Nah. She don't like it here." 

  "So this is your bachelor pad?"

  "More like the doghouse."

The downstairs bathroom features the below.

 The place is obviously a work in progress. Such furnishings as there are seem surprisingly mimsy for such an industrial design. But Stone is clearly having a wonderful time creating this artwork in his off hours. I will try to take a picture of the front of the house next time I am there. I meant to post this up long ago, but pictures are so slow to upload here in BI that it took me a while.