Part of what we enjoy at The Spires is introducing future residents of The Spires at Berry College to some of our favorite spots in and around Berry College’s campus.
We recently took our future residents on a special tour of the House o’ Dreams – the large stone and board-and-batten cottage on top of Lavender Mountain, which overlooks the future site of The Spires.
While referred to as a cottage, the House o’ Dreams is much more. First, it sits some 1,360 feet above sea level and 600 feet higher than the Frost Memorial Chapel which is the tallest point on Berry College’s campus. And from the House o’ Dreams and its water/fire towner, you can see beyond the future home of The Spires and beyond Rome’s city limits. You can see as far as neighboring states including Alabama and Tennessee.
For our tour we were guided by members of Berry College’s Advancement team, led by Helen Lansing, the school’s senior planned giving officer.
We were able to enjoy the views, as well as learn about the history of the House o’ Dreams – including that Marth Berry, the college’s founder, used the house for retreats and to entertain. The house’s grounds are patterned after the grounds of Castle Nemi in Italy, where Miss Berry’s sister Eugenia Ruspoli lived.
Today, the House o’ Dreams is still used by Berry College’s faculty, staff and students for meetings and days of “dreaming.”
We spent our afternoon dreaming of what’s to come at The Spires and learning more about the history of Berry College.
