1145 Meadow Run Road Southeast , Copper Hill, VA 24079(Floyd County)

In 1866 the Civil War over and many dissenting Floyd Countians finally were able to return home. Mark Henry Custer returned to his log cabin in Check and decided to build a farmhouse with the help of relatives. The pine boards for the walls, ceilings and floors of the house were harvested on this property. The bricks were made on the property and several are stamped with Union, Our Flag and Union Forever and some are dated 1866. When the house was first built, it was comprised of a central hall, 2 large rooms downstairs and upstairs and a front porch which extended the length of the house. The kitchen was in a separate building in the front yard. Sometime around the turn of the century, a wing was added on the back which included a kitchen on the first floor and a bedroom and cellar above which have been converted to a bathroom and laundry. Central heat and plumbing were not installed until the 1980s.

One of Mark Henrys sons, Claude Clarence Custer, was a farmer and a Primitive Baptist minister. He and his wife Mattie raised 7 children in the house. The house stood vacant for years after it was sold on the courthouse steps in 1966 (children by Mark Henrys two wives were not able to agree about the disposition of the home place, so a public auction resulted). Someone bought the acreage for the timber on it and the house was left to ruin. If it had not been so well built, it would not have survived.

In the 1970s, a man who was retiring from the Armed Services bought the place and began to restore it. He added plaster board to all of the walls and ceilings as well as central heat and plumbing. It was not until the current owner, Preston Boggess, purchased the home in the mid 1980s, that the wide pine boards behind the plaster board were uncovered, new pine floors were added downstairs and a dining room was added on the west side of the home. The original central stairs and upstairs bedroom floors have exposed wooden and metal nails which were made on the property. The root cellar which is entered off the dining room has the furnace, water heater and pantry shelving. There is a tile floor and concrete walls in this room.

Although the house is old, it has been modernized in a number of ways which make it more comfortable and energy efficient. Anderson double pane casement windows were installed in the entire house in 2017. The front and side doors downstairs have been replaced with energy efficient fiberglass doors. The kitchen was renovated in 2000 with Corian countertops and sinks and cherry cabinets in the Shaker style. There is also a whole-house attic fan. A local, renowned master woodworker, Ernest Bryant, built the cabinets in the kitchen and the floor to ceiling bookshelves in the downstairs study. There are added features such as a built in desk and filing cabinets, hand carved mahogany critters in the upper corners of the kitchen and dining room, all of which are indigenous to Floyd County. Each of the mantels in the living room and the study (both of which have Vermont Casting wood stoves) have been hand carved by Bryant, one showing the property from an eagles eye view, one showing the Caduceus symbol (Boggess was a physician) and both displaying the name which Boggess daughter, Shelley, gave the property, Pine Springs. Some of the wood for the updates by Bryant were obtained from the property, in the spirit of the original construction of the home. Both chimneys are original and were lined and capped over the past 10 years.

The entire exterior of the farmhouse was painted in 2017. The original metal roofs and the wood weatherboarding were carefully sanded to bare surfaces, and painted with high quality paint. Every crevice was caulked. The painter is a young man, named Adam Welles and would be an excellent resource for further painting on the property.

There is wooden fencing around the east side of the yard which allows for safe play for dogs or children.

There is a natural spring near the entrance to the property which was the Custer familys only source of water for many years until a well was dug in the 1980s. This spring and springhouse can be restored it to its former glory.

A shop to the north west of the home was the original granary where the cows were milked and hay and grain were stored. It has been restored and rebuilt, adding concrete floors and electricity but maintaining the distinctive line of the building.

In addition to these original buildings, a 3 stall garage with a full attic was added to the property in the 1980s. Around 2010 2 wood sheds (one has a concrete floor, double garage doors and electricity) were also added to the property. Both the granary and the 3 stall garage have well water which is accessed by outdoor pumps and have functional wood stoves.

In 2001 the current owners built a cottage as an aging in place space on the farm. This A-frame home is on the hill to the north of the farmhouse and is comprised of a great room, a kitchen with beautiful hemlock cabinets, a laundry room and a full bath with a shower built for wheel chair access. There is propane stove in the living room and a large deck on the front of the house with a motorized retractable awning. Upstairs is a study, which could be converted into a bedroom, a bedroom and a full bath with Jacuzzi tub. There is a small deck off the bedroom and the study has ground access since the house was built into a hillside. This cottage has 9 solar tubes for lots of natural light. In 2017 a new roof 40 year architectural shingled roof was added and the warranty does convey. This building has a heat pump for each floor.

A well was dug for the cottage when it was built which serves both the cottage and farmhouse.

In 2007, a 2 stall garage with a studio apartment over it was built to the north east of the cottage. This building has 6 dormers, greatly increasing the square footage of the apartment. There are decks to the east and west, a full bath, laundry room and fully equipped kitchen. In the garage are several sturdy shelves which convey. There is a half bath. There is a wire fenced area for dogs. Heat and air conditioning in the studio is by a mini-split HVAC unit. The garage and studio apartment has its own well.

The entire property has southern exposure. There is space for free-standing solar panels and garden. This property could easily be sustainable or off the grid. There is a stream on the western perimeter. There is a lane which winds through the property, part of which is paved.

About 10 acres of the property where the buildings mentioned above are clustered are landscaped with easy care shrubs. There is a 3 tier rock garden, a bricked patio and large deck off the farmhouse dining room. The property has been mowed by a neighbor for the last 25 years and he would be happy to work for new owners.