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| Home at last (Summer 2006) |
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The globe-trotting Malones found their perfect home in the hills of North Carolina
As soon as Christa and John Malone saw this plot of land nudged by a western North Carolina mountain, they knew it was right for them. It gave them a feeling of peace and serenity. They signed a contract that same day.
“We just knew it was the place for us. We went back to northern Virginia and sold our house and came to Waynesville,” John says. He’d just finished a 30-year career as an economist with the World Bank, a job that took him all over the world. He and Christa lived eight years in Africa and Asia. Christa grew up near Stuttgart, Germany. The couple met in Pittsburgh when John was a graduate student and university teaching assistant.
Falling in love
“A friend wanted to introduce me to a wonderful German girl he’d met. Christa was painting chairs in the basement. She had red paint on the end of her nose. It was love at first sight,” he says. The Malones could have retired anywhere. In fact, they’d already bought a place in the mountains of West Virginia near a ski area but decided it was too remote. Then they fell in love with North Carolina. “For years we had a recurring dream of having a place in the mountains outside a small town with nice people. We knew the minute we saw the place this was it,” Christa says.
They thought about remodeling the old house on the place but chose to tear it down and build a new one on the same spot. They left all of the big trees and old shrubs, and particularly liked the pond out back. By August 2001, the new house was ready. The main thing they needed then was a good place to garden. Christa is a passionate go-getter of a gardener. John likes to try things he learned during all those years of working with agriculture for the World Bank.
While traveling in France, they visited Villandry, a chateau in the Loire Valley, and became enthused about the formal vegetable garden there. It was designed so that vegetable plants in the center were surrounded by gardens of flowering plants. They also wanted a fountain in front of the house, a rose garden, a sunny perennial garden, and very little lawn. A garden designer drew up the plan, and the Malones did the hard shoveling and planting work themselves.
The result: vigorous vegetables provide plenty of food for their table, and a fabulous display of flowers ranging from Dutch iris to vibernum, camelia, roses, hosta, poppies, and others paints their land with color. Christa also raises chickens that turn out eggs for the kitchen. “We started raising chickens in Ethiopia because the egg supply was so iffy. She was the only diplomat’s wife there that sold eggs, and she had lots of customers. Then we went on and had chickens in Indonesia and Malawi. She’s got a thing about chickens,” John says, laughing.
Beautiful place for busy hands
“Christa is involved with the Master Gardener program here, she plays tennis and quilts, she’s co-chair of the annual rose show,” John adds. “She has two speeds. She’s either sleeping or she’s working. She absolutely cannot sit still.” Who’d want to sit still here, anyway? “This place is perfect for me,” Christa says. “I have to have my hands in the dirt.”
Lots of retirees love western North Carolina these days, as well. “We have a large retirement population. Beautiful mountains, four seasons, and a low crime rate attract people,” says Teressa Spencer, Haywood County, N.C., Chamber of Commerce volunteer.
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