Spending your childhood summers on the lake, enraptured by the little things in life like an afternoon nap in a hammock or a fishing adventure in the early morning fog, isn’t just the stuff of idealistic yesteryears.
Those who yearn for simpler times can still find them at Lake Burton, nestled in the wooded mountains of northeast Georgia.
David Dyer would know. He spent his own childhood at Lake Burton, and today he strives to provide a similar atmosphere for guests at his lake house, Shangri-la-an atmosphere marked by personal connections and the area’s natural beauty.
“It was just the greatest place to grow up,” says Dyer, who met his wife on the lake when they were both teenagers. “I developed close friendships with local families, and I had aunts, uncles and cousins who also lived on the lake, so every weekend was a family get-together.” The house was built by Dyer’s family on three acres of lakefront property in 1958, when the shores of the electricity-producing lake were sparsely dotted with homes and many of the roads in the area were dirt. Originally, the structure consisted of one room, a screened-in porch and an outhouse. “No running water-it was more like fancy camping,” he says. “They saved $800, and they built $800 worth of cabin.”
Over the years, improvements were made and additions were added-bedrooms, a modern kitchen, a boathouse, air conditioning-but the charm of the original cabin still exists. Today, the house sleeps six to eight comfortably, and two and a half bathrooms have (thankfully) replaced the outhouse. Guests walk just 25 feet across a level walkway from the house to a 1200-square-foot sundeck and boathouse at the water’s edge. And it is the water, despite the charm and ammenities of the house, that truly makes the experience at Shangri-la.