Flames shooting several feet into the air at GA wedding venue. @WRCB pic.twitter.com/38FLiaYfNX
— Michelle Heron (@MichelleWRCB) February 1, 2017
A fire destroyed a large home and wedding venue in southern Dade County, Ga., on Wednesday morning.
Roger Woodyard, the South Dade Fire & Rescue chief, said the volunteer department responded to a 911 call around 4:30 a.m. at the General Woods Inn, located at Deer Head Cove Road. From the highway, drivers could see a glow from the flames about 3 miles away. By the time they got to the house, the fire had already burned it down.
"There were no walls, doors or anything," Woodyard said.
He doesn't know how long the fire lasted before someone called 911. He said the house was built mostly with wood, and a fire can spread fast.
The owners, Nadine and Robert Woods, were out of town when the fire broke out, he said.
The couple's son, Bobby, said his mother is from Rising Fawn. When she married Robert, a brigadier general in the Army, she agreed to travel wherever the military placed them. But, she requested, they would move back to her hometown when he retired.
In 2013, they bought the white, antebellum-style home in a rural stretch of the county. Sitting on about 50 acres, the house was 5,600 square feet, with a pool and a wedding chapel out back. With three bedrooms upstairs, Woodyard said, the couple at times hosted a bed and breakfast.
"Our ideally landscaped grounds in conjunction with the breathtaking mountain views provide a one of a kind setting for a fairytale outdoor wedding," the General Woods Inn website advertised the property.
The family was also featured in a November 2010 Times Free Press article. Bobby Woods, a U.S. Army first lieutenant, had survived a gunshot to the head from enemy fighters while on foot patrol near Kandahar, Afghanistan.
Doctors had to remove part of his skull. When he visited his parents three months later, residents in Trenton waited by the road downtown, waving American flags and taking photos as he rode by. His parents then hosted a party.
"What happened this morning will be a lifelong memory," his father told the newspaper at the time, "and we're so grateful to have everybody here in our home."
As of Wednesday afternoon, Bobby Woods had not heard what caused the fire.
"Keep my parents in your prayers," he said. "There are a lot of memories that went up. It's emotionally fraught for them."
Contact staff writer Tyler Jett at 423-7576476 or tjett@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @LetsJett.