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Let There Be Light

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When we first built Copper House, we naively thought the contractor would be giving us the keys to a perfect house, complete with at least minimal landscaping, a walkway leading to the main entrance, and finished stairs to all of the outdoor entrances. Instead, we got the barebones house specced in the plans, plopped in the middle of a scarred excavation site on eleven and a half acres of tangled woods. We were both excited and overwhelmed.

Phase One–the main house pictured above–was all we could afford. (The guest house and connecting deck would not be built for another seven years.) Gradually, we built walkways, planted some grass and a few piddly shrubs. But we soon realized that, at night, a house in the woods is . . . dark.

We hosted an open house here New Year’s Eve 2008. We were barely past the winter solstice, and it was pitch black. I remember David creating a makeshift spotlight on the entryway stairs so people wouldn’t trip and fall, and we flashlight-escorted every guest back to their car.

In the ten years that followed, we did what we could to tame and refine this house in the woods, and when we moved here full-time in 2019, we were finally able to give this land and home the much-needed time to make the grounds and property literally shine.

Blessed with land-filled acres and acres of rocks and boulders, David discovered his love and talent for building walls. With all those free rocks, we also built a stone wall circle for a fountain, another for a fire pit, and yet another for a large labyrinth. What we discovered was that all of these new outdoor “rooms” needed to be lit for us and our Copper House guests.

So this fall, before we reach this upcoming season of darkness, we decided to add more light. Here’s a few images of some of our latest ventures.

In addition to the market lights, notice the pumpkins which we display from September through November. In winter, we set lighted miniature trees in the rings. Come spring and summer, we display pots of ajuga. When the season is over, we plant this perennial around the Copper House grounds, giving it new life.
These newly lit woodsheds are both practical and artistic, offering structure to the large open spaces on the land as well as an attractive way to store our wood!
We’ve long wanted to light the pergola, and we finally got around to it this season. Like with the shed, we keep it seasonal—pumpkins in the fall, a lit tree in the winter, and a large floral display in the spring and summer. (To keep the deer from munching on the flowers in the summer, we’ve installed a little removable chain across the opening!)
If you read the blog post about our new tree sculptures, you’ll notice we took the time to light these as well. We purchased these too late in the season to enhance them with flowering plants, but come spring we’ll plant a host of native species to keep these trees company.

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