Charity Home Tour By Boat
By Jerry and Ferne Hale

What a great way to spend an autumn weekend – enjoying the Lake, ooohing and ahhhing over eight beautiful homes, contributing to charity – all at the same time. It’s the 17th annual Smith Mountain Lake Charity Home Tour, the country’s largest all-volunteer home tour that can be seen by boat or by car Oct. 6-8. Tickets are $25 in advance and are available at area outlets listed online at smlcharityhometour.com, by calling 540.297-TOUR (297.8687), or by mailing a check, payable to SML Charity Home Tour, to PO Box 416, Moneta, VA 24121.
        To whet your appetite, here’s a preview of the homes for the Lake’s premier event, which last year raised $22,000 for each of eight area charities, along with directions of how to take the tour by boat. Volunteers will be waiting at each dock to help you tie up and disembark. Be sure to bring lines and fenders – and to stow fenders inboard when running from stop to stop: real Lakers don’t run with fenders dangling!
        For even more detailed information on each home, visit smithmountainlaker.com.
Note: For convenient map orientation, this routing begins at Halesford Bridge and works toward the Blackwater, with a run up Craddock Creek along the way. However, boaters may visit the homes in whatever order best suits their starting location. Suggestion: Preplan your route on a FREE Laker map, available at the SML Visitors’ Center or in Laker Magazine racks around the area. 

# 3. BOONE Home
A Palladian-style Lake home, combines European elegance and American comfort. An entry courtyard welcomes us to a light-filled, vaulted living/dining room with sweeping Lake views.
        From the Bridge, travel down river past R27, then turn right into Betty’s Creek just before the small island that guards the entrance. As you round the point, look carefully for a yellow fishing cottage crouching among the trees, then proceed to the second dock on the right side of Betty’s Creek.

#6. KUHN Home
The dramatic focal point of the home is the kitchen, designed and installed by Lester Kuhn, owner of Kitchens at the Lake. Warm and inviting décor and an open, spacious floor plan make the home user-friendly and perfect for entertaining.
        Re-enter the main channel, staying to the right, and continue down river well past R25. Turn into the cove marked by trailers on the point to your right. Angle across the cove to pass between two no-wake buoys. The Kuhns’ dock sports high and low diving boards and a sign reading “Leisure Pleaser.”

#5. MARSHALL Home
“Everview Knoll” features panoramic Lake and mountain views and is Country French in style with its towering, steep roof line. The décor includes natural oak woodwork, arches, tray ceilings, random-width oak flooring, family antiques, accessories from European travels, and homeowner stenciling and art.
        Back on the main channel, continue south through the S-curve. Midway through, you’ll notice pilings for the new Franklin County Park fishing pier. Continue southwest as you exit the S-curve, keeping the Park Place water tower on your right. Pass outside two small islands, leaving them to starboard. (Note: it’s very shallow between the islands and the shore). Look for the Marshalls’ dock deep in the cove just past the two islands.

#4. SKELTON Home
Encompassing 7,500 square feet on three levels, this home is elegantly decorated in French Country style. It has six bedrooms, six bathrooms, extensive cabinetry and custom plaster wall finish.
        Exit the Marshalls’ cove and go straight across, leaving the shoal markers near the main channel well to your left. Follow the left hand shoreline deep into The Boardwalk cove. Look for a gray and white, high-roofed boathouse with cupola and a wide stone stairway leading up the hill, and, of course, for the orange Home Tour balloon. 

#1. NAFF Home
This home, with its casual contemporary flair, sits on a point lot with expansive water and mountain views on three sides. The  Naffs have updated the original 1980s house with a new kitchen, hardwood floors, faux painting, a bar and game room.
        Return to the main channel, keeping the shoal markers to your right. Cut diagonally across toward Carter Island, (watching carefully for traffic moving up and down the Roanoke) and leaving the island to your left. Angle toward the left hand shore after passing the danger marker just below Carter Island. The Naff home will be on your left, tucked in behind a small island, with a sandy beach on the point. The dock is located in the cove to the left of the beach.

#2. McDONALD Home
This sixth-floor penthouse condominium at The Pointe at Mariners Landing is the first-ever condo on the Tour. The home has two master suites, an owner-designed kitchen, elegant crown molding, arched doorways, and wrought iron railings.
        Reach the McDonald’s condo by following the main channel toward the dam, rounding Bride’s Island and then veering left up Craddock Creek. Angle right into the cove just past C6, where the Mariner’s Landing docks will be evident. The run from the Naff home will take 15-20 minutes at cruising speed. There is shallow water between the four islands guarding the entrance to Craddock Creek, and it is strongly recommended that you keep Bride’s Island, the outermost, well to port (your left) as you round Markers R4 and C1.  

#8. POTTER Home
Creative and whimsical, this home is a blend of decors, with free-flowing and uniquely-shaped rooms, interesting ceilings, two stone fireplaces, and additional stone and wood accents.  
     Return down Cradock Creek and pass between Bride’s Island (now on your right) and Vista Point. Pass marker B1 on your left, keeping your bow pointed toward the western-most knob of the Smith Mountain ridge. The Water’s Edge occupies the coves that will soon be off your starboard bow. Pass the cove with the blue metal roofed home, then (two coves later) the one with the red metal roof. Round the stately brick home on your right, then cut diagonally toward the next cove’s far shore. The Potter dock is the second on the left side with the U.S. flag flying. 

#7. DUNKENBERGER Home
This log home affords picturesque views from every room. The open floor plan is dramatic, with a soaring vaulted great room ceiling, exposed log beams, and a massive stone fireplace.
        Your scenic ride up the Blackwater to the Dunkenbergers’ log home will take 30-35 minutes at cruising speed. Depart the Potters’ cove, keeping The Water’s Edge on the left until you pass between Christmas Tree Island and the mouth of Bull Run Creek (BU1). Continuing up the left shore, you’ll pass Pelican Point Marina’s crane on your left. Look for an opportunity to safely angle to the right side of the channel, then leave the busy entrance to Gills Creek at B14/G1 to your right. Carefully follow the channel markers, working your way past The Cliffs (on the left beyond B27) and, 6-7 minutes later, the 4H Center on your right (just before B40). The Dunkenbergers’ home will be perched on the left side of the Blackwater across from Marker B48.