Gorgeous Mountain Views!

The House of Joy is your own private mountain retreat in the heart of the Appalachians. Front wheel drive and 4 wheel drive vehicles are best for navigating our mountain roads due to the steepness in some spots (read the last paragraph for more information).

There are spectacular views from the front of the spacious wrap-around deck, and soothing breezes and sitting areas on all three sides of the deck. . This lodge is set on 40 private acres, with your own personal hiking trails that extend to the top of the mountain. The House of Joy has a huge great room with gas fireplace and giant flat screen TV (for watching movies on a streaming service or the DVD player; no cable and no satellite), and full kitchen adjacent to it. This great room is perfect for group gatherings, with table space for 28, and additional seating on the deck. Two half baths are also on this floor.

Downstairs are four family-sized bedrooms. Each of the four bedrooms has a queen sized bed and a loft area with 3 twin mattresses for kids and teens (and youthful adults!). The lofts are accessed by "ladder-steps", and may not be safe for toddlers or the elderly. Also, the lofts have very low ceilings (adults will need to stoop down in them). Each bedroom has access to the downstairs stone porch. Two full baths (with showers) are also downstairs, at each end of the hall. Bring your own towels, or you can use ours if you will wash them before your departure.

Additional beds include a double sofa bed, and full size futon and one cot. There is bed space for up to 20 people in the downstairs rooms (5 people per room), and one more person can sleep on the upstairs futon. The sofa bed is extra bed-space in case you need it.

The recreation room is on the top floor, and houses various games, as well as its own beautiful view. The extra room with futon is also on this top floor.

A large firepit area with stone and wood-bench seating is next to the House of Joy.

Outdoor games: Tetherball, ring toss & bean-bag toss. A giant hillside slide is next to the firepit, with burlap bags to slide on.

Also included for your enjoyment: DVD's and video tapes, books and games.

Wi-Fi is provided, but it is not high speed because that is not available at out mountain location. Loading may be quite slow, and using multiple devices at once may cause excessive lag time.

The large-screened TV (on main floor) uses a roku for internet streaming services or DVD's.

The laundry room houses a washer and dryer. Please note that guests are welcome to use our towels, but must wash and dry them before their departure. Or guests can bring their own towels. This helps us keep our cleaning fee lower.

The kitchen has a standard fridge and stove/oven, microwave, dishwasher, coffee makers (regular size and single cup style), toaster, two double-sinks, and plenty of dinnerware and cookware.

No smoking is permitted inside the building.

There is a window AC unit in the great room for the hotter summer months. The high elevations generally provide cooler weather than down in the valley, and there is a ceiling fan in each room. The downstairs stays cooler on it's own since part of it is covered by the hillside.

The House of Joy is close to popular Maggie Valley and historic Waynesville, as well as the Great Smoky Mountain National Park and the Blue Ridge parkway. It takes about 45 minutes to drive to Asheville. Area activities include white water rafting, horseback riding, body flying (over a wind tunnel), fishing, hiking, shopping, gem mining, golfing, hot air ballooning and mountain biking. For more information and links to area attractions, go to (website: hidden).

The House of Joy is a special, peace-filled place. We hope you will come and experience it for yourself.

Driving tips: The last half mile leading up to the House of Joy is gravel and moderately steep. Most front-wheel drive vehicles don't have any problem if the driver doesn't drive too slow up the steeper sections, but some rear-wheel drive vehicles find they sometimes lose traction on the gravel. All-wheel-drive and 4-wheel-drive vehicles are ideal. As you are going uphill on the steeper parts of the gravel roads, it helps to keep a steady speed and not stop. If you do find you are losing traction, just stop and back up to a flatter part of the road, and try again. When you are heading back down the steeper parts of the mountain roads, make sure to keep the transmission in a lower gear in order to save wear-and-tear on your breaks.