Our most ambitious project ever: the longest/ priciest build on the bluff of the river--experience "The Shire" in a secluded forest in the underground Hobbit House at Riversong Forest Retreat. European castle on the interior, our underground retreat boasts a luxe marble bath, granite kitchen, European vintage art, antiques, tapestries, round doors/window. You'll feel like royalty in the hand painted 1880s bed. Enjoy amenities: gas pizza oven, firepit, griddle, and outdoor clawfoot tubs. The space We understand that life happens. As a small business, we hope that you understand the necessity to uphold our cancellation policy. We highly recommend purchasing trip insurance that covers your loss from last-minute cancellations (due to theft, medical/health issues, weather, etc.) Travel Guard is an affordable option to ensure you’re covered in the event of the unexpected. Welcome to The Riverview Hobbit House at "Riversong Forest Retreat" on 100 beautiful pristine acres of forest, creeks, river, and natural springs. We call the property "Riversong Forest Retreat" and we have two other Airbnb listings on property: The Starry Steampunk Wagon (further up 532), and The Fairytale Cabin (you'll pass it on the River Road on the way to the Hobbit), and a future Grain Silo. So you may encounter others at the resort, on the river road and hiking the trails. This was the most challenging and complicated art project we have ever undertaken and the most incredible at the end of the build. I think you will find yourself feeling like you've crossed the pond to the Olde World of Europe or "The Shire." Two years in the making, we designed the Hobbit House to look like the interior of a European castle, but of course it is underground and has the round front door of Frodo Baggins. antique European tapestries, Renaissance furniture, built in 1700s tiles from Portugal, custom tiles, European oil paintings, vintage art pieces, stained glass and much more. You'll have a lot to explore and check out. And yet we have made every attempt to provide all of the creature comforts: high end memory foam bed, high thread count sheets, marble shower with pastel pebbled floor, vintage British stained glass, old stained glass church window, two outdoor antique clawfoot tubs for soaking and taking in the river view. We also have a Keurig coffee maker, air fryer, two burner stovetop, Blackstone style griddle, firepit, and gas high temperature pizza oven, microwave, and fridge. It's so quiet that you'll hear birds, the occasional lowing of a distant cow, and that's about it. It is remote, peaceful and secluded. HOBBIT HOUSE BACKSTORY: Kara found this glorious 100 acre property while searching for a beautiful escape retreat to build tiny dwellings. She hiked the property and found it to be pristine, magical, and the topography compelling. She was mesmerized by the Little Tallapoosa River (means “wise grandmother town”) that is part of Lake Wedowee (“Ancient Waters”) in Muscogee or Creek. She loved the burbling, laughing, dancing sounds of Wolf Creek and then discovered the natural springs feeding into Wolf Creek. The more she looked, the more she discovered. There is evidence of old moonshine stills on the natural springs. There are evident, left-over piled stones, signaling the presence of old buildings and barns. Kara pulled aerial photos of the property from 1942 and the majority of the existing forest was planted with corn & cotton, except for the steep river bank. Additionally, the old timers in the region, conveyed that there was an old milling concern somewhere on the property. Feel free to look around and dig for old bottles and treasure. We found several bottles worth hundreds of dollars. One was an old 1915 Hobbleskirt Coca-Cola bottle, stamped Roanoke, AL on the bottom. Another was a cobalt blue Milk of Magnesia bottle. Very flashy. There are a couple of ancient trash piles and that’s likely to harbor treasure. Also, you can find bottles in Wolf Creek! Wear gloves to avoid poison ivy while forest digging (we learned that the hard way!) This region was once called “Cambridge” and was a settler’s establishment. It seems that the settlers were from England, as we’ve found a lot of very crazed, very old English pottery, some stamped 1875. There was an old wooden post office, just down at the mouth of where 432 joins up with 532. I suspect that the stone chimneys date to 1840-1850 (around the Fairytale Cabin, on the way in). They were held together with red Alabama clay and then we restored them in 2022, to preserve their amazing history. The Creek or Muskogee native peoples called this land home before the Trail of Tears, when they were driven off their land by the European settlers. Be sure to check out the Native Trail Marker Tree, down at the river’s edge, near the confluence (joining) of Wolf Creek & the river. These trees were intentionally bent, using a heavy stone, to use as living arrows signifying an important region or resource. A confluence is the joining of two moving bodies of water and the land spit would have been sacred grounds, used for wedding, funerals, and other special occasions. Riverview Hobbit Construction (9/2023-10/2025): My background is as a General Contractor and my specialty was historic restoration. I am self taught and an avid consumer of books and magazines. I’m not a true LOTR fan and it was at the end of this build, I finally watched two of the movies. I did read the books decades ago. But I had forever wanted to build a Hobbit House. It seemed challenging and super cool and I wasn’t wrong on either of these two fronts. This has been the most difficult build to date. We began the job in September of 2023 and here we are just polishing it and putting it out to the world in October of 2025. We started on the edge of the Little Tallapoosa’s steep bluff and dug out a monster cavity. If we had really thought this through well, we would have put in an access road to the facade of the structure, but we had to learn that lesson the hard way. Sadly that meant that the 1800 or so CMUs (cinder blocks) had to be lowered on a rope into the hole, one by one. And we then hand-mixed and poured concrete for the floors and porch and filled the CMU walls with rebar and more concrete. It was hard, heavy labor and there was nothing glamorous about it. Literally, it was brutal and took forever, plus a day. But it makes this building a serious earth shelter–no fearing of storms. The Ceiling/Roof: I bought a book on earth sheltered dwellings and the construction was complicated and there was little room for error. The roof/ceiling had to be beyond stout. We decided to create a slight pitch and install a massive double LVL spine down the center. We made the wall to the bedroom a solid CMU wall filled with concrete and rebar. And on that spine and on that hefty wall, we rested our rafters. The rafters we sourced from our very forest. We found cedars and cut them down. We also found felled solid cedars and Doc (one of our craftsmen) sliced them on his sawmill. A kind neighbor named Jim Brown offered up oak trees that fell on his farm and we took him up on it. We alternated cedar and oaks to create the hefty skeleton that was our roof. Then we clad our live edge rafters with 2x6 tongue & groove wood. And on top of the wood went some green glue and then 12 plus layers of water proofing and insulation and rocks. The outside walls also got multiple layers of waterproofing and insulation and stones and French drains. The waterproofing and insulation were the most important things to making the Riverview Hobbit a comfy cozy space. And it’s amazing how quiet it is inside the structure! Facade: Although we are not really Lord of the Rings Fans, I have always wanted to experience the challenge of building a Hobbit House. In other words, an earthen building that would also be a safe space from tornados, fires, hurricanes, etc. It’s a full blown bunker. But I really wanted it to look organic and reflect this beautiful land. So we gathered oodles of native rocks and we made them into waves across the building. Then we stuccoed and added batten strips and artist made tiles. We stained the concrete and added the compass design by the stairs. The portico, or small porch, is made of cedar trees from the land. There is a tiny metal bell in the center. The stained concrete porch offers amenities: a Blackstone style griddle, a pizza oven, and above the Hobbit we have sun loungers and a firepit with chairs. The Door: The door was of critical importance. So Terry, Doc, and Chris fabricated the door in a perfect circle. My friend is a metal artist in Decatur and she made the hinge and the decorative metalwork you see that binds the door. It’s all steel. The outer band is also steel and helps hold this heavy door together. The tiny door in the upper quadrant is called a “Speakeasy” and it dates back to the Victorian time period. During prohibition, these were popular as well. You could open it and peek out and if someone was unauthorized, you didn’t have to let them in. I will confess that the guys that helped me build the Hobbit called it “The Whore Door” and that will never fail to amuse me. The Windows: Three of the windows are British stained glass. I had fun sourcing them to give the hobbit that Middle Earth flair. They are all at least 100 plus years old. The beveled leaded glass window in the kitchen is American glass and we left the initials as a mystery to the former owner. The Clawfooted Tubs & The View: The tubs out front both are time stamped 1926. They are hefty vintage steel pieces and a lovely way to soak out daily stresses, sip a beverage of choice, and watch the river currents play through the forest. The Riverview Hobbit is so remote that you will hear birdsong and sometimes the far way lowing of a cow but little else of the modern world. The view when the leaves are off is amazing. The rising bluff opposite the Little Tallapoosa River presents like a Van Gogh meadow. Sometimes you’ll see cows. Sometimes deer. Sometimes coyotes. But it’s always peaceful. Interior: The goal of the interior has always been to put my own stamp on it and make it look like a European castle. That began with the hefty live edge logs that support the ceiling. And then I spent several weeks painting the bedroom ceiling in between the logs. This was frankly a miserable process as paint dripped in my eyes, nose, and ears and it was very cold and isolating up at the ceiling, on scaffolding. The crew down below was having a great time and I could hear the fun banter that we all enjoy. The paintings are Coat of Arms from my family tree. It began as Irish & Italian and then morphed into German, British, Polish, and other nationalities. I am truly an American Euro mutt with some mysterious Balkan and North African thrown in. The colorful llama in the corner is my own made up Coat of Arms, as I have a herd of rescued llamas, alpacas, and guanacos. The painting was slow and tedious. If I worked quickly, I could paint three panels in one day. The Bed: The Victorian queen bed was an amazing find. It’s a late 1880s bed hand painted with a pastoral scene and stenciled details. Patty LaHaie lovingly restored it. And then we converted it into a Queen. We added a memory foam mattress, high thread count sheets, and a down comforter. I think it’s safe to say you will sleep well in this glorious bed fit for royalty. You’ll gaze up at coat of arms paintings, the walnut Renaissance carved-to-death grand wardrobe, medieval torture weapons, and out through the stone trimmed antique brick round opening to the living space. Tapestries: The tapestries are all from Europe. The faded out one in the bedroom is several hundred years old and came from England. The one over the living room couch was from France and is my favorite because of the colors and the animals. God is in the Details: The walls are all masonry and we stuccoed them and then Patty lime washed them. We built-in tiles and they all are vintage and from Portugal. The knights jousting to the right of the couch is from England. The four tiles to the left of the door are from Portugal and date to the 1700s. The ones flanking the door are from early 1900. The hand carved relief tile by the bath is from the 1800s. The angel is clearly from an old church. All of the paintings are Italian. The couch is an amazing find–it is a mid-century Chesterfield English and was handmade; I love the tufted details. The 1700s trunk is a German dowry piece painted with the name of the bride. The Italian end tables are amazing inlaid birdseye maple with marble tops. Kitchen: The kitchen features custom cabinets. We finished them ourselves. We began by beating them with chains and hammers and then staining them. We used many coats of finish to get the red hued look. They are topped with leathered granite. The farmhouse shelves are wood used from two late 1800s barns we salvaged in Bowdon, GA. All of the trim in the hobbit, both inside and out is all from the old barns. Bathroom: The bathroom features a Grant Park, Atlanta church window from the 1800s and Patty restored it. My talented friend is a stained glass artist named Julie Mullenix and she installed the vintage stained glass pieces, after driving out here from Dallas, GA. I love my teacup toilet with the green and metallic details. The Victorian medicine cabinet dates to the 1880s and is a find. I have never seen one like it. The shower is marble subway tiles with pastel pebbled floor and the handiwork of Patty LaHaie. I hope you enjoy our thoughtfully curated European castle/hobbit experience. Also, if you’re interested in our other properties, they are also on Airbnb. We have two other Airbnb listings on property: The Starry Steampunk Wagon (further up 532), and Fairytale Cabin on Lake Wedowee, and a future Grain Silo. So you may encounter others at the resort, on the river road and hiking the trails. We have a lot of hiking trails to explore running down Wolf Creek and then up to the Magical Beaver Pond. Brought to you by the team from the famed Alpaca Treehouse in the Bamboo Forest, this beautiful character rich space was inspired by the Lord of the Rings books. THINGS TO DO: -Star gazing. There is no light pollution, so check out the beauty of the Southern skies. -Pan for gold in Wolf Creek. We leave you two black gold pans to try your luck. This area used to have gold mines and the river and the creek have gold flakes and maybe even nuggets. -Fishing: The creek & river are filled with crappie, brim, and bass. -Explore the Property -Photography: So many opportunities. -Wildlife Watching -Kayak or canoe down the Little Tallapoosa/Lake Wedowee. Put in at Lamar Bridge, up river, and take out at our beach. Will need two cars -Swim in the river or deep holes in Wolf Creek -Soak in the Claw Foot Tubs with a view of the river. -Make a Pizza in the Pizza Oven: Make your own custom pie in our oven. All accessories provided. -Take a Hike: We have 100 gorgeous acres to explore or hike down country road 532 for easier walking. -Check out the Muscogee/Creek Indian Trail Tree: Located down at the confluence where Wolf Creek meets the river/lake is a tree bent using a heavy stone to point the native peoples to special places of important. A confluence was a sacred spot for weddings/funerals. -Search for Treasure: We have valuable bottles and other artifacts on the property just waiting to be found. -Dig Arrowheads and Native Pottery: This was once the home to the bustling thriving Native Peoples/Muscogee or Creek Indians. There are artifacts to be found. We found an arrowhead recently. -Forest Bathing:: Spending time in nature, with its perfect balance of sights, sounds, smells, and peaceful environment, offers essential rewards for our highly stressed mental and physical selves. No wonder the ecotherapy practice of forest bathing, otherwise known as Shinrin-yoku, is gaining steam for all the right reasons. Don’t be confused; the exercise has nothing to do with soap or water. Instead, the name refers to the way participants fully immerse themselves in — and reconnect with — nature. Guest access You are welcome to explore the 100 acres, but please respect the privacy of the other guests at the other dwellings.