As a teenager in the 60's I spent many hours exploring the dirt roads and rivers of the area in the mountains and valleys of what is now Lake Jocassee. The construction of the lake was at its peak while I was in Clemson University and I found my way back there with friends in beat up old cars, getting stuck in muddy rutted roads and camping while the lake was filling.  In the summer after my first year at Clemson I was introduced to kayaking on the Chattooga River right after the filming of the movie Deliverance was made there.  This was also filmed partly on Lake Jocassee as it was being constructed.

Many months later, on one of my not so smart solo runs on the Chattooga on a cold winter day, I was rescued by one of the same families portrayed in Deliverance after a very bad swim just above Sandy Ford.  When they invited this long hair river rat into their home I witnessed their extreme poverty and experienced the richness of their family and community values, something we may never see again. My great grandad lived within that same culture where harmony with nature was not cocktail talk but a way of living to survive .  

 

It was a generation later that I found the 3 plus acres on which The Jocassee House is built.  At that time there were only a few homes and the road just dirt. My sons and I climbed the steep hills and cut trees to find the site for the perfect place to build.  I took many builders there, they all would say “nice view” - that I learned, was code for “we can’t build here” BUT I also found a mountain clan of people and discovered a culture of can do and self-sufficiency that viewed land and life like my Great granddad and the grandparents who taught me so much. This was the spirit that molded my vision of the Jocassee House along with the hundreds of hours building systems and structure with these great people. The common vision - a place that respected its surroundings, a home built with recycled timbers that had seen many cycles of life.  Spaces that encouraged people to come together; spaces that encouraged one’s soul to embrace its journey; places to explore, to learn, to teach and share life - a space of mutual respect and trust in harmony.

 

The Jocassee House became the gateway to test one’s humanity by exploring the nature of place where self-reliance was challenged and finding one’s place among nature’s wild things opened visions of what God is.

 

So, we welcome you to our home where home is a nest for growth of friends and family.   

 

The real diamond of time here is life and environment in so many dynamic forms all around the 75 miles of the Lake Jocassee shoreline.  I encourage you to seek the concerted rhythm of your own discoveries - the splendor of the eagles, the butterflies as they fly and land, the fish, the loons, the many birds and insects, deer, bear - so many forms living the cycle of life on this small planet.  Maybe at some point for you there will be a small light shining on some part of your existence that will help you become your best human for that moment, and if you do find that small light your life will never be the same. That is the spirit of Jocassee.

 

- Bill Masters