Today we’d like to introduce you to Caroline & Mike Parrish
Hi Caroline & Mike, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
We started our journey in 2015 with steep mountain land that was difficult to build on, so we built the Sanctuary treehouse instead. At this point, treehouses were not as popular as they are today. We weren’t sure sure how the public would feel about staying in a true treehouses, but the response was tremendous! To our knowledge, this was the first true treehouse built in NC with a certificate of occupancy.
In 2020, we built and opened 5 additional dwellings; all totally different in design. Everyone was living through the uncertainty of Covid, but since our dwellings only sleep 4, families were able to escape the monotony of their home and come stay in very unique dwellings while still following Covid protocols.
We have continued expansion and this spring will open our 20th dwelling! Each dwelling will give our guests a completely different experience. We have several underground homes, castles, treehouses, a spaceship and a village with 6 distinctive “dwelling shops.”
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
When building anything, there are always challenges, but when you are building unique structures like we have at Earth & Sky Dwellings, the challenges were many. Few people had ever built structures such as these requiring certificates of occupancy, Treehouses, underground homes, castles, and even a spaceship were on our build list. The building inspectors and our contractor here in Buncombe County have been wonderful to work with to find solutions to some of our crazy ideas.
The biggest challenge that we and so many other business, big and small, faced came on September 27, 2024 named Hurricane Helene! The mountains of North Carolina have never had to deal with anything close to a hurricane, not to mention that we had just started our busiest time of the year. Three months of reservations were lost in 3 days, we did not have power, water, internet or cell service. After quickly processing the damage, each individual community/neighborhood banded together to help their neighbor. Our particular area is not near a river, so we did not have any flooding, but we did have MANY trees down blocking roads as well as damage to a couple of our dwellings. After several weeks of being closed, we were able to get all of the repairs completed and all of the dwellings back open, but the tourist were gone. The people of Asheville love our little city and so many have been able to rebuild their business. We appreciate everyone for coming to support our business and our city.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
We specialize in being unique and providing a true “experience” for our guests. Many other vacation properties have the same type of lodging, but each of our dwellings are completely different, inside and out. Whether choosing to stay in a treehouse, castle, underground home, or a spaceship, you will have a truly magical feeling from the moment you step out of your car. Our joy comes in hearing a guest tell us “this was our best vacation ever!’.
Is there something surprising that you feel even people who know you might not know about?
We both were Corporate America people. Neither of us had any previous experience with land development or building. We truly went into this “on a hope and a prayer” and have learned everything we know from trial and error. Mike is the total fantasy guy and while I do not have one fantasy bone in my body, I do know how to immerse myself in that world and come up with all of the interior decorating ideas!
Pricing:
- pricing varies, please visit our website for current pricing
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.earthandskydwellings.com
- Instagram: @earthandskydwellings
- Facebook: @earthandskydwellings
Image Credits
Earth & Sky Dwellings & Maxwell Wyndorf
